Submitted by Wayne Pearson

Charles August Pearson
Written by Robert Pearson

     Charles was born in the province of Smolan, Sweden, August 31, 1859, the son of Per Johan and Anna Britta(Larsson) Petersson. Per lived his entire life in Sweden as a farmer and died in 1894. Anna died in 1902.
     When Charles was nine years old he came to the United States with a friend of the family, by ship to Hull, England, by train to Liverpool where they were able to get passage on a freighter to New York where he was met by his uncle John Johnson (his mother's brother) and taken to their farm in Shady Grove, Iowa. He lived with his Uncle until nineteen years old, receiving his education in Iowa state schools and helping his uncle on the farm. He then went to work on a farm in Illinois, then to Door county, Wisconsin where he worked for two years as a logger. In 1881 he went to Colorado to work for the railroad and later to Idaho still with the railroad.
     In July of 1883 he came to Klickitat county, Washington and secured a tract of railroad land for a farm, filing on it later when it reverted to the government. He built a cabin, barn and started clearing the land. On April 8, 1887 he married Susanna Stoller, whose family were early settlers. Children born to the family are Emma, Carl, Elva, Orin and George.
     In 1886 he secured a voting precinct for the valley and in the fall the general election was held in his cabin. In 1887 he established a post office with the name of Trout Lake. He served as justice of the peace, road supervisor and for twelve years as clerk of the school board.
     In 1930 he turned over the farm to his son George and in 1934 his wife Susanna died. He returned to Sweden in 1936 to visit his sister and her family whom he had never seen but had been writing to for many years. He died in 1946 in Trout Lake, Washington.

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©  Jeffrey L. Elmer