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Note: 1. Remembrances by Aileen Weems (John Mathison's granddaughter): I was told that John Henry Bean Mathison was a gambler and actually left Maine to get a fresh start "in the west". However, he continued to gamble. He had a store of some kind, a mercantile or hardware store or something and one night he literally gambled it away. From that time on he would never play any kind of cards (except when he played "Flinch" with me) or gamble in any way because he was so devastated at his loss. He had a wooden leg. He went every so often to 'the city' (Helena?) to have it adjusted or re-fitted. He usually took the train. 2. From remembrances by Nonie Mathison (married to grandson, Jack Mathison): The story I have always heard about John Henry Bean's leg was that he was quite a gambler and one night he won quite a lot of money. They lived a few miles out of Clancy, Montana at that time and he was going home in his wagon when some men jumped out of the woods to rob him. It scared his horse and John fell backwards off the seat and his leg was up in the air and they shot him in the knee. They took his leg off and someone made him a peg leg which he got around on for years. When they started making artificial limbs, he got one. It felt so good to him that he went out and walked many miles. It made a sore on his leg and he got a blood clot and that is what he died from. 3. Newspaper items: **Anaconda Standard dated July 16, 1902: Mathison Doing Nicely Special Dispatch to the Standard Helena, July 15 -- J. H. B. Mathison, the man who was assaulted and shot in the leg by an unknown man near Basin the other day is doing nicely since his leg was amputated. The nurse who has charge of him at St. Peters Hospital said the other day that in all probability the man would be up and about in three weeks. **Anaconda Standard dated July 17, 1902: Kilbride Before Mathison Special Dispatch to the Standard Helena, July 16 -- John Kilbride was brought to Helena to-day and confronted with John Mathison, who was shot and robbed near Basin a few days ago. Mathison identified Kilbride as the man whom he suspected of taking his harness at Butte, but could not identify him as the man who committed the murderous assault upon him. 4. From remembrances by Aileen Paulson Weems, granddaughter: " I don't remember my grandparents very much as they only visited us in California once when I was 8 or 9. I had the mumps while they were here and I remember my grandfather playing "Flinch" with me when I had to stay home from school. I remember that it was the first time either of them had seen the Pacific Ocean. We went to Pismo beach and went clamming. Grandpa thoroughly enjoyed it -- he had a wooden leg (due to an accident when he was much younger) and so without his shoes he waded in the ocean with a peg leg. I remember that the clams were too small to keep (legally), but after initially throwing them away, my father went back and retrieved them because he knew it might be the only time my grandparents would get to taste fresh clams. I know this bothered my mother and father (to do something illegal), and they felt bad about it, but my grandparents appreciated tasting the clams. When I was 17 we went to Glacier Park in Montana for a family reunion and I saw them then." 5. More remembrances by Aileen Weems, granddaughter (12/980): John Henry Bean owned a store of some kind (hardware or mercantile?) in Montana and he gambled it all away one night. From that time on he wouldn't allow a playing card in the house and he didn't gamble again. Instead he went to work for the railroad (I think he shoveled the coal) until he retired. Also, when he was older, he got a goiter on his neck. He didn't have enough money to have an operation for it, but he did have enough to go by train to the Mayo Clinic where they performed a procedure to "draw" the goiter out. It was quite painful. In their later years, John Henry and Avie were cared for by their granddaughter, Violet (Maude's daughter), until their deaths. 6. Census information: *From 1900 census, Jefferson Co., MT (Twp. #3), dated 9 June 1900, ED 45, sheet 4 (microfilm): Mathison, John, head, w, m, b. May 1853, 47, m. 16 yrs., b. ME, father b. ME, mother b. ME, teamster, rents home Abbie(sic-Avie), wife, w, f, b. Jan 1863, 37, m. 16 yrs., 7 children, 6 living, b. ME, parents b. ME Mary, daughter, w, f, b. May 1884, 16, s, b. ME, parents b. ME Agnes, daughter, w, f, b. Sep 1887, 12, s, b. ME, parents b. ME Maudie, daughter, w, f, b. July 1889, 10, s, b. ME, parents b. ME Ethel, daughter, w, f, b. Nov 1891, 8, s, b. MT, parents b. ME Harry, son, w, m, b. May 1893, 7, s, b. MT, parents b. ME Edith, daughter, w, f, b. Feb 1895, 5, s, b. MT, parents b. ME *From 1910 census, 2nd Ward, Great Falls, Cascade Co., MT, ED 29, Sheet 14B, family 265 (microfilm image): Matheson, John, head, m, w, 56, married 27 yrs., b. ME, father b. ME, mother b. ME, laborer, railroad, rents home Arie [sic-Avie], wife, f, w, married 27 yrs., mother 8 children, 7 living, b. ME, father b. ME, mother b. ME Harry, son, m, w, 17, single, b. MT, father b. ME, mother b. ME, laborer, railroad Ethel, daughter, f, w, 19, single, b. MT, father b. ME, mother b. ME, telephone, railroad Edith, daughter, f, w, 15, single, b. MT, father b. ME, mother b. ME, attended school Charles, son, m, w, 9, single, b. MT, father b. ME, mother b. ME, attended school *From 1920 census, Great Falls, Cascade Co., MT, ED 32, Sheet 10B, Ward 2, dated 12 Jan 1920 (microfilm image): Mathison, John, head, owns home free & clear, m, w, 67, married, b. ME, father b. ME, mother b. ME, laborer for railroad Mathison, Eva [sic-Avie], wife, f, w, 57, married, b. PA [sic], father b. PA [sic], mother b. PA [sic] *From 1930 census, Great Falls, Cascade Co., MT, ED19, Sheet 20B, Pct. 27: Mathison, John, head, owns home, $2,000, m, w, 76, married at 32 [sic], b. ME, father b. ME, retired Avie, wife, f, w, 66, married at 18, b. ME, father b. ME Violet, granddaughter, f, w, 16, single, attended school, b. MT, father b. KS, mother b. ME
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