Simpler and more adventerous times

This photo is of James Madison Pearson at age 14 I received this from Mary Grace Pearson when we stopped in Mobile Alabama on a recent trip. This was the first pre-WWI photo I had ever seen of Daddy Mat.

There has always seemed to be a sense of adventure with him. To his grandchildren it was the battles of WWI in France that seemed surreal to us. As I have researched him further. I have found other stories of adventure such as the story of the elephant rampage in Valdosta Georgia where Matt was working for his uncle at the New Valdez Hotel and came face to face with the elephant that had gone mad. I later talked to Gloria Dalton Sorensen a first cousin of Daddy Mat's, she had told me that she was very familiar with the story of the rampage of Gypsy the Elephant. She jokingly told me that everyone in Valdosta had come face to face with that elephant on that night, insinuating that everyone had a story to tell. I found the story on the Georgia Archives website that had a mention of Daddy Mat. You can read the story <>

There is also the story of the Two Coosada Braves were his cousin Ed Ferrell and Mat were baited into sleeping in the cemetery nearby a family home.

Born in 1884 Madison Pearson lived in an adventurous time in America. Chester A Author was president He would have seen steamboats traveling up the river near his home. Train travel was the only wat to go for long distance travel. At the age of two the newpapers would have reported on Geronimo (Apache) surrendering.
In 1888 Eastmans' Kodak camera begins amateur photography. Madison Pearson saw the Wright Brothers first flight and saw mans travel to outer space. These were certainly simpler times but also times filled with much adventure and exploration. I wonder what he would think about these times we live in.