THOMAS F. MUSSON.
So keen is present-day competition that he must be gifted with ability who can wrest success, if not fortune, from circumstances and environment, which in themselves do not seem promising, at least from a worldly viewpoint. To do this, and at the same time to leave a name that is honored even beyond the geographical limits of the home, and a memory that is cherished by family and friends alike, is perhaps the highest type of success; however quiet and obscure may have been the life. After all, may there not be other values higher than those by which a man is generally judged? And if so, who shall say this or that life is the more successful? As a lover of his home, as a business man, and as a loyal, God-fearing citizen, Thomas F. Musson, now deceased, will long be remembered by the community in which he passed the most of his life, and always with respect and esteem.
Thomas F. Musson was a native of England, born in December, 1835, the son of James Musson, who lived all of his life in England, and whose occupation was farming and stock raising. In 1865 Thomas F. Musson came to America, his brother, William, coming later. William Musson located in Des Moines, Iowa, and lived there until 1868. He died on January 11, 1900, leaving a widow, and four children, two sons and two daughters. William Musson was first a railroad man, having been for some time baggagemaster on the old Fort Dodge railroad, and later became station agent, a position he held for many years. Entering politics to some extent, he was elected, by the Republicans, county clerk of Polk county, Iowa, retaining that office for three terms. He died while filling the office of grand secretary of the grand lodge of Odd Fellows in Iowa.
Thomas F. Musson was still a young man when he arrived at Chicago. After engaging in the stock business at the Chicago stockyards for two years, he took up farm work in Madison, Iowa, and in 1876 came to Audubon county, where, the next year, he bought one and one-half sections of good land in Melville township and lived there for the next thirteen years. Selling this, he bought four hundred and eighty acres in Leroy township, known as the Barlow place, three miles east of Audubon, and later bought one-half section of land in Cook county, South Dakota. Mr. Musson was an expert on the subject of stock raising. He was a breeder of Hereford cattle, and of draft horses, and carried on an extensive business.
In 1878, Thomas F. Musson was married to Sarah Boone, whose family history is of more than the ordinary interest. She was born in Washington county, Indiana, a daughter of William Boone, who was related to Daniel Boone, that sturdy old pioneer who more than once escaped death at the hands of the Indians. William Boone's wife was Susannah Farnsley, of Harrison county, Indiana. William himself was born in Boone county, Iowa, the state to which his parents had migrated from Indiana in 1847, traveling with their household goods packed in two four-horse wagons and one two-horse wagon, twenty-five head of stock bringing up the rear. The journey was not as expeditious nor as comfortable as the modern Pullman, for it required four weeks and two days to cover the distance. In arriving at their destination, they found only a few log cabins in the settlement, which is now one of the largest and most thriving of the Western cities, Des Moines. Coming to a stretch of promising country, fifteen miles west of that place, they stopped their tired horses, untied the ropes from their weary cattle's necks, unpacked such personal and household belongings as were needed for immediate use. built a fire for their supper, and this was the beginning of the town named Boone. The rugged pioneer who was the father of a family to become well-known as early settlers, had previously chosen this site for his home, for he had made the same journey the previous year, and had bought a claim on Coon river. Not long after the first camp fire, he gathered together the necessary material and put up a two-story log cabin, the second story being considered a luxury in those days, and later built a more modern home. He always remained a farmer and stock raiser. It is not surprising that this enterprising man became the owner of a large tract of land, for aside from the advantages of being an early arrival, he possessed great energy and power of endurance. However the hard work and deprivations which are the lot of the pioneer told upon his health, for he died in 1854, at the early age of forty-nine, his widow's death not occurring until thirty-three years later. As early settlers, this family was, of course, very well known. Of a family of nine children, only two, Mrs. Musson and a sister, Mary, living in Montrose, California, survive. Mrs. Musson was the fourth child in the order of birth, and her surviving sister, the next to the youngest. The others were John, a farmer who lived in Boone, Iowa, and died in 1912; Florida, Francis, Martha, Margaret, Julia and Elizabeth. The family belonged to the Methodist Episcopal church.
To Thomas F. and Sarah (Boone) Musson were born six children, all but one of whom are living, as follows: John A., who lived at Audubon until his death on July 4, 1912, and is mentioned elsewhere in this volume; Mary, who married Fred A. Buthweg, a merchant of Audubon, a biographical sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume; Laura, who married J. E. Griffith, a druggist of Audubon; Bertha, who married Charles S. McCleran, of Audubon; Charles S., a dentist, also living in Audubon, and Susie, who lives at home with her mother.
Mr. Musson was, during the active period of his life, one of the notable farmers and stock raisers of this county. His prominence and popularity were not based upon the fact of his material possessions, but rather upon those estimable traits of character which attracted friends and strangers alike. He was gentle, charitable and hospitable, and had that priceless possession known as self-command. His religious faith was expressed in the tenets of the Episcopal church, but his wife retained her membership in the Presbyterian church of Audubon. Mr. Musson belonged to that solid, reliable class of citizens which can always be depended upon to do the right thing at the right time, and who will not allow personal interests to interfere with matters of duty where others are concerned. All who knew him respected him, and his death, on March 16, 1904, was a real loss to a neighborhood, he still being held in grateful and respectful remembrance by a large circle of friends and acquaintances.
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Transcribed from History of Audubon County, Iowa Its People, Industries and Institutions With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, by H. F. Andrews, editor, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1915, pp. 466-468.
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