James H. Matson, a son of Edwin and Mary (Eberenz) Matson, was born March 4, 1851, in Wrightsville, Pennsylvania. After acquiring a good English education in the common schools of Delmar township, Tioga county, where his parents still reside, he took a course in the law department of the Michigan University at Ann Arbor. He taught school for a time and then finished his legal studies in the law office of Hon. Jerome B. Niles, Wellsboro, and was admitted to the bar May 4, 1880. In 1884, he was elected district attorney and served one term. On September 24, 1884, he purchased an interest in the Republican Advocate, of Wellsboro, and on January 13, 1886, assumed editorial control, continuing in that capacity until March 10, 1891, when he sold his interest to William L. Shearer, the present proprietor.

He then engaged in the insurance business in Wellsville and Syracuse, New York, until the fall of 1894, when he was made state agent for Connecticut of the Illinois Covenant Mutual Insurance Company, at New Haven, which position he retained until his death, March 14, 1897.

Mr. Matson was married November 25, 1880, to Mary Seaman, of Nauvoo, to which union there were born the following named children: Mildred Blanche, Anna Louise, Lillian Elva, Edwin Augustus and Elma Amelia, both deceased, and James Henry. In politics, Mr. Matson was an ardent Republican. For a number of years previous to his death he was a member of the official board of Grace Methodist Episcopal church, New Haven, Connecticut.

Retyped from "History of Tioga County, 1897" page 722

The James Henry Matson Family Album