... being moved to your house last friday--we are in a bad fix--I want you if you please to ride out to see what you will have don--if I was you I wood have the floor layed down with the plank not used--the whole of the cappenders work may be made in less than one day--and I ast John Parsons what the cappenders work wood be worth--he said about fourty dollars--and forty cents I believe wood be anough there is but three suns [?] worth--to lay the floor and weather bord the shed Sir you will please to ride out....[28] Mason had already acquired Colross, in Alexandria (see Appendix A.), by 1833, for in March of that year an estimate was submitted by Thos. Beale for: Labour and Materials, for repairs on the large Building North of the Town of Alexandria.... The estimate included plastering, painting, brickwork, erection of porches and porticos, and fencing of the property.[29] It is Colross with which Thomson F. Mason's name is normally linked. He died December 21, 1838, and was buried there. [Illustration: Figure 3. Detail from =Map of Eastern Virginia and Vicinity of Washington=, Arlington, January 1, 1862, Bureau of Topographic Engineers, Record Group 77, National Archives. Copy by Stuart C. Schwartz.] His will was probated on February 4, 1839,[30] with Mrs. Mason as executrix, though it was not recorded until February 18, 1839.[31] Seven days before his death Mason had written in his will: ... I devise all my estate real and personal in possession remainder or reversion or in expectancy to my beloved wife B.C.M. for her maintenance and support of our children during her life and widowhood.... For any aid or assistance which my wife may require in the management of my estate, I recommend her to my brother Richard C. Mason, and my most excellent friends Benjamin King and Bernard Hooe.... Though Thomson F. Mason had built Huntley, it never served as his permanent residence. It was occupied by a succession of renters, overseers and farmers. Mason's "excellent friend Benjamin King," a doctor, was to have a more personal connection with Huntley, however. King Ownership In November of 1859, Betsey C. Mason, having been authorized: ... by deed or will, to dispose of all or any part of his estate to their children or any of them, at such times and in such proportions as she may think just and prudent, and whereas, the said Betsey C. Mason deems if just and prudent to dispose of a portion of said estate to her said sons [John Francis and A. Pendleton] ... all that certain tract of land in the County of Fairfax and state of Virginia called "Huntley" and containing about one thousand acres....[32] At the same time Mrs. Mason transferred to her two sons: