Born near Mount Sterling, Kentucky, Mason attended country and city schools in Montgomery County and Mount Sterling Law School in Lexington, Kentucky.

He served in the war with Mexico in 1846 and 1847 in Ben McCollough's company of Texas Rangers, Worth's division, under General Taylor.

He served as a delegate to the 1860 Democratic National Convention at Charleston, South Carolina.

He died in August 1865, near New Orleans, Louisiana on board a steamer on the Mississippi River.

This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress