Transcriber's note
A Table of Contents has been created for the HTML version. Minorpunctuation errors have been corrected without notice. A fewobvious typographical errors have been corrected, and they are indicated witha mouse-hoverand are also listed at theend. All other inconsistencies are as in the original.The author's spelling has been maintained.
NARRATIVE OF RICHARD LEE MASON IN
THE PIONEER WEST, 1819
Heartman's Historical Series No. 6
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 Masonmade a journey from Philadelphia to Illinois, through Pennsylvania,Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. Some of his adventures were remarkable, andthese, together with his observations on the country, the towns and thepeople whom he encountered, were recorded in a diary kept by him, whichis now in the possession of his only surviving child, a daughter, whoresides in Jacksonville, Ill. Dr. Mason was a remarkably intelligentobserver, and his record of the people whom he encountered in Illinoismore than three-quarters of a century ago, not to mention his notes oftravel in other states, is unique and valuable.
Richard Lee Mason, whose diary is being published in The Record, wasborn 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. Soonafter his marriage he was graduated from the medical department of theUniversity of Pennsylvania. For a time he did military service in thewar 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 longjourney from Philadelphia to St. Louis was taken.[10]
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 inSt. Louis. This he did, and he was held in high esteem, but he did notlive long to enjoy the reunion with his family, and the appreciation offriends. The hardships of his trip and exposure to malarial atmospherehad impaired his health, and he died in 1824, having submittedgracefully to the heroic treatment of the day, which admitted of muchbleeding and blistering.
Dr. Mason was buried in a newly purchased masonic cemetery, somedistance beyond the St. Louis city limits, in ground that is nowWashington avenue, between Tenth and Eleventh streets. Subsequently thisground was found too wet for the purpose designed, and Dr. Mason's bodywas removed. It is of interest to know that he was the first masoninterred with the honors of the order in the state of Missouri. Hisfuneral was made the