Mason, John, 1646 - 1676

John Mason was the son of John Mason and Anne Peck of Norwich, Connecticut, and husband of Abigail Fitch, daughter of Rev. James Fitch.  He was made a freeman of Norwich in 1671.  He represented the town at the Connecticut legislature for three years and was elected assistant to the General Court in 1675.  As a legatee of Attawanhood’s will in 1675, he received 200 acres of land in Windham County.  Like his father, Mason became a military leader.  He was commissioned ensign (1669), lieutenant (1672), and, despite being often at sea with his trading business, captain (1675).  As the leader of Major Robert Treat’s 5th Company, Mason commanded a force of Indians from New London County.  In September 1675, he was ordered to go to Norwottock and other plantations “up the river” to capture and kill enemy Indians.  Mason and his men fought at the Great Swamp Fight in December 1675.  During the battle, he received a head wound and was moved to Newport and tendered to by Dr. Simon Cooper.  He later was removed back to Norwich, where he died nine months later.  Caulkins, History of Norwich, 147.  Jason W. Warren, Connecticut Unscathed: Victory in the Great Narragansett War, 1675-1676 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2014), 171. Richard A. Radune, Pequot Plantation: The Story of an Early Colonial Settlement (Branford, CT: Research in Time Publications, 2005), 214. PRCC 2: 107, 154, 181, 186, 254, 268, 366.