Rezin B. Wasson
Fortunate is he who has back of him an ancestry honorable and distinguished, and happy is he that his lines of life are cast in harmony there-with. The late Rezin B. Wasson, a well-remembered and highly-honored citizen of Wayne County, Ohio, was blessed in this respect, as he sprang from two prominent families distinguished in the early annals of what geographers are usually pleased to designate as the "Middle West" and since the early pioneer epoch the name he bore has been one of which present-day descendants may well be proud. He was born on his father's farm in Wayne township, this county, two and one-half miles northeast of Wooster, March 28, 1833, the second son of David Wasson, who was of sterling English descent. The great-grandfather of Rezin B. emigrated to the United States from England during the last half of the eighteenth century, and settled in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, where Joseph Wasson, grandfather of Rezin B., was born March 27, 1775. He was married at Lewistown, that state, July 10, 1800, to Jane McConahay, sister of David McConahay. Her father, who came to Wayne county, Ohio, in 1816, served as one of the early associate judges of the common pleas court of Wayne county in 1819, also serving two terms in the General Assembly of the state of Ohio in succession, having been first elected in 1826. He was the father-in-law of Ephraim Quinby, long since deceased.
It was as early as 1819 that Joseph Wasson moved with his family to Wayne county, Ohio, first settling in Greene township, and the same year he purchased what was then known as the Davison farm and owned by David Wasson, father of Rezin B., at the time of his death in 1882. David Wasson, the third son of Joseph Wasson and father of Rezin B., was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and came here with his father in the year mentioned in the preceding paragraph. He married, on June 3, 1830, Margaret Beall, a niece of General Beall, for whom Rezin Beall Wasson, of this review, was named. It will be remembered that General Beall was the first representative in Congress after Ohio had been admitted to the Union in 1803, from the district of which Wayne county.is now a part, having served from 1813 to 1815. He was commissioned a brigadier-general in the war of 1812; he served as clerk of the supreme and common pleas court, and when the position of register of the land office for the Wooster land district became vacant in 1814, he resigned his seat in Congress to accept the appointment.
Rezin B. Wasson spent his boyhood days on the old home place, where he assisted with the work when he became of proper age, learning many valuable lessons that assisted him in the later battles of life and laying by an excellent store of potential energy that resulted in a strong, virile manhood, for he had plenty of hard work in connection with the clearing and developing of the farm, and he very faithfully and uncomplainingly performed well his just share of the same. When nineteen years of age his boyish imagination was fired by tales of gold in California, and, not having any capital of his own, he borrowed a small sum and bravely struck out, "like a tramp," as he later explained, toward the trackless plains of the arid West beyond which lay the "sundown seas." This feat alone is enough to stamp him as one possessed of no usual amount of courage and the innate qualities that win. On March 10,1852, he left Wooster, making his way to Mansfield, thence by rail to Shelby, thence to Cincinnati, thence by steamboat to St. Louis, with numerous companions whom he did not know previously, all bent on reaching the Eldora in the West; they went on to Lexington, Missouri, and other Missouri river points on the steamer "Pontiac," an old condemned vessel, which blew up in a turn of the river, killing one hundred and thirty Mormons and other passengers, including the captain and pilot, Mr. Wasson and a few other passengers escaping by reason of the fact that they had only a few moments before left the boat. He sought and found employment with a farmer at Independence, a village a few miles west of Lexington, where the explosion occurred, with whom he remained for a time, learning his first lessons in ox-teaming from the old planter. He then worked for a company who had a contract with the government for freighting corn, flour and other materials and provisions to one of the frontier posts, and while in the employ of the company managed to get as far west as Fort Laramie, where he met a man who had collected a large drove of sheep with the object in view of driving them over the plains and across the Rockies to Salt Lake and young Wasson went with him as a driver and herder, the distance being over seventeen hundred miles and through a very wild region, overrun with savages and through which there were only dim trails in places, the way being perilous for many reasons, partly from the Indians and partly from white bandits. The trip was made without serious mishap, and in the city of the Mormons Mr. Wasson remained for a fortnight, during which time he heard President Brigham Young preach a sermon in which he admonished the "sisters" to beware of familiarity with the Gentiles. The problem that now confronted our young adventurer was how to cover the seven hundred miles that yet intervened between him and the gold fields of California. While in Salt Lake City the stockman who brought the sheep to Salt Lake decided to purchase a drove of mules and take them to California, and so young Wasson's services were again needed in assisting to take the mules across the sands and mountain passes, pushing on like the dauntless and unfaltering man of courage until he reached Sacramento with his charge, arriving in that beautiful valley on October 15, 1852, having been six months on the long weary journey from Wooster. But, being anxious to try his fortune in the mines, he spent no time in the semi-tropical luxuries of the Sacramento valley. His first experiences were at Dutch Bar Middle Fork on the Amazon river. He remained on the Pacific coast eight years, giving his attention very largely to mining. He was there during the days of lawlessness, desperadoes, the Vigilantes, and when little or no protection was afforded to property of life. His career was one of peril, often romantic and filled with thrilling and desperate adventures.
Mr. Wasson was at last ready to forsake the varied experiences in the Golden state and in 1860 returned to Wooster by way of the Isthmus of Panama. On his return he began work for O. K. Griffith, digging wells, cutting cord-wood, making rails and doing general work. He sought lighter employment and was engaged as clerk in a dry goods and general store in Doylestown, where he continued for two years, when in 1862, he purchased a farm which he kept three years, then sold it and bought another. In 1865 he launched in the saw-mill business in western Ohio and continued in the same there and in central Michigan for a number of years, discontinuing the same in 1875, having been very successful in this line. For a short time he then shipped logs and veneering wood to New York City. In 1878 he purchased what is known as the Christian Stoll farm, in Wayne township, Wayne county, Ohio, five and one-half miles northwest of Wooster, where he continued to live until his death, he having retired to this place, his health having begun to fail in 1892.
Mr. Wasson took considerable interest in local political affairs and he was elected treasurer of Wayne county on the Democratic ticket in 1887 and re-elected in 1889, his term of office expiring in September, 1892.
Rezin B. Wasson was married while in business in Doylestown to Lucetta Franks, of Chippewa township, the wedding occurring on March 26,1861. Mrs. Wasson was the daughter of Abraham Franks, the fourth son of Henry Franks, who was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, February 9,1798,and who came to Chippewa township, Wayne county, Ohio, with his father on May 18, 1825. He married Lydia Blocken and they became the parents of eight children, four sons and four daughters. He was a man of great muscular power and endurance, full of industry and energy and for many years he was prominent as a farmer and leading stock man, also in mercantile business generally. He brought the first sheep to Chippewa township. In 1861 he retired from business and divided his handsome estate among his children, retaining a competency for himself and living a life of quiet ease until his death, on February 24, 1865. His wife is also dead. Although often solicited to hold some public office, he would never do so; however, he was an active worker in the Democratic ranks. To Abraham Franks and wife a large family was born, five of whom are living at this writing, namely: Lyman, Riley, Morgan, Phoebe and Lucetta, widow of Rezin B. Wasson, of this review.
To Mr. and Mrs. Rezin B. Wasson eight children were born, named in order of birth as follows: Abraham died when seven years of age. Amanda married Charles Zimmerman, of Cleveland, Ohio, Martha Belle is living at home. John always lived at home on the farm, and he married Elizabeth G______, who has borne him four children: Grace, Josiah Allen, George Beall and Albert. Richard Wasson is at Barton, Ohio; he married Josephine Hill and they are the parents of three children, Hill R, Dwight M. and Harold. Thomas Wasson, who is a practicing physician at Ellenburg, Washington was educated in Kansas City, Missouri, Los Angeles and Sacramento, California, and also took other courses, and has become a very successful general practitioner; he married Flora E. Germain, of Walla Walla, Washington. Kate Wasson is still a member of the home circle. Louis F. is single and is practicing dentistry at Tacoma, Washington.
Mrs. Wasson is a woman of gracious personality and has hosts of friends in this vicinity; she is a member of the first Presbyterian church of Wooster, where her two daughters also hold membership.
Rezin B. Wasson's varied and interesting career was a most successful one. It combined energy, persistency, honesty and generosity, and as a public official he was sincere, competent and trustworthy. both as a farmer and business man he was diligent, self-reliant and independent, and as a citizen he aimed to discharge his duties as they appeared to him, honestly and in a spirit of candor and fairness. He was always ready to assist when he saw that aid was needed and he certainly deserved the high esteem in which he was held by everyone.
From The History of Wayne County, Ohio, Vol. 1, B. E. Bowen & Co., Indianapolis, 1910