During much of GW’s lifetime there were three George Masons living within eight miles of Mount Vernon. Col. George Mason of Gunston Hall, who appears regularly in the diaries as “Col. Mason,” had a son named George Mason (1753–1796), who lived near his father in Mason’s Neck at Lexington. This George was called George Mason of Lexington, and sometimes George Mason, Jr. A third George Mason, first cousin of Col. George Mason of Gunston Hall, lived near Pohick Creek, where in 1782 he owned one tithable slave (HEADS OF FAMILIES, VA description begins Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790: Virginia; Records of the State Enumerations, 1782 to 1785. 1908. Reprint. Baltimore, 1970. description ends ., 18). This George was called George Mason of Pohick and. to distinguish him from his elder cousin and neighbor Col. George Mason, was also sometimes called George Mason, Jr. (COPELAND description begins Pamela C. Copeland and Richard K. MacMaster. The Five George Masons: Patriots and Planters of Virginia and Maryland. Charlottesville, Va., 1975. description ends , 88).