My great great grandfather, Jacob B. Erion, had a younger brother, John Matthew Erion. What follows is a snapshot of John's life after researching census reports, death indexes and newspapers. I have sourced my information. The words are my own except where indicated otherwise by quotation marks.
Lewis Independent, Lewis, Cass County, Iowa, January 2, 1884
“John M. Erion of Linn County, brother of the editor (Jacob B. Erion) is an Independent guest.”
(Source: http://www.iowaoldpress.com/index.html)
John M(atthew) Erion, born 25 Jun 1860 (Source: California Death Index, Ancestry.com) in Ohio was 18 years younger than his brother Jacob Benjamin Erion. He married Sarah Elizabeth (Lizzie) Chizum, (Source: 1900 United States Federal Census and Ancestry.com and World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918) a native of Indiana, on 4 Feb 1885. John and Lizzie farmed in Linn County, Iowa.
Sometime between the birth of their fourth child in May, 1896 and the taking of the 1900 United States census on 1 Jun 1900, the couple and their children moved to Prosper, Davison County, South Dakota. One last child, a son, is born to them in South Dakota in 1904. Then, according to an article in the 17 Mar 1906, Omaha World-Herald, John announced from Mitchell, Davison County, South Dakota, and his candidacy for the State Legislature, which he won.
A 16 Nov 1906 article in the Aberdeen Daily News states that Senator-Elect J. M. Erion was elected on the independent ticket. In a 30 Oct 1906 letter to the voters of Davison County, J. M. Erion said this:
“My principles are these – I stand squarely on the reform platform of the republican state convention which denounces trusts and combines in any and all forms that exact extortionate prices from consumers, especially such indispensable commodities as lumber and coal, and demand immediate legislation against such trusts and combines.”
Senator-Elect Erion was also in favor of an anti-pass law which prohibited public officials from riding on railroad passes, and he was in favor of a square deal which was in favor of both the consumer and the dealer.
In February, 1908, John Matthew Erion was elected president of the South Dakota Improved Livestock Association. (Source: Aberdeen Daily News, 1 Feb 1908)
In the fall of 1913, Mr. Erion lost forty-six head of registered Chester White hogs. Still president of the South Dakota Improved Live Stock and Poultry Breeders’ association, he sought the advice of an expert from Iowa. Autopsies were done on two of the hogs which revealed that their lungs were badly diseased. It was felt that the long dry spell that South Dakota had been experiencing had led to the hogs’ inhalation of dust which caused severe irritation. A great sigh of relief was felt throughout Davison County. The farmers there initially thought their hogs were dying of hog cholera. (Source: Aberdeen Daily News, 22 Oct 1913)
The 1910 through 1930 United States censuses still show John and Lizzie Chizum living and farming in Davison county, South Dakota, the number of children still living at home slowly dwindling as the years pass. After the death of his wife Sarah Elizabeth (Lizzie) on 03 Jan 1936 (Source: South Dakota Department of Health. Index to South Dakota Death Records, 1905-1955. Pierre, SD, USA: South Dakota Department of Health), John Matthew Erion apparently moved to Los Angeles, California, because it was there on 08 Dec 1940, that John Matthew Erion, passed way in Los Angeles, California. (Source: Social Security Death Index, Ancestry.com) John’s youngest daughter, Jessie Beulah Erion Blackman (1896-1955) (Source: 1900 United States Federal Census and Ancestry.com. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918) had moved to Los Angeles County, California, with her husband Paul F. Blackman and their son, Paul F. Blackman, Jr. sometime between the enumeration of the 1920 and 1930 censuses. All other children stayed in South Dakota. John Matthew Erion and his wife, Lizzie, lost one daughter, Bessie B. Erion Taylor, who died before 1918 leaving her husband, Halbert Taylor (Source: Ancestry.com. South Dakota Marriages, 1905-1949) with four children to raise. (Halbert eventually married again, in 1926, at the age of 46, to 24 year old Naoma Schultz. [Source: Ancestry.com. South Dakota Marriages, 1905-1949])
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