Vice President of Educational Endeavors
As bloggers and researchers we are always looking for interesting
topics to blog about. We have a few unwritten rules for these blogs, but I’ll
write a few of these rules anyway then they will no longer be unwritten.
The blog should be
historically accurate.
It should have some
sort of connection to George Mason, his family, and his times.
It should be
interesting, to keep our readers coming back for more.
And if, somehow, we
can find a new angle, something that others haven’t written about…in newspaper
jargon, a scoop; well, we might have a successful week of blogging.
This writer may have found just such a stop-the-presses moment. In of
all places, the newspaper. Not just any newspaper, but that colonial newspaper
of record, the Virginia Gazette. The Colonial Williamsburg digital library has
a searchable index of every available issue of this weekly paper from its first
issue in 1736 through the last in December 1780 when the newspaper followed the
state capital to its new location in Richmond. Take a look: http://research.history.org/DigitalLibrary/BrowseVG.cfm.
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| Edition of the Virginia Gazette on August 10, 1769. Courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg. |
In the index, a researcher might begin logically by looking up Mason, George.
There, located between French
Mason: “in 2nd Va. Regiment,” and Gideon Mason, “deserter,” is a wealth of links to George Mason
references in the pages of the Gazette. Let’s take a look at a few.
adv. for bids for
building Truro parish vestry house
adv. merchandise for
sale
calls meeting of
Ohio co. (13 times from 1752 until 1778)
elected member of
Congress (May 23, 1777 issue)
declines to be
delegate to Congress (June 27, 1777)
letter to, in post
office
on Va. committee of
safety
plaintiff in
Chancery court
saves lives of six
men
trustee for opening
navigation of Potomac river
Wait, what was that? “Saves lives of six men”? Would that not be a
worthy story to add to our history of George Mason?
Let’s take a look. In the August 10, 1769, issue of the Virginia Gazette is an excerpt of a
letter dated July 22. Much of the news of the time is reported by letters, some
from England, some from other colonies, some from Virginia. Anyone could be a
reporter.
“On Monday last,” says the correspondent, “we had a smart thunder storm
which produced melancholy effects here.” It seems that about 3 p.m., “Seven men
being a reaping on the plantation of Mr. George Mason” took cover from the
storm when the wind started gusting. The seven “betook themselves to a tree for
shelter from the rain, and stuck their sickles into it, which they had scarce
done when a flash of lightning struck the tree, drew out all the sickles, and
knocked down every man.”
One, a Mr. Reese, died instantly. The others were “terribly burned and
to all appearances dead, until Mr. Mason (who came to their relief) thought of
an expedient for their preservation, which was to blow into their mouths.” This
was done to all seven; “six were happily brought back to life.” Five were said
to recovering nicely, one was still in “a dangerous situation,” and the
“unfortunate young Reese” might have been saved as well, “had not his windpipe
been cut with a sickle or a splinter from the tree.”
So there it is. An incredible story of George Mason saving six lives
using a rescue technique barely heard of in the 18th century.
Perhaps it’s because the information came to Williamsburg via
Philadelphia from a correspondent in Chester County. In Pennsylvania. It seems
this is another George Mason, not the Sage of Gunston Hall.
Just when you think you have a historical scoop, the facts get in the
way.
Source:
"Virginia Gazette, Purdie and Dixon, August 10, 1769, Page
3." Virginia Gazette. Colonial Williamsburg, n.d. Web. 21 May 2014.
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