The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1893-02-24
Obituary

Obituary
DIED: At his residence in TT.
Scott, Kans., on Thursday, Feb 8,
1893. at 9:25 a. M, Mr.. John PaXOn, in
the fifty-ninth year of his age, having
been born July 10, 1884.
The following biography was die
tated by the subject of the above an
nouncement short time before his
death:
IJohn PaXson was born July Is, 1884,
in the county of Bucks, State of Penn
splvania.
My fathers name was John; my
mothers name was Ann Ellis. When
/ was a little past four years of age,
my father with some neighbOrs moved
to Indiana, settling in the east part of
Wayne county, some ten miles from
the city of Richmond. This brings it
up to 1881. Following the great panic
of 1887 which involved the people in
great ruin, there was absolutely no
money in circulation, except a very
little silver, occasionally a bank bill
was seen; labOring men had to just
take what their employers would give
them. My father made the trip from
the banks of the Delaware river in a
little One-horse wagon, drawn by a
bObtail stage horse. The family con-
sisted of eight, four sons and two
daughters. When he landed in In
diana he had but $40 in money. They
brought their feather beds and few
such necessary articles. He rented a
small farm of poor land and in poor
neighborhOod, and on this we man
aged to live for three years, then NOV
ed to another place where we remain
ed some four years This brings the
time to 1916. So soon as any of the
children were old enough to be en-
ployed on farms or in the village they
went to work and their earnings con-
tributed to the support of the family.
When l was twelve years old (which
was this year, / took my place with
the rest and commenced my struggle
for living, working ON farms during
the summer and attending school for
about three months through the win
ter until | was fifteen, when our fami-
ly doctor took a fancy to me and want
ed me to come and live with him and
do his chores, attend to his horses and
such other work as he had for me to
do for my clothes and board and at
tend school while the common school
was in session, which was usually
about nine months in the year. l re-
manned with him about three years
and acquired a fair common school ed
ucation for the times. left him then
in May, 1852, spent the summer work
ing on farms. In October following,
carpetsack and umbrella in hand, |
walked one hundred miles into Miami
county, Ind, where my oldest sister
lived. That county was newly settled
and but little improved. Their means
of transportation was the old Wabash
and Erie Canal. l made the move for
the purpose of securing my first school,
which / did. / remained there about
ten months. During the summer /
worked at carpentering. In August /
returned home and entered an Acade-
my at Richmond for three months,
then procured a country school within
four miles of the city. At the end of
two months smallpox broke out and /
made my way to Edgar county, ILL.,,
spent the summer working in a lum-
Der yard and carpentering. In the
L
secure the same school / had taught
the winter before. In the spring l
went to Muncie, Ind, worked at car
pentering during the summer. In the
fall ! was taken sick with malarial
fever, returned home, secured a school
in the edge of Ohio.
In the spring Of 1856, with two car
petsacks of clothing and books, sixty
five dollars in money, which was the
savings of the last two years, / entered
the Quaker Academy at Blooming
dale-it was then in charge of b. &.
Hobbs, a well known educator of In
diana-where / attended one five
months term and part of two others,
supporting myself by such work as l
could do in the intervals of school and
other times. Ithen taught school and
did such work as came to hand for the
next three years.
October p, 1860. at Rockville, Ind,
/ was married to Mrs. Catharine Jane
Hamilton, a widow with two children.
Her maiden name was Simpson. Her
father was a man of some prominence
as a teacher and politician in that part
of the State We remained in Rock
vile about one year and half when
we moved onto a farm and stayed on
it until March, 1865, when we moved
TO Kansas, stopping in Allen county
where my wife's father and family had
settled some time previous. We set
tied on farm and remained there I'M
til 1869, when we moved to lola, coun-
ty seat of Allen county. During the
time we were on the farms we had
great deal of sickness in the family,
losing one child, and it was hard
struggle to make a comfortable living.
L was elected at general elections
to the following offices in lola, Allen
county, KaDs:
1857, County Assessor; 1868. Pro-
bate Judge; 1869, Clerk of the Dis
trict Court TO fill a vacancy; 1870, re-
elected Probate Judge, also Clerk of
the District Court for a full term. |
1872, reelected Probate Judge. After
that was elected to city offices at diff |
erent times. October Goth 1881, L |
received my first appointment in the |
Railway Mail Service of the u. S. |
k,eing the first Postal Clerk on the Fl. 1
Scott and Wichita Railroad.
| with my family moved to TT. |
scott. Kans., Jan. 18th, 1892. L ser