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Mathews
Current regionUnited States
Place of originBritain
Founded
  • Arrival in the Colony of Virginia c. 1730, Augusta County
    287 years ago
Founder
Members
Connected families

The Mathews family is an American political family descended from John Mathews (d. 1757) and Ann Archer, originating in colonial Virginia and active in Virginia and the American South in the 18th–20th centuries.

The family origins are unclear, though most researchers believe that the family founders arrived in America around 1730 with the Scotch-Irish immigration, settling in Augusta County (present-day Rockbridge County), Virginia. Several members played a role in the American Revolution, and numerous members were elected to the Virginia General Assembly over successive generations, while additionally members have been involved in the politics of West Virginia, Georgia, and other U.S. states in roles including state governor and state legislator, among others. Members have served in the U.S. military as generals, colonels, and other officers. Notable members include George Mathews, Sampson Mathews, Henry M. Mathews, and Mason Mathews Patrick.

British origin

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See also: John Mathews (American pioneer) § Origin

The Mathews family is believed to be of Scotch-Irish and/or possibly Welsh ethnicity.[1][2] Numerous, sometimes conflicting family traditions exist regarding the Old World origins of John Mathews (d. 1757). Several of these traditions hold that Mathews was a descendant of a Welsh Mathew family, of which there existed branches throughout Britain in the 17th and 18th centuries.[2][3][4][5][6] However, these traditions lack corroborating records and/or remain speculative.[7] Mathews likely immigrated to America during early years of the Scotch-Irish immigration of 1717–1775.[8] The female progenitor of the family, Ann Archer, immigrated to America during this period, and was of Scotch-Irish ethnicity.[8]

Overview

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John Mathews settled in Augusta County, Virginia around 1737 and held several local offices in the community.[8][9] Several of his sons took part in patriot efforts during the American Revolutionary War; Sampson Mathews (c. 1737–1807) and George Mathews (1739–1812) were members of the Augusta County Committee of Safety, which drafted the Augusta Resolves and the Augusta Declaration.[10] In total, three of Mathews’ sons served as wartime Virginia legislators: Sampson Mathews and George Mathews from Augusta County and Archer Mathews (1744–c. 1790) from Greenbrier County.[11][12][13][14] Additionally, Sampson Mathews was a lieutenant colonel of Virginia militia,[15][16] and George Mathews was a brevet brigadier general in the Continental Army.[17] George Mathews was later a U.S. House Representative to the First Congress and a governor of Georgia.[18]

George Mathews' son George Mathews Jr. (1774–1836) was a judge of the Superior Courts of the territories of Mississippi and Orleans and as the presiding judge of the Louisiana Supreme Court.[19] George Mathews Jr.'s brother, John Mathews (c.1762–1806), was a federal Supervisor of Revenue from Georgia.[20] In Virginia, three more members of the family from the third generation served in the state legislature: Sampson Mathews' son Sampson Mathews Jr. from Bath County, and John Mathews (1768–1849) and James W. Mathews (d. 1825), grandsons of John Mathews through his son William Mathews (1741–1772), from Greenbrier County.[21][22]

From the fourth generation, Mason Mathews (1803–1878), a grandson of William Mathews, served in the Virginia legislature from Greenbrier County. During the American Civil War, three of his sons served as Confederate States Army officers.[23][5][24] His son Henry M. Mathews (1834–1884) later served as an attorney general and governor of West Virginia.[25] Henry M. Mathews' son, William G. Mathews (1877–1923), was a federal judge in Kanawha, West Virginia and a candidate for the West Virginia Supreme Court.[26] Mason M. Patrick (1863–1942), grandson of Mason Mathews, served as Chief of the U.S. Army Air Service, American Expeditionary Force during World War I and the Interwar Period.[27][28] He authored the 1926 congressional bill that created the U.S. Army Air Corps from the Air Service, and served as its first chief.[29]

Other relations include Thomas Posey (1750–1818), U.S. Senator from Louisiana;[30] Peter J. Otey (1840–1902), U.S. House Representative from Virginia;[31] and George Mathews Edgar (1837–1913), President of University of Arkansas.[32]

Offices held

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A list of offices held by members of the Mathews family.

Other Mathews of Virginia

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Thomas Mathews (1742–1812), 7th Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates

Other Mathews have played an important role in the public life of Virginia. Captain Samuel Matthews immigrated from England to Jamestown, Virginia around 1622, and his son Samuel Mathews (1630–1660) served as a commonwealth governor of Virginia.[76]

Thomas Mathews (1742–1812), a speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, immigrated from Saint Kitts, West Indies, to the Piedmont region of Virginia in the years before the American Revolution. Both Samuel and Thomas Mathews have been connected to the Mathews of Virginia by some writers and historians,[77][59][78] though the connection has not been noted by others.[77][21][76]

References

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  1. ^ Herndon, p. 307
  2. ^ a b Atkinson1, p.229
  3. ^ Boots, John R. (1970). The Mat(t)hews family : an anthology of Matthews lineages. Ocala, Florida: Unknown. p. 68. OCLC 866386615.
  4. ^ Otey, James Hervey (1994). Otey's journal : being the account by James Hervey Otey, A.B., M.A., D.D., L.L.D., first bishop of the Tennessee Diocese of the Protestant Episcopal Church, of his travels in the summer of 1851 in England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. Unknown: Overmountain Press. pp. 161, 117. ISBN 1570720096. OCLC 30797045. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  5. ^ a b c d Callahan, p. 8
  6. ^ Van Deventer, I.C. The Mathews (Mathes) Family in America. pp. 13–14.
  7. ^ Boots, p. 68.
  8. ^ a b c d e Waddell, p. 309
  9. ^ Herndon, p. 307-308
  10. ^ Van Schreeven, William; Scribner, Robert; Tarter, Brent (1973). Revolutionary Virginia, the road to independence, vol. 7. Independence and the Fifth convention. Charlottesville, Virginia: University Press of Virginia. p. 90. OCLC 802770.
  11. ^ Kromkowski, http://vavh.electionstats.com/php/bio.php?pid=4813 Archived December 17, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ Herndon, p. 314
  13. ^ Kromkowski, http://vavh.electionstats.com/php/bio.php?pid=4805 Archived December 17, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
  14. ^ Kromkowski, http://vavh.electionstats.com/php/bio.php?pid=4797 Archived December 17, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ "Founders Online: From Thomas Jefferson to Sampson Mathews, 12 January 1781". founders.archives.gov. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
  16. ^ Bryan, Charles (October 25, 2014). "Richmond's Benedict Arnold". Richmond Times Dispatch. Richmond, Virginia. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  17. ^ Harrell, Laura (1923). "Brevet Brigadier General George Mathews". Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. XLIV (3): 307–328. JSTOR 4247487.
  18. ^ Ebel
  19. ^ "Louisiana Supreme Court Justices 1813-Present: George Mathews (1774-1836)". Louisiana Supreme Court.
  20. ^ a b Gilmer, p. 82
  21. ^ a b c d Washington & Lee University (1890). Washington and Lee University (1890). Historical Papers, Volumes 1-2. Lexington, Virginia: The New York Public Library. p. 88.
  22. ^ Rice, p. 222
  23. ^ Combs, p. 7-8
  24. ^ Rice, Otis K. 1986. A History of Greenbrier County. Greenbrier Historical Society, p. 264
  25. ^ Addkison-Simmons, Donna (2010). Henry Mason Mathews. e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia.
  26. ^ Atkinson, George W. (1919). Bench and Bar of West Virginia. Lexington, Virginia: Virginia law book company. p. 279. william gordon mathews.
  27. ^ a b DuPre, Flint. "U.S. Air Force Biographical Dictionary". United States Air Force. Retrieved July 12, 2019.
  28. ^ Combs, p. 41
  29. ^ Maurer (1987)Aviation in the U.S. Army, 1919–1939 (Appendix 5) p. 74
  30. ^ a b Posey, John Thornton. General Thomas Posey: Son of the American Revolution. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, 1992. Pages 17-18 ISBN 0-87013-316-0
  31. ^ a b White, J. T. (1967). National Cyclopedia of American Biography. p. 246.
  32. ^ Greenbrier County WV Heritage 1997. S. E. Grose.
  33. ^ Herndon, p. 307–308
  34. ^ Price, William Thomas (1923). Historical Sketches of Pocahontas County, West Virginia. Marlinton, West Virginia: Price Brothers, Publishers. p. 497. OCLC 42346040.
  35. ^ "George Warwick McClinic". Federal Judicial Center. United States Government.
  36. ^ Callahan, James (1923). The History of West Virginia, Old and New, Volume III, pgs. 614-615. Chicago and New York: The American Historical Society, Inc. OCLC 42346040.
  37. ^ Callahan2, p. 614
  38. ^ Ebel
  39. ^ Herndon, p. 314, 324
  40. ^ Gratz, Simon (1903). "The Generals of the Continental Line in the Revolutionary War". The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 27 (4): 385–403 (390). JSTOR 20086102.
  41. ^ Gilmer, p. 86
  42. ^ Waddell, p. 247
  43. ^ Gilmer, p. 84
  44. ^ Louisiana Supreme Court
  45. ^ Gilmer, p. 85-86
  46. ^ McIlwaine, H.R. (1922). Justices of the Peace of Colonial Virginia: 1757-1775. Richmond, Virginia: Virginia State Library. pp. 99, 112. OCLC 857914975.
  47. ^ a b Cole, p. 70
  48. ^ a b Virginia State Library, p. 413. Retrieved December 9, 2018 from https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=Pa0YAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&pg=GBS.RA2-PA413
  49. ^ Public Administration Service (1939). City Manager Government in Lynchburg, Va. Lynchburg, Va. Retrieved December 9, 2018 from https://books.google.com/books?id=FmtDAAAAIAAJ&q=%22john+m.+otey%22+%22city+council%22
  50. ^ Bruce, P.A., et al. (1924) History of Virginia, volume 5. American Historical Society, p119. Retrieved December 9, 2018 from https://books.google.com/books?id=higSAAAAYAAJ&q=james+hervey+otey+%22elizabeth+mathews%22
  51. ^ White, J.T. (1967). National Cyclopedia of American Biography p. 246 Retrieved December 9, 2018 from https://books.google.com/books?id=gCHYAAAAMAAJ&q=peter+j.+otey+%22elizabeth+mathews%22
  52. ^ Otey, James Hervey (1994). Otey's journal : being the account by James Hervey Otey, A.B., M.A., D.D., L.L.D., first bishop of the Tennessee Diocese of the Protestant Episcopal Church, of his travels in the summer of 1851 in England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. Unknown: Overmountain Press. pp. 161, 117. ISBN 1570720096. OCLC 30797045.
  53. ^ Virginia Elections and State Elected Officials Database Project, 1776-2007. Retrieved December 11, 2018 from http://vavh.electionstats.com/php/bio.php?pid=4803 Archived December 15, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
  54. ^ Wythe Leigh Kinsolving (April 1935). Early History of Virginia and Maryland and Seven Centuries of Lines (PDF). Richmond, Virginia. p. 40. Retrieved June 30, 2021.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  55. ^ Kinsolving, p. 40
  56. ^ Kestenbaum, Lawrence. "Kinsolving family of New York and West Virginia". The Political Graveyard.
  57. ^ a b Kinsolving, p. 38
  58. ^ Cole, p. 189
  59. ^ a b Lexington Gazette (1938). "Capt. John Mathews and his Descendants." 1738–1938. Bi-centennial Issue: Commemorating the Settlement of the Rockbridge Section of Virginia by the White Men. A Tribute to the Scotch-Irish Pioneers. Lexington Gazette (Virginia)
  60. ^ Rice, p. 224
  61. ^ Combs, p.5, 23–24
  62. ^ West Virginia Bar Association (April 1963). The Bar: West Virginia - Volume 15: 1908. Buffalo, New York: Dennis & Co, Inc. Retrieved December 9, 2012.
  63. ^ Laidley, W.S. (1911). History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia, and representative citizens. Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co. Inc. p. 910. Retrieved December 9, 2012.
  64. ^ Kestenbaum, Lawrence. "West Virginia Delegation to the 1888 Democratic National Convention". The Political Graveyard.
  65. ^ "The Fairmont West Virginian". The Fairmont West Virginian newspaper. Fairmont, West Virginia. November 4, 1904. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
  66. ^ Combs, p. 7, 19
  67. ^ Greenbrier Historical Society (1938) Greenbrier Historical Society Historical Booklet, Greenbrier Co., 1938. http://www.lewisburg.org/history/mathewsbio.htm Retrieved 2012-10-19
  68. ^ West Virginia University. Undergraduate catalog, Volume 1867–1869. Morgantown, WV : The University. https://archive.org/stream/undergrad6769west/undergrad6769west_djvu.txt Retrieved April 28, 2013.
  69. ^ Kestenbaum, Lawrence. "West Virginia Delegation to the 1912 Democratic National Convention". The Political Graveyard.
  70. ^ Combs, p. 7, 43
  71. ^ West Virginia State Medical Association (1906). "West Virginia Medical Journal". West Virginia Medical Journal. 1: 192. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  72. ^ "Spicer Patrick" (PDF). West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture, and History. West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History.
  73. ^ Combs, p. 43
  74. ^ Dayton, Ruth (2009). Greenbrier Pioneers and Their Homes. Greenbrier County, West Virginia: Genealogical Publishing Company. p. 215. ISBN 9780806346687. OCLC 416281810.
  75. ^ a b Grose, S.E. (1997). Greenbrier County, West Virginia Heritage. Greenbrier County, West Virginia: Greenbrier Heritage Book Committee. p. 59. ISBN 9780806346687. OCLC 367713986.
  76. ^ a b Meyers, Virginia M. and Dorman, John F. (1987). Adventurers of Purse and Person, Virginia. Order of First Families of Virginia
  77. ^ a b Boots, John R. (1970). The Mat(t)hews family: an anthology of Mathews lineages. The University of Wisconsin - Madison
  78. ^ Harris, J.D. (1901) "General Thomas Mathews". The Virginia Law Register, Vol. 7, No. 3 (July 1901), pp. 153–158 https://www.jstor.org/stable/1100495 Retrieved October 25, 2013

Bibliography

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