J. S. Matson    

J. S. MATSON, train dispatcher, Meadville, was born in Chautauqua County, N. Y., November 6, 1853, and is a son of Charles and Helen (Canfield) Matson, natives of New York and of English descent. His father in early life was a farmer, latterly a railroad man, and is now a conductor on the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio Railroad. Our subject, who is the eldest of a family of four children, was educated in the graded schools of Jamestown, N. Y. At the age of eleven he went into a telegraph office, applying himself with such diligence to the study of telegraphy that in six months he commenced as night operator in Cambridge, this county; he was then sent as operator to Corry, Penn., where he remained two years. In 1870 he was appointed assist­ant to train dispatcher at Meadville, and in 1872 was promoted to train dis­patcher, which business he has followed until present writing, except for one year, when he was passenger conductor on the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio Railroad. He was married in 1875, to Rachel Brish, of Tiffin, Ohio, and they have one child—William Paul. Mr. Matson is in politics a Republican; he is a member of the Royal Arcanum. Since eleven years of age he has made his own way in the world.

History of Crawford County, Pennsylvania: containing a history of the county, its townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, etc., portraits of early settlers and prominent men, biographies, history of Pennsylvania, statistical and miscellaneous matter, Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co., 1885, page 753

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