This photograph of Erla Matson was purchased at an antique shop in Indiana.

Erla Matson was born on 11 July 1900 in Montpelier, Blackford, Indiana, the daughter of James E. Matson and Clara Weikel.

By the time the 1910 Census was taken, nine-year-old Erla and her siblings, Erthel and Kenneth, resided with their father and paternal grandmother, Rebecca, on Henderson Street in Montpelier. Her mother was had died in 1905.

Erla was enumerated with her grandmother, Rebecca, and her siblings, Erthel and Kenneth, in the 1920 Census, where they still resided on Henderson Street in Montpelier. By the 1930 Census, James Matson was again enumerated with the family on Henderson Street, where he owned his home valued at $600. Twenty-nine-year-old Erla worked as a saleslady at a grocery store. Her brother, Kenneth, age 26, worked as a stock chaser at Warner Gear. James was a fifty-eight-year-old carpenter and his mother, Rebecca, was now age eighty-two. By the 1940 Census, Erla and her father resided at their home on Henderson Street.

Erla married Wilbur H. Klugh sometime after 1940 and moved to Delaware County, Indiana. Erla died on 28 March 1960. At the time of her death, she was employed as a saleslady at the Grand Leader Department Store. She was interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in Montpelier.

• 1910 U.S. census, Blackford County, Indiana, population schedule, Montpelier, Ward 2, enumeration district  (ED) 4, p. 4B (penned), dwelling 89, family 89, James E. Matson  household; accessed via “1910 United States Census,” database with images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 3 December 2022); citing NARA microfilm publication T624, roll 340.
• 1920 U.S. census, Blackford County, Indiana, population schedule, Montpelier, enumeration district  (ED) 4, p. 2B (penned), dwelling 45, family 45, Rebecca Matson  household; accessed via “1920 United States Census,” database with images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 3 December 2022); citing NARA microfilm publication T625, roll 423.
• 1930 U.S. census, Blackford County, Indiana, population schedule, Montpelier, enumeration district  (ED) 1, p. 12B (penned), dwelling 367, family 368, James Matson  household; accessed via “1920 United States Census,” database with images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 3 December 2022); citing NARA microfilm publication T626, roll 578.
• 1940 U.S. census, Blackford County, Indiana, population schedule, Harrison, enumeration district  (ED) 1, p. 4A (penned), dwelling 314, family 94, James Matson  household; accessed via “1920 United States Census,” database with images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 3 December 2022); citing NARA microfilm publication T627, roll 1027.
• Indiana State Board of Health, Division of Vital Records, accessed via Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 December 2022); Death Certificate, 007983, Erla Klugh, 1960; citing Indiana State Board of Health, Indianapolis.