To James Madison from Thomas Deye Owings and Others, 8 October 1816
From Thomas Deye Owings and Others
Montgomery County Mt Sterling Octr. 8th. 1816
To the president of the United States, the undersigned beg leave to represent—That the recent death of the Honble. H. Innes has occasioned a vacancy in the Federal Judiciary in this State. To fill this vacancy we recommend John T. Mason of Lexington as a fit person we consider him well qualified for the station.
He has recvd a liberal Education, and spent several years in the Study & practice of Law. He has been a resident in this State for upwards of Four years. During the late war he has become generally known to the people of the State, and become remarkable for his patriotic zeal, and devotion to the republican cause. His integrity talents, and agreeable manners as a Gentleman, are universally admired.
And we have no hesitation in saying that his appointment to this office would be highly satisfactory to the people of this state, and be entirely agreeable to the Honble. Judge with whom he will be associated.
RC (DNA: RG 59, LAR, 1809–17, filed under “Mason”). Enclosed in Joseph H. Hawkins to JM, 13 Oct. 1816.
1. Baltimore County-born Thomas Deye Owings (1776–1853) moved to Kentucky in 1795 to oversee the properties and business ventures of his father, John Cockey Owings. As colonel of the Twenty-Eighth Regiment of Infantry, he served with distinction in the Northwestern theater during the War of 1812 and later moved to Texas, where he raised troops to support its independence in 1836 (Ferdinand B. Focke, “Thomas Deye Owings of Maryland: Soldier and Pioneer of the West; A Record of His Life,” Maryland Historical Magazine 30 [1935]: 39–41).