BIO:

An Illustrated History of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas Counties, Interstate Publishing Co., Chicago, IL., 1904

LARS MATTSON was the first Finlander that settled in Klickitat county, and now resides three-quarters of a mile west of Centerville. He was born in Finland, April 23, 1841, the son of Mat and Retta Mattson, both natives of Finland, and now deceased. The father died at the age of ninety-eight. Mr. Mattson, when a youth, received an education in the common schools of Finland. He lived at home until he was twenty-one, and afterward, when twenty-three, purchased a farm on which he lived for ten years. In 1873 he sold out and came to the United States, his objective point being Michigan. In Michigan he remained for four years, then, with three other families of Finlanders, came to Klickitat county, Washington. Upon his arrival he took up a homestead one mile north of Centerville. where he lived until 1893. He then bought his present farm near Centerville, and he has resided upon it continuously for the past ten years and more.

October 10, 1864, Mr. Mattson married Miss Annie Tamow. The ceremony was performed in Finland. Miss Tamow's parents were Lars and Sarah Tamow, both natives of Sweden, and now deceased. The father died in Finland, and the mother in Klickitat county. During girlhood Mrs. Mattson, like her husband, attended the common schools of Finland, and there received a practical education. Her marriage to Mr. Mattson occurred when she was nineteen years of age. To this marriage eleven children have been born. Those born in Finland are Mat, John, Elmer and Tilda Ahola, Ida, Minnie Neva, Frank, Arthur. Albene and August were born in Klickitat county, Annie in Michigan. In religion Mr. Mattson belongs to the Lutheran church, and in politics he favors Republicanism. He owns a fine farm of two hundred and forty acres of land, all of which is in a high state of cultivation, also live stock of several varieties. Though a Finlander by birth, Mr. Mattson is now so thoroughly Americanized that it is doubtful if there is any man in Klickitat county more ready to contend for the interests of the American republic than he.