Matson, Henry, 1829-1901

Henry Matson, stenographer, Congregational minister, librarian, and author, was born in Ellsworth, Ohio in 1829. He studied stenography as a young man and moved to New York City where he worked for phrenologists O.S. Fowler and S.R. Wells. He returned to Ohio, graduating from Oberlin Theological Seminary in 1861, and held pastorates in Massachusetts (1861- 1864) and Ohio (1864-1872). In 1867, he became Charles Grandison Finney's literary secretary, taking dictation of Finney's voluminous memoirs. After serving as Oberlin College Librarian from 1874 to 1887, Matson retired to devote full time to his literary pursuits. He died in Oberlin in 1901.