My grandfather, Axel Edward Matson, was born in Upsala, Sweden December 18, 1875.  He lived with his four brothers Oscar, Rick, John, and Bob as he affectionately called them, and his five sisters Alma, Emma, Tilly, Yerda, and Sigrid (who died as a small child.)  There was also an adopted boy named Johan Wilhelm Bargston.  Their home was on the outskirts of Upsala, not too far from a rock quarry which was owned by his father.  There his father quarried the grey granite from the mountain and hauled it to town where his partner built large buildings with it.  Grandfather (Ed) says he used to walk to the quarry every day at noon time to take lunch to his father.  They made quite a lot of money at this business.  Before this time his father had been a blacksmith and at one time a master mechanic on the railroad in Sweden.

The children were educated in a large Catholic school at Upsala [1], but his parents would not allow them to learn the creeds of the Catholic people so they were allowed to play out-of-doors while the Catholic children participated in their religious activities.  As children they used to play around the ruins of an old castle on a hill near their home.  The underground passages especially fascinated him.

The family joined the L.D.S. church while in Sweden and decided to come to America.  Oscar and Tilly came first in 1882.  The family left Upsala when my grandfather was about 10 years old, leaving behind them the adopted son, Johan Bargston (he was about 16 years old.)  They went first to Stockholm and visited and toured the city.  Then on to Denmark to wait for an emmigrant ship at Copenhagen.  He still remembers seeing the parks which are said to be some of the most beautiful in the world.  He remembers especially the graceful black swans and the many windmills.  After arriving in New York City, it took them 10 days to get to Ogden by immigrant train - they rode in box cars.

The family lived in Ogden for about 4 years.  Grandfather went to school part of one year!  In April he began herding cows and herded all summer.  For 2 weeks he watched a coal office and weighed coal and answered the telephone.  When he was 12 years old he had typhoid fever for about 4 weeks.  The most of the time while in Ogden he stayed at home and herded cows.  In 1884 the family left Ogden about 10AM and arrived in Pocatello at midnight.  At Pocatello they had to wait while the train was jacked up and the wheels adjusted to a narrow gauge track.  The family settled in La Belle, Fremont County, Idaho where they engaged in farming.  Grandfather went to work for the railroad - helping build the bridges and stations from Lorenzo to West Yellowstone.  He was foreman of the crew who built the water tower in St. Anthony, Idaho.

He married Clarissa May Crapo 12 December 1898 and two children were born to this union;  Lorenzo Edward 7 September 1899 and Ida Belle 16 September 1901.  Clara died of diphtheria 4 August 1902 leaving the two small children "Ren" almost 3 years old and Ida just 11 months old.  They were cared for by their grandparents John and Christina Matson until November 1911 when both grandparents died just a week apart, John (18 Nov. 1911) of pneumonia and Christina (25 November 1911.)  The two children went then to live with John and Ethel whose only child had died at birth.

Grandfather then married Jennie May Sanders 14 March 1904 at Annis, Idaho where he owned a 40 acre farm.  To this union was born two children; a girl Ethel Edna, born 13 March 1905 and Wallace J. 16 July 1908.  "Jennie was a good cook," says grandpa.  She worked as a cook on the railroad and he as foreman of a crew building bridges and stations on the "cutoff" to Burley.  Later they moved to Fruitland, Oregon where they bought a farm.

  The picture to the right is typical of the many railroad stations he helped to build in bringing the network of railroads to Idaho.  Grandpa is on the far left.

Ethel died of tuberculosis 12 October 1931 just two months after Ida had died in Idaho of asthma (16 August 1931).  Ethel Edna had been engaged to be married, but passed away before her marriage date.  Ida had left a husband, Ray I. Browning, and two small children Helen and Gene.

Later it was discovered that Jennie, his wife had a rare paralytic disease called Parkinson disease which slowly paralyzed the entire body.  She was an invalid almost 10 years, dying 18 December 1942 and was cremated at Portland, Oregon.

Grandfather sold his farm in Oregon to pay the many doctor bills that had accumalated and the burial expenses.  He sold newspapers for a while and then took a job as gardener at a large hospital in Vancouver, Washington.  It was while working at the hospital that he met Florence Margaret Bills who was also working there as a cleaning woman.  They were married 23 November 1944 and lived at 3412 Harney Street in Vancouver, Washington.  They sold their home the fall of 1962 and moved to an apartment at 710 W. 29th Street in Vancouver where they now live.

December 27, 2001:  Added the footnote.
July 11, 2001:  Fixed a couple of typos.
March 24, 2001:  Replaced the Jerome railroad station picture with a thumnail of a much better copy.
August 14, 1999:  Transcribed by Matt Young from a copy of a handwritten document by Phyllis (Matson) Peterson.  Spelling and punctuation are original.