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Edwin Matson, son of Zebah Weed Matson and Lydia Merritt Matson, both natives of Connecticut, was born January 21, 1815. Some sources indicate he was born in Chenango County, New york, and others indicate his birth was in Connecticut. I haven't learned if Edwin had any siblings, however the possibility exists that a brother may have been Horton.
Edwin married Mary Eberenz, the daughter of pioneer William Eberenz and Mary Ann Hoover. William, born about 1801 in Baden, Germany, came to Tioga county in 1817, marrying Mary Ann, daughter of Dr. Samuel Hoover. Edwin and Mary had 7 children: Aurelia, John Wesley, William E., Mary, James Henry, Charles E., and Edwin, Jr., born between the years 1838 and 1858. John Wesley was my Great-Great Grandfather.
John Wesley and Matilda Loretta Bacon were married March 29, 1864, in Troy, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, in the parsonage of the First Presbyterian Church. They were the parents of identical twin daughters, Alla Fidelia and Anna Aurelia, born in the first hour of the first day of 1865, in Tioga County, Pennsylvania. Newspaper accounts during their seventieth birthday in Cleveland, Ohio, tell the story that they were the first twins born in Tioga County, and people came from miles around to see the babies, much like the Dionne quints. John and Matilda, who was the daughter of James Bacon and Fidelia Rice of Cherry Flats, Tioga County, Pennsylvania, also had a son, William James Matson, who was tragically shot in Cleveland, Ohio, by a stray bullet, in 1887. Alla Fidelia was my Great-Grandmother.
The family lived for the first few years of their marriage, in Tioga County. In about 1872, they left for the Cleveland, Ohio, area, where they spent the remainder of their lives. The twins were inseparable, even having homes after their marriages on the same property as their parents home in Leroy township, Ohio.
Alla had in her possession a very old family photo album. It was one of the pictures in this album that gave me the clue to this family. We really knew nothing of the family history in Pennsylvania, other than having a picture of a house, which is the background of this page, and knowing the name Matson. One of the pictures in the album had the name William E. Matson written on the back. I took the picture home and scanned it into my computer and began to study the picture. It was a civil war picture, which I hadn't realized at first. On the back was the name of the unit he was in, which wasn't readable until I enlarged the picture. From that information, I was able to contact a woman who was researching the unit. She told me he had been killed in the war in 1864, but was unable to tell me anything about him. She did have a suggestion for me, however, and that was to contact the National Archives and request his pension papers. When I received those, I learned who the family was, and that he was my Great-Great Grandfather's brother. From there, with some help from a volunteer in Tioga County, who I contacted through the Tioga/Bradford/Chemung County internet site, I was able to piece together the beginnings of an interesting family history.
The papers mentioned the township of Delmar, which I wasn't familiar with previously. I located the Delmar link, and found an article, A Story of a Lovely Valley. Much to my amazement, a paragraph in the story referred to the house of Edwin Matson. The family was becoming alive for us. Since then, September, 1997, I've learned a tremendous amount of information about the family and it's history. My mother and I have visited Tioga county, and Bradford county, found the beautiful house, which is now the clubhouse of the Tioga County Country Club. The owners graciously allowed us to tour the house and sit on the porch and imagine our ancestors over 100 years ago looking out at the lovely valley. It was an experience we both will never forget. We also found the church John Wesley and Matilda were married in.
The photograph album had very few identified pictures. My great-grandma had written in pencil on the first page, that the album was 78 years old. Unfortunately, she didn't tell the date that she wrote it! There are pictures we know are the twins, and they are identified - twins, 61 years ago - same twins, 58 years ago - etc. One picture says "From Eddie to You", so I am assuming it must be Edwin Matson, Jr. There are two pictures of William, and I believe one other picture of Edwin, Jr. The rest are unidentified. It is my hope that someone may recognize their ancestor in the photographs on the pages to follow. If the photographer and location are known, I have indicated this. Some are from Ohio, but they are so old I believe they were of people born in the Tioga County area. If anything at all is familiar to anyone, please email me.
Alla Matson’s Photo Album
More Matson Family Photos
Letter adressed to Edwin Mattison of Wrightsville, York County, Penn., dated July 1st 1847 and delivered by pony express!
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Front of letter. It was folded up so that the address showed on the front, along with the postmark.
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Letter back.
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This letter is actually written by 2 men. The first is Uri Lake, and the second is E. D.(?) Brown. The letter was posted in Oxford, NY. The letter mentions Manchester, NY. Historical information: Manchester was the name of Ansonia, Pennsylvania. Edwin Matson worked there in the lumbering business. He had a farm in Delmar and was living and working in Wrightsville, PA also in the lumbering business.
If you would like to see a larger image of the letter, please click each picture. If you’d like to read the letter without having to strain your eyes, click here and download a PDF file of the letter, translated as closely as we could get it.
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For an interesting article titled "Cellar Holes", follow this link. It is a story about the families who lived in the houses that are now only "cellar holes" in the Simsbury, Connecticut area. One of those families was the Asa Matson family.
The pages are scanned from a magazine The Lure of the Litchfield Hills and are slow-loading.
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