CASSIUS M. EDSON.

CASSIUS M. EDSON, late councilman of the city of Iola, representing the third ward, is one of Iola's new men. Prior to 1897 he was unknown to our people but in the four years he has resided in Allen county he has come to be one of the best known of our townsmen.

Mr. Edson was born in Richland county, Wisconsin, April 1, 1861. His father, James Edson, was one of the pioneers of that state, having settled there as an emigrant from the state of New York. He was born in the famous Cherry Valley in 1819 and died in Greenfield, Missouri, in 1875. His occupation was that of a carpenter and in 1871 he located in Missouri where he died. He offered his services to the Union at Lone

Rock, Wisconsin, but was rejected on account of physical disability. Five of his brothers were in the army, two of whom were killed at the battle of Chicksmauga. He was one of eight sons and seven daughters of E. B. Edson. The last named went into Cherry Valley, New York, from some point in old England where he was married to a Scotch lady.

James Edson married Dorcas E. Wood, a daughter of Samuel Wood, who as well as E. B. Edson, lived to be ninety years of age. Three children were the result of the marriage of James and Dorcas Edson: Cora, wife of Charles Wilman, of Joplin, Missouri; Cassius M., and Mark Edson, an electrician of Chicago, Illinois.

"Cash" Edson's youth was passed in the country, on the farm in summer and in school in winter. At fourteen years of age he worked for wages, contributing to his own maintenance, and at seventeen years of age he became a teacher. He taught a term each in Missouri and in Crawford county, Kansas, and at the close of his last term he secured a clerkship with S. H. Lanyon & Company at Pittsburg, Kansas. The Rogers Coal Company were also his employers and, finally, T. P. Waskey, of Pittsburg and Frontenac, secured his services. While with this last firm he received the appointment of post-master of Frontenac. He remained with the office through the Harrison administration and through Cleveland's second administration and was not molested till McKinley had served six months. He left the Mount Carmel Mercantile Company in September, 1897, to locate in Iola. He purchased the post-office news stand of the Miller Brothers and was its proprietor till the 1st of October. 1898.

While the history of this branch of the Edson family shows the early voters to have been Republican "Cash's" first vote was cast for Cleveland in 1884. He has persistently and repeatedly espoused the cause of Democracy, and its Fusion successor, and August 5, 1900, he was nominated at Yates Center by the Fusion forces for State Senator.

In politics and religion Mr. Edson stands for the most liberal notions and the greatest personal freedom and liberty of action. He holds that the proper method of controlling the liquor and other moral questions that enter the politics of live municipalities is to license them for revenue and permit the judgment of men to control their desires and appetites. Legislative restraint should not be placed upon any business which does not take from the public their unwilling dollars and which furnishes it with that which pleases the eye and gratifies the soul.

Mr. Edson was married July 20th, 1887, at Girard, Kansas, to Kate Cox, a daughter of David Cox, of Hillsboro, Iowa. Cora, Melvin and Dorothy Edson are the children of Mr. and Mrs. Edson.

Mr. Edson is an Elk, a Woodman, a Knight of Pythias, a Master Mason and an A. O. U. W.

Previous | Home | Next