|
|
|
Bridget "Biddy" Mason (August 15, 1818 in Hancock County, Georgia – January 15, 1891 in Los Angeles, California) was an African American nurse, and a California real
estate entrepreneur and philanthropist. Born a slave in Georgia. Bridget was given to Robert Smith
and his bride as wedding present. After the marriage, Smith took his new wife and slaves to Mississippi. Missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints (Mormon) proselyted Mississippi.
They taught Smith and his family. The family converted. Slaves were not baptized into the Church as a matter of policy. Members
were encouraged to free their slaves. Smith chose not to. The Smith household joined
a group of other Church members from Mississippi to meet the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois in 1847. The group traveled to
Pueblo, Colorado and joined up with the sick detachment
from the Mormon Battalion[1]. They later joined the main
body of Mormons crossing the plains and settled in the Salt Lake Valley, Utah Territory. Church
leader Brigham Young sent a group of Saints to Southern
California in 1851. Robert Smith, family and slaves joined them in San Bernardino, California sometime later. Brigham Young
counseled Smith again to free Bridget and his other slaves before going to California. Bridget
was among a small group of blacks, free and slave, in the San Bernardino settlement. In 1856, when Smith was planning to move
to the slave state of Texas. Bridget, helped by friends, attempted
to escape from Smith. She, and a group of Smith's other slaves, traveled towards Los Angeles before Smith caught up with them. Mason petitioned a Los Angeles court for her freedom. A California
judge, Benjamin Hayes, granted her freedom as a resident
of a free state, as well as the freedom of the other slaves held captive by Smith (her three daughters, and ten other African-American
women and children). Bridget had no legal last name as a slave. After emancipation, she
chose to be known as Bridget Mason. Mason was the middle name of Amasa Lyman, Mormon Apostle and mayor of San Bernardino.
She had spent many years in the company of the Amasa Lyman household. Mason worked in Los Angeles as a nurse and midwife. Saving carefully, she was one of
the first African Americans to purchase land in the city. As a businesswoman she amassed a small fortune of nearly $300,000,
which she shared generously with charities. She was instrumental in founding a traveler's aid center, an elementary school
for black children, and was a founding member of First African Methodist Episcopal Church, the city's first and
oldest black church. Mason is an honoree in the California Social Work Hall of Distinction. Texas African American Photography
Archive
|