John Mason was my 9th great-grandfather via my great-grandmother, Mary Esther Harvey Reese. He is believed to have been the son of John Mason and Mary Eaton. He was born on the 6th of June 1657 in Dedham, Massachusetts, and married Hannah Hawes there in 1676.
If the results of my research is correct, they were the parents of Lydia Mason, wife of John Seymour III.
A book by Theodore West Mason, called "Family Record in our Line of Descent from Major John Mason of Norwich, Connecticut", gives the following information about the Mason name and it's history as follows on pages 5-6:
Maj. John Mason himself published a book as well, "A brief History of the Pequot War".