The Life of 4GG Grace Mason (1754-1837)

Previous blog posts have established the details of Grace’s birth and childhood in North Yorkshire, England, and

What are the circumstances of Grace Mason from the time of her father’s death in November 1774 to her arrival in Ross County, Ohio on 25 April 1798?  Where was she living?  Where did she and husband Robert Corken (1762-1844) live between their marriage in 1789 to their arrival in Ohio?  Where were they living when they departed on their 63-day trek to Ohio?

Grace Mason – Basic Timeline:

  • 1754 Grace born in Kirkbymoorside Parish, North Yorkshire, England
  • 1767 Grace immigrates to Maryland with her parents, age 13
  • 1774 Father George Mason dies in Kennett Square, age 20
  • 1775 Grace turns 21 and becomes eligible for father’s inheritance
  • 1780 Grace moves in with sister Jane Newlin in Wilmington, Delaware, age 25
  • 1789 Mother Jane Mason dies in Kennett Square, age
  • 1789 Grace marries Robert Corken
  • 1790 Robert and Grace move to Menallen, Pennsylvania
  • 1798 Robert and Grace move to Ross County, Ohio
  • 1837 Grace dies, age 82

As a previous article detailed,((See it here.)) 4GG Grace Mason was born in North Yorkshire, England and came to America with her parents when she was 13 years old.  They lived in Joppa, Maryland for a couple years, but settled in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania when she was 15.

Five years later, when she was 20, her father George Mason died.  His 1774 will granted Grace two adjoining properties in northern Maryland (now in Harford County) known as Turkey Hill and Archibald Rowl’s Addition when she turned 21.  She apparently never received these properties and may have been cheated out of them by one or more of her brothers.

After her father’s death, she likely remained with her mother in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania for at least a couple years — in a stone mansion house now owned by eldest brother George Mason, Jr.  The events of the Revolutionary War may have affected Grace’s movements. The British Army came right through Kennett Square in September 1777.  Although the Mason mansion was spared, many houses were ransacked by British troops.  Fortunately, the Mason home was spared.

In 1780, she moved in with her sister Jane Newlin in Wilmington, Delaware.(())  However, she probably didn’t stay too long because because Jane “abandoned” her husband in 1782.(( See …))

Shortly after her mother died in late 1788 or early 1789, Grace Mason married Robert Corken.  She was 35 and he was about 27, so this was a fairly unusual union.  She was the last of her siblings to marry and may have been desperate.  She was Quaker and well-to-do; he was Irish and reportedly a family servant who managed the horses and drove their buggy.

Nine years after their wedding, Grace and Robert moved to Ross County, Ohio, a 63-day journey documented by their grandson Dr. Nelson E. Jones.(())  According to Dr. Jones, even the date of their arrival in the Ohio wilderness is known: 25 April 1798.

The mystery is It’s not absolutely certain where they were living during the 9 years prior to going to Ohio.  I have wondered if they were living at one of her Maryland properties, but 19th-century census records for their children uniformly list Pennsylvania as birth locations in 1790, 1792, and 1796.

(A previous post – click here – discussed Robert and Grace Corken’s early life in Ohio.)

 

Future Research:

  1. What happened to the properties Archibald Addition and Turkey Hill which Grace Mason was willed by the her father?
  2. Where was Grace Mason living between 1774 and 1798?

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