Job Matteson

JOB MATTESON.

Eighty-six years complete the present life span of Jolt Matteson. one of the venerable and respected citizens of Wyandot county, and an honored pioneer who for nearly sixty years has resided in the township of Salem. He has lung been one of the substantial! farmers and progressive men of the community in which he resides, but of late, by reason of infirmities incident to advancing age, he has been living a life of honorable retirement.

Mr. Matteson is a native of New York and the son of Job and Malinda Matteson, who were born in New Hampshire and Vermont respective! v. W hen twenty-two years of age. Job Matteson, Sr., went to Genesee county. X. Y., where he entered a tract of land and engaged in farming. He lived in the Elm pi re state until 1829. when he migrated to Marion county, Ohio, thence, three years later, to Michigan, where he lived several years and then returned to Ohio, and made his home with his son. the subject of the sketch. He was an intelligent man.

only fairly successful in his wordly affairs, but rich in the elements of good citizenship.. A Whig m politics, he took great interest in public affairs, and as a member of the Baptist church exercised a wholesome influence upon all with whom he was acquainted: he died in Salem township, aged seventy-five years and six months. Mrs. Matteson, also-a pious Baptist and woman of great force of character, died in her forty-fourth year, loved and respected by a large circle of friends and neighbors.

Job Matteson, the direct subject of this article, was born January 4, 1815. in Genesee county. X. Y., and at the age of fk teen accompanied his parents to Mari,.u county, Ohio. Three years later his mother died, after which sad event the home ties were severed and he went to live with an uncle. He remained with that relative until twenty-one years old. when he man led Miss Hannah Messenger, of Marion county. and rented land which he tilled for a period of six years. At the expiration of that time. 111 1842, he moved to Wyandot county and settled on the Indian Reservation in Salem township, leading land from the red men, between whom and himself a feeling of friendship and amity at once sprung up. He remained on the land until the Indian title was extinguished and then purchased from the government eighty acres, at two and a half dollars per acre, which he at once began to improve. Five years later he bought an eighty-acre tract adjoining his original purchase and the same has since made it his home. Mr. Matteson. in May. 1868. ex- ]>perienced a sad liercavement in the death or his faithful and devoted wife, who was called away at the age of forty-eight years and bx months. She was a consistent mem!>er of the Church of God and became the mother of nine children, namely: Susan, who married James Karr, now residing’ in Kansas; Eunice, wife of Nelson Wolf, of Marion county, Ohio; Antha. deceased wife of Daniel Boone; Malinda, also dead, married Clay Parson; Mary became the wife of Amos j Ewing; Minerva, wife of Sylvanus Coats, is: dead; Lafayette is a farmer and stock-raiser, buyer and shipper, of Wyandot county; Olive married Charles Rouse, of Kansas City, Mo.; Newton J.. a noted horse trainer and dealer in horses living in the state of Illinois; Qrren and Allen, twins, are dead.

On the 15th day of November. 1869, Mr. -Matteson married his present wife, whose maiden name was Miss Sarah (Maxwell) Scott. Her birth occurred in Pennsylvania, March 17, 1829. Her first husband was John Scott, by whom she became the mother of three daughters, as follows: Alice, who became the wife of William Kelley. an employe of the Pittsburg. Ft. Wayne & Chicago Railway Company at Ft. Wavne, IihI.; Belle is the wife of Charles Cryderman, a farmer and stock raiser of Solomon, Kan.; Mary Jane is the wife of Hiram Bogard. a resident of Wyandot count v, Ohio. Mr. Scott was a veteran of the Civil war. Air. and Mrs. Matteson are the parents of two children, as follows: Isaiah Franklin, one of the prominent educators of Wvandot county, at the present time a professor in the Upper Sandusky schools; he was graduated from Ada College in 1897 and i> noted for his scholarly attainments and professional ability. Ira. who is represented in this review.

Mr. Matteson has been a Republican ever since the organization of the party and with the exception of justice of the peace for fifteen years he has not held office nor aspired to public honors of any kind. For many years he. has been a pious member of the Church of God and it was in the little school-house built on his land in an early day that religious services were first held in the part of the county where he now lives. Mrs. Matteson also belongs to the above church and. like her husband, is noted for a deep devotional spirit and a consecration to every moral and religious duty. Mr. Matteson named his home township of Salem. As stated in a preceding paragraph, Mr. Matteson is one of the few pioneers of Wyandot nowliving and his life since coming here has been very closely interwoven with the growth and development of the county. He recalls with pleasure the time when the county was new and the red men were his nearest neighbors, when the few settlers' cabins were but breaks in the dense forest and hard labor and many privations were the ck minn lot of all. Elis leading aim had been to provide well for his own and do good to others, and those who have reason to know are authority for the statement that no one has dispensed his means with more liberal hand to the deserving poor than has the large-hearted, generous Job Matteson. He early realized the necessity of good citizenship and with strong mind and determined purpose addressed himself to the bringing about of this deserved result. ET i s life has l>een a power for good and his influence has always been exerted in behalf of whatever tended to promote morality and religion in hi> neighborhood. When a mere boy lie determined to become a good man and useful citizen, and

' ' ' that he lias successfully carried out his original intentions is attested by a long life fraught with so many beneficent results to humanity. He has always been optimistic enough to look upon the bright side, and, unlike the majority of old men. he still retains much of his youthful spirit and is popular with all who know him. He has indeed borne well his part and now as life wants and he proceeds toward the twilight and the journey's end, he carries with him the respect and love of numerous friends whose prayers are that his years may yet be many in the land of the living.

As printed in Biographical memoirs of Wyandot County, Ohio : to which is appended a comprehensive compendium of national biography ... embellished with portraits of many national characters and well known residents (1902). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.