John Mason (1586-1635), English colonizer in North America, born in King's Lynn, Norfolk. From 1615 to 1621 he was governor of an English colony at Conception Bay, Newfoundland. In 1622 he and another English colonizer, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, obtained from the Council for New England the province of Maine, which in 1629 was divided between them. At that time Mason also received another grant, extending from the Merrimack River to the Piscataqua River. To this area he gave the name New Hampshire. In 1635 Mason served as vice admiral for New England and as a judge in New Hampshire.