Weld County, History of Colorado, BIOS: MAWSON, R. Irl (published 1918)
***********************************************************************
USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any
format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons.
Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain
the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative
of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof
of this consent.  The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb 
Archives to store the file permanently for free access.
***********************************************************************
File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by
Maggie Stewart-Zimmerman
http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00015.html#0003643
December 2, 1999
***********************************************************************

"History of Colorado", edited by Wilbur Fisk Stone, published by The S. J. 
Clarke Publishing Co. (1918)  Vol. II


p. 414-415



	R. IRL MAWSON.

	R. Irl Mawson is the president of the Farmers Bank of Severance 
and proprietor of the business conducted under the name of the Mawson 
Lumber Company. The extent and Importance of his commercial and 
financial Interests place him in a prominent position among the 
representative business men of his section of the state. He was born in 
Belmont. Kansas, June 29, 1882. and is a son of Richard W. and Anne E. 
(Martin) Mawson, who were natives of Ohio and Missouri respectively. 
The father was a farmer by occupation. He spent the first twelve years 
of his life in his native state and then went with his mother to 
Kansas, where the remaining period of his minority was passed. When old 
enough he took up a homestead in Doniphan county, that state, coming 
into possession of a tract of raw prairie on which not a furrow had 
been turned nor an improvement made. Today as a result of his planting 
there are twenty acres of heavy timber upon the place and some of the 
trees are tour feet in thickness. With characteristic energy he began 
the development of the farm and brought his fields under a very high 
state of cultivation. His life was one of untiring energy and thrift. 
At the time of the Civil war, however, he put aside all business and 
personal considerations and left his mother upon the home place while 
he enlisted for active service as a member of the Thirteenth Kansas 
Infantry, with which he served for three years, or during the period of 
the war. When the country no longer needed his military aid he returned 
to his home in Kansas and has since conducted the farm, which he has 
converted into one of the valuable farm properties of that section of 
the country. He is now seventy-five years of age. while his wife has 
reached the age of sixty-five years, and they are among the most highly 
esteemed couples residing in Doniphan county, Kansas.

	R. Irl Mawson was reared on the old homestead farm and early 
became acquainted with the best methods of planting the crops and 
caring for the harvests. The district schools afforded him his 
preliminary educational opportunities. Later he continued his studies 
at Wathena, Kansas, and at St. Joseph, Missouri, where he completed his 
course. He then entered the employ of the Daugherty & Moss Lumber 
Company of St. Joseph, Missouri, in the capacity of bookkeeper and 
remained with that house for seven years. He afterward became connected 
with the E. W. Ray & Son Lumber Company of St. Joseph and continued 
with them for two years, on the expiration of which period he entered 
into partnership with Mr. Ray in organizing a lumber business at 
Wathena, Kansas, of which he became the secretary and manager, so 
continuing from January, 1913, until July, 1914. He then sold his 
business there on account of the health of his wife and removed to 
Colorado, where he arrived on the 15th of July, 1914. Making his way to 
Denver, he was there employed by the firm of Hallack & Howard for three 
months, after which he purchased a lumberyard at Severance, Weld 
county, and has since conducted business at that point. He carries a 
large stock of lumber and building materials and enjoys an extensive 
patronage, having the only lumberyard in the town.

	Mr. Mawson was united in marriage to Miss Atha Louise Deffenbaugh 
on the 17th of July, 1907, and to them was born a son, Richard Wallace, 
whose birth occurred September 20, 1910. The wife and mother passed 
away March 19, 1917, after an illness oŁ four years, her death being 
the occasion of deep and widespread regret not only to her immediate 
family but to many friends.

	Throughout the years of his residence in Colorado Mr. Mawson has 
concentrated his efforts and energies upon his business affairs with 
excellent success and he is today not only owner of a lumberyard but 
became the organizer of the Farmers Bank of Severance, in company with 
D. E. Severance, on the 1st of May, 1916, and was elected to the 
presidency of the bank, with Dr. Holden as vice president and H. G. 
Gaines as cashier. The bank is capitalized at ten thousand dollars and 
its deposits now amount to about seventy thousand dollars. Mr. Mawson 
is also a stockholder in the Great Western Alfalfa Mills Company, 
operating six or eight mills. He is a stockholder in the Western 
Mortgage Company and in the Mutual Drug Company of Denver. His business 
interests have thus become wide and extensive and are of an important 
character, contributing to public progress and prosperity as well as to 
individual success. In his political views Mr. Mawson is a republican, 
giving earnest support to the party, yet never seeking or desiring 
office. His religious faith is that of the Baptist church and to its 
teachings he is most faithful. His entire life has commended him to the 
confidence and respect of those with whom he has been associated and 
his genuine worth is recognized by all.