My Genealogy Hound

R. M. PEARSON; P. O. Troy; one of the prominent men of this township; is a son of Joseph Pearson, and now lives in the house in which he was born, April 23, 1832; was raised to farming until 18, during which time he obtained a fair education; he then followed wagon-making at Covington three years, abandoning the same from failing health; June, 1853, went to Iowa, and in the spring of 1854, went to Ft. Kearney, where he was wounded by a ball passing through his foot; he then went to Ft. Laramie in a wagon, and during the twelve-days’ journey suffered much pain; the August following, went by ox team to Ft. Leavenworth, Kan., thence by boat to St. Louis, arriving at Iowa in a weak condition, where he met with another accident, and, returning to Ohio, recovered his health under the skill of Dr. Cable, of Covington; from 1855 to 1857 he worked at carpentering, etc., in Iowa; he then made a trip of 170 days across the plains to California, via the beautiful Thousand Spring Valley, during which they had frequent encounters with the Indians; he located in Bent Co., and unsuccessfully followed mining seven years, during this time he often assisted to defend the settlers from the Indians; he has a vivid recollection of the great earthquake in Colorado, March 5, 1864; he also worked six months in a quartz-mill in Plum Co.; from there went to Portland, Ore., landing with 25 cents in his pocket; from here went up the Columbia River to Dalles City, where they packed their horses with supplies and made the trip of 400 miles to Boice Basin, Idaho, on foot, suffering much from snow and rain; here he commenced work April, 1864, in the mines; after a few days labor, he was taken with the measles, and for twelve days lay in shelter made by shoveling away the deep snow, during which time his doctor’s two trips per day was $16 each; he was then taken to town on a mule, but did not recover sufficiently to labor until the next July, when he became freight manager of the mines for four and a half months at $210 per month; the following spring, he bought a claim and worked until the fall of 1867, when he sold out and quit mining, having suffered the hardships of a miner’s life for ten years; he then returned home via Portland, San Francisco, Central America and New York; he followed the saw-mill and lumber business seven years, but has since been occupied in farming; is a member of the A., F. & A. M., Franklin Chapter, R. A. M. and Coleman Commandery, No. 17, Troy, Ohio, of which he is a standard bearer. Married Jane McCurdy Sept. 3, 1868; they have four children— Lydia J., born Sept. 19, 1869; Ida May, Dec. 21, 1870; Eliza D., Feb. 23, 1873; William H. H., Oct. 11, 1875.