Wm. Marshall Whitson

Though modest and unassuming in his contact with friends and neighbors, William M. Whitson is one of the most prominent men in Boone County and a leader in social, civic and business enterprises at Verona. Mr. Whitson was born October 26, 1863 in the Verona precinct, the son of J. T. and Sophia Dugeon Whitson. At the age of three his parents moved to Gallatin Co., where he remained until reaching the age of eighteen when they returned to Verona. He attended the school of Miss Nannie Hamilton, conductor of a famous aristocratic school. He also spent one year at Georgetown College. One yer after leaving school he was united in marriage with Mattie Hay Hudson on November 2, 1886. She is the daughter of N. G. and Ellen Hope Gass Hudson, long time residents of Boone County. After their marriage this couple lived three years in Gallatin County, then moving to their present farm of two hundred twenty four acres in 1890. This farm was the ancestral home and birthplace of Mrs. Whitson. Extensive general farming operations are carried on here by Mr. Whitson, whose up to date methods have made him most successful. Mr. and Mrs. Whitson have five children: Ellen Hope, who married D. Hess Vest, they have one child Helen Dudley, aged thirteen; Mary Rose, the wife of J. L. Hamilton, who have two children, Fred and Robert, aged thirteen and eleven, respectively; James Harvey, plant engineer of the Murray Body Co., married Frances Danzig of Detroit where they now reside and have one daughter, Constance, aged three months; Alice E. married Harry Chapman and they have two children, James aged ten and Rose Ellen, seven; William, Jr. married Nora Eskridge, a former Boone County girl. This son resides in Detroit also, and is a salesman for Exide Battery Co. For thirty-seven years Mr. Whitson has been clerk of the New Bethel Baptist Church and is an active and zealous worker in behalf of that congregation. He has been a deacon of the church for 20 years. He has been president of the Verona Bank since its inception and has been and has been mainly responsible for its many successful and prosperous years. He was secretary of the local school board for sixteen years, declining the position in 1930. He has never sought elective public office. IT is typical of the whole Whitson family to be honest and straightforward in very respect. Probably most of these traits have descended from the grandfather, A. D. Whitson, who was born about 1812 and died in 1875. A. D. was a farmer and a dealer in tobacco and livestock. He redried his own tobacco, packing it in hogsheads when it was shipped to Cincinnati and sold over the "brakes." The stock that he purchased must necessarily have been drive by foot to Cincinnati because of the lack of shipping facilities [Ed. Note: Actually, he was more likely to have driven the stock to an Ohio River landing]. The son of A. D., J. T. Whitson was the father of both O. K. and William M. Whitson, and after the death of A. D., his son took over the business. Both of these men had the name of "square dealing" which has been handed down from generation to generation. As far as can be found out from the records, the Whitson family on both sides came to Boone County from Harrison County and the Revolutionary War. The greatest pleasure in the life of Mr. Whitson is looking over the fertile and rolling fields and pasture of his farm. 

from the 1930 Boone County Recorder Historical Edition