Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-02-17


to paralytic stroke and the infirmties
of old age Miss Emily Virginia Mason,
one of the best known women in the
country and famous civil war nurse.
died at her home, 1905 P street last night
at 7:45. Miss Mason had been failing for
some time, and members of her family
saw Monday that her death was matter
of short time She was kept alive yes
terday by stimulants, as she was unable
to take nourishInent.
Those who were with her at the time of
her death were her nieces. Mrs. Peyton
Wise of Richmond, Va. and Miss Kate
Mason Rowland. and her friends Miss
Mary Perkins and Miss Dacosta.
The funeral will be held in Baltimore
from the Roman Catholic Cathedral. The
date has not been set.
Was Born In Kentucky.
Miss Mason was born in Lexington,
KY, in 1915. Her parents were Gen John
T. Mason and Eliza Moore Mason. George
Mason OF Gunston Hall, on the Potomac,
below Alexandria, the Trainer of the Viz
ginia bill Of rights and a sisner of the
Declaration Of Independence. was her
great-unc One of her unces was
Armistead Thompson Mason. who WAS
killed in duel by William Page Nc
Carthy during the antebeilum days.
Through all its branches her family has
| been prominently Identified with the his
| tory of the nation from the earliest CO.
lonial times.
Her father was a veteran of both the
war of 1872 and the war with Mexico.
| Her grandfather. Stevens Thompson
Mason was senator from Virginia in the
| first Continental congress He died in
| Philadelphia in 1903, while serving in
| that body. and was buried there in Old
Christ Church yard.
During the administration of President
| Andrew Jackson Gen. John T. Mason. the
| father of Miss Mason, was appointed Sec
rotary of the then comparatively new ter
ritory of Michigan, and Miss Mason ac
| companied him and the other members
! of the family to their future home in the
| recently founded city of Detroit. In 1881
her brother Stevens Thompson Mason,
| then barely past his majority, was elected
| first Governor of Michigan. In the his
| tory OF that state he is still popularity re-
! ferred to as the boy governor To the
! hastily improviSed executive mansion he
was accompanied by his brilliant sister
| through whose wit. charm and accom-
! plishments it speedily became the center
of a social life as delightful and cult
! waited as that they had left behind them
| in Virginia.
Her Romance With Cass.
| 1t was here that the famous romance
! between Miss Mason and the late Lewis
| Cass, who succeeded the formers brother
as Governor of Michigan, was begun.
Just why this affair never eliminated in
| marriage was never known beyond the
fact that the high-spirited Virginia belle
could i'll brook the domineering ways Of
| her woula-be lord and master. But, loyal
and devoted friends, the two remained I'M
| married.
in his will Mr.. Cass, who died in Paris
| several years ago, named Miss Mason
! among the beneticiaries. and also named
| her as the executrix of his estate. Miss
| Mason brought Mr.. Cass' remains from
| Paris to Detroit. and attended the cere-
monies incident to their 1nterment In the
Cass mausoeum in Detroit.
| 4 short time before the civil war MISS
/ Mason returned to Virginia and al the
outbreak of hostilities offered her serV-
ices to the Confederacy. Throughout the
/ war she SteadfaStly retained her position
as head nurse in the Virginia hospitals.
/ winning not only the commentator but
! the warm personal friendship of Jefferson
Davis Robert r. Lee, "Stonewall' Jack
son and other leaders of the lost cause.
Several times she ran the blockade and
in other ways risked all in the service she
loved
Residence in Paris.
Paris where she remained for fourteen
wears rs member of the faculty of a
fashionable girls school While living in
Paris she became noted as a writer of
prose and poetry. During all this time
her SPARE moments We're spent in working
for the betterment of conditions i'll the
impoverished south. Other years were
spent on the continent Everywhere she
appeared, the refined southern gentle
woman. with her ariStocrauc bearing, per
sonai magnetism and cultivated manners.
found the most exclusive circles open to
her Al the courts of vienna and
. throughout Germany she was welcomed
with marked distinction.
! Weary OF foreign travel She finally re-
> turned to her own country and took up
!: her residence in the Georgetown house
in which she died \ short time ago she
travelled to Michigan as the guest of the
state to attend the unwilling or d statue
to her distinguished brother.