[Illustration: DR. RICHARD LEE MASON]
NARRATIVE
OF
RICHARD LEE MASON
IN THE PIONEER WEST
1819
One hundred and sixty copies printed for
CHAS. FRED. HEARTMAN, New York City
TO
G. J. BARBER, Esq.
this book is dedicated
by
Chas. Fred. Heartman
Number____________of 150 copies printed
on Fabriano hand-made paper.
Also ten copies printed on Japan Vellum.
In the late fall and early winter of the year 1819 Dr. Richard Lee Mason
made a journey from Philadelphia to Illinois, through Pennsylvania,
Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. Some of his adventures were remarkable, and
these, together with his observations on the country, the towns and the
people whom he encountered, were recorded in a diary kept by him, which
is now in the possession of his only surviving child, a daughter, who
resides in Jacksonville, Ill. Dr. Mason was a remarkably intelligent
observer, and his record of the people whom he encountered in Illinois
more than three-quarters of a century ago, not to mention his notes of
travel in other states, is unique and valuable.
Richard Lee Mason, whose diary is being published in THE RECORD, was
born in Port Tobacco, Md. In 1806 he was married to Mary Hodge Cochrane.
Seven children were born to them, of whom five lived to maturity. Soon
after his marriage he was graduated from the medical department of the
University of Pennsylvania. For a time he did military service in the
war of 1812, belonging to a cavalry company called "The White Horsemen."
For this service he was awarded a large tract of bounty land near Alton,
Ill. It was to locate and take possession of this land that the long
journey from Philadelphia to St. Louis was taken.
So pleased was Dr. Mason with his "promised land" and the west country,
that he determined to send for his family and follow his profession in
St. Louis. This he did, and he was held in high esteem, but he did not
live long to enjoy the reunion with his family, and the appreciation of
friends. The hardships of his trip and exposure to malarial atmosphere
had impaired his health, and he died in 1824, having submitted
gracefully to the heroic treatment of the day, which admitted of much
bleeding and blistering.
Dr. Mason was buried in a newly purchased masonic cemetery, some
distance beyond the St. Louis city limits, in ground that is now
Washington avenue, between Tenth and Eleventh streets. Subsequently this
ground was found too wet for the purpose designed, and Dr. Mason's body
was removed. It is of interest to know that he was the first mason
interred with the honors of the order in the state of Missouri. His
funeral was made the occasion of a grand procession, escorted by Capt.
Archibald Gamble's troop of cavalry.
* * * * *
This record was published some twenty years ago in a newspaper
from which this reprint is made Decoration Day, 1915.