John Mathews (American pioneer)

Last updated

John Mathews
Personal details
Died1757
Augusta County, Virginia
Nationality British-American
SpouseAnn Archer
Children
Eleven, including:
Relatives Mathews family
Occupation
  • Public officer
  • militia officer
  • farmer
Military service
Allegiance Union flag 1606 (Kings Colors).svg Great Britain
Branch/service Virginia provincial militia
Rank Captain
Battles/wars

John Mathews (died 1757) was an early American pioneer in Augusta County, Virginia, where he served as an officer in the county militia, a vestryman for Augusta Parish, and a justice of the peace. He was the progenitor of the Mathews political family from Virginia and the American South. His sons included George Mathews (1739–1812) and Sampson Mathews (c. 1737–1807). Other descendants include Henry M. Mathews (1834–1884) and Mason Mathews Patrick (1863–1942).

Contents

Origin

John Mathews' place of birth and parentage are subject to debate. He arrived in the Valley of Virginia around 1737, before the establishment of Augusta County, Virginia. [1] Many sources identify him as a Scotch-Irish immigrant or of Irish ancestry, [2] [3] [4] with others specifying that he or his descendants were of Welsh ancestry. [5]

An 1869 London publication states that a branch of a prominent Welsh Mathew family "still exists in the north-west of Ireland," [6] leading some to suggest that John Mathews of Augusta County, Virginia was a relative of this family through a Theobald Mathew (d. 1699), whose father George Mathew moved from Radyr, Wales to Thurles, County Tipperary, Ireland in 1625. [7] [8] Others have claimed that John Mathews descended from the same Welsh Mathew family, but through different branches. A great-grandson of John Mathews, James Hervey Otey, claims that Mathews descended from Samuel Mathews (1630–1660), a colonial governor of Virginia, [9] while yet another source indicates that John Mathews was the son of British admiral Thomas Mathews. [10] None of these connections have been corroborated. [11] [12]

The Scotch-Irish immigration to America began in 1717, with a majority of these immigrants from northern Ireland arriving first in Pennsylvania. [13] It is believed that most of the early settlers of Augusta County, Virginia were first or second generation Scotch-Irish immigrants who came from Pennsylvania. [14] 19th Century Augusta County historian Joseph A. Waddell explains that the time and place in which Mathews settled (present-day Rockbridge County, Virginia) was predominately settled by Scotch-Irish immigrants, stating that "up to the time of the Revolutionary War, very few persons of any other race [besides Scotch-Irish] came to live in the county." [15]

Settlement

Map of Borden's Tract, Augusta County, Virginia, circa 1757. Mathews owned land in and around this tract. Borden's tract.jpg
Map of Borden's Tract, Augusta County, Virginia, circa 1757. Mathews owned land in and around this tract.

John Mathews settled in Augusta County, Virginia, in what is present-day Rockbridge County, around 1737. [1] At this time, Augusta County was a sparsely populated frontier county with an indefinite western boundary. [16] The Colonial Virginia government sought to develop "buffer settlements of European Protestants" to protect the interior of the colony from Indian conflict and prevent French expansion eastward, among other reasons. [17] In pursuit of this aim, the State granted large amounts of land and delegated authority to a select few early settlers of the region, who quickly formed a frontier elite and fashioned a conservative, hierarchical society which closely mirrored those of eastern Virginia. [18]

Mathews settled first in a 92,100 acre tract granted by the Virginia Governor's Council to land speculator Benjamin Borden, who recruited immigrants from the Scotch-Irish immigration. [19] [20] When new land opened to for settlement in the upper valley to the south of Borden's tract, Mathews made a rush for these lands and in 1739 received a grant for 1,600 acres, [21] which placed him among the top freeholders in the county by acreage. Only thirteen men owned more than 1000 acres in 1745, at a time when approximately two-thirds of eligible white men owned no land at all. [22] Mathews' tract was located in the valley of Mill Creek, a tributary of Buffalo Creek in the Forks of the James neighborhood. [23] Of an oblong diamond shape three miles long and a half mile wide in the middle, this tract extended near present-day Buffalo Forge to the north and Hickory Hill to the south; the Falling Springs Presbyterian Church is now located on this site. [24] Here Mathews built a log "Manor House" for his family and remained for life. [24] Over ensuing years, he bought and sold numerous landholdings and made improvements to his lands. [25] [26] In 1748, he was identified in county records as a yeoman farmer, [27] but by 1750 he was recognized as a gentleman, or a member of the landed gentry of colonial Virginia. [28] [29]

Military service

In 1742, Mathews served as a captain of Augusta County militia. [30] [24] At this time, the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy, finding the white settlers of western Pennsylvania and Virginia to be in violation of the 1722 Treaty of Albany, launched numerous offensives against the frontier communities, [31] resulting in significant losses to life and property of Augusta County settlers. [32] Such activity would continue over the years, often during winter, when food and supplies were relatively scarce. Mathews cited "losses by Indians" in the winter of 1745. [33] When the French and Indian War broke out in 1755, up to five of Mathews' sons served in the Braddock's Expedition to capture the French Fort Duquesne and halt French and Indian advances into the British settlement, while the senior Mathews provided provisions for the expedition. [34] [35] The result was a decisive defeat for the British; of the approximately 1,300 men Braddock led into battle, 456 were killed and 422 wounded, with Braddock among the dead. The loss left the Augusta County frontier exposed to Indian attack. [36] The following year, 1756, Mathews served as a captain of infantry for the Augusta County militia. [37]

Religious role

In 1746, in what was the first election held in the county, Mathews and eleven other men were elected to the vestry of the Anglican Church for Augusta Parish. [38] At this time in Virginia, vestrymen, though ecclesiastic officials, were de facto public officers who represented the entirety of the local government, [39] While Mathews and his sons identified with the Anglican church, most of the elected vestrymen were Presbyterian. [40] Waddell explains that these dissenting Presbyterians "probably pleaded the necessity" of taking the oaths of allegiance to the established Church of England. [41] Despite being a numerical minority, the Anglican coalition shaped early religious life in the county and formed an alliance with its Presbyterian counterpart. [42] The vestry was responsible for the processioning of lands, issuing levies, providing for parish expenses, tending to the poor, and other local administrative needs. [41] Vestrymen also served as churchwardens for the parish, and in this role were responsible for the upkeep of public morals. [43] Mathews provided his home as a place of service for the Anglican congregation. [44] [45] In his will he left ten dollars to the poor of Augusta Parish. [46]

Judicial and civil responsibilities

Mathews was recommended justice of the peace of the Magistrate's Court for Augusta County in 1746, and had qualified by the fall of 1751. [47] This was the most authoritative position in the county, and was typically held by the county's largest landholders. [48] In this role, he issued warrants and reviewed arrests. [49]

Mathews also acted as an overseer of early road construction efforts in the county, including, in 1753, a road in the North Forks of the James River, for which forty-five workers were employed, [50] and another, presumably smaller road, begun in 1754, for which three men were employed. [51]

Family

John Mathews married Ann Archer, a Scotch-Irish immigrant. [52] They had eleven children: John, Joshua, Richard, Sampson, George, William, Archer, Jane, Anna, Rachel, and Elizabeth. [1] Mathews' eldest son, John, was murdered along with his family in their home in 1763. [53] [1] A relative of Joshua Mathews later deeded this land to the trustees of the Falling Springs Presbyterian Church, which now stands on this site. [24] Four of Mathews' sons served in public office in the State of Virginia: Sampson, George, and Archer Mathews were elected to the Virginia General Assembly, [54] [55] [56] and William Mathews was a justice of the peace in his locality. [57] George Mathews additionally served as a governor of Georgia and a US Representative to the First Congress. [58]

Other notable descendants

Numerous descendants of John Mathews have had notable roles in public affairs. Some of them are listed below:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Mathews (soldier)</span> American politician (1739–1812)

George Mathews was an American soldier and politician from the U.S. States of Virginia and Georgia. He was a brevet brigadier general in the Continental Army, the 20th and 24th Governor of Georgia, a U.S. Representative from Georgia, and the leading participant in the Patriot War of East Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Lewis (soldier)</span> American surveyor, military officer and politician (1720–1781)

Andrew Lewis was an Irish-born American surveyor, military officer and politician. Born in County Donegal, he moved with his family to the British colony of Virginia at a young age. A colonel in the Virginia militia during the French and Indian War, and brigadier general in the American Revolutionary War, his most famous victory was the Battle of Point Pleasant in Dunmore's War in 1774, although he also drove Lord Dunmore's forces from Norfolk and Gwynn's Island in 1776. He also helped found Liberty Hall in 1776.

Thomas Lewis was an Irish-American surveyor, lawyer, politician and pioneer of early western Virginia. He was among the signers of the Fairfax Resolves, represented Augusta County at four of the five Virginia Revolutionary Conventions and the first session of the Virginia House of Delegates during the American War for Independence, and after the conflict, represented newly established Rockingham County at the Virginia Ratification Convention, as well as contributed to the settlement of an area that long after his death become part of West Virginia.

The Great Wagon Road is a historic trail in the eastern United States that was first traveled by indigenous tribes, and later explorers, settlers, soldiers, and travelers. It extended from British Pennsylvania to North Carolina, through the Great Appalachian Valley, and from there to Georgia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel McDowell</span> American judge

Samuel McDowell was a soldier in three wars and political leader in Virginia and Kentucky. He served under George Washington in the French and Indian War, as an aide-de-camp to Isaac Shelby in Lord Dunmore's War, and under Nathanael Greene during the Revolutionary War. He then relocated to Kentucky and became a surveyor. Later, he was appointed one of the first district court judges in what would become the state of Kentucky. He became a leader of the movement to separate Kentucky from Virginia, and presided over nine of the state's ten constitutional conventions. He was the father of Dr. Ephraim McDowell.

James Waddel was an Irish American Presbyterian preacher from Virginia noted for his eloquence. He was a founding trustee of Liberty Hall, when it was made into a college in 1776. The family name has had various spellings and pronunciations. Waddel's descendants have typically pronounced "Waddell" with a stress on the final syllable and have spelled it with two Ls.

Catherine "Kate" Carpenter, born probably ca. 1730s, died 1784, was a frontier wife and mother for whom Kate's Mountain in Greenbrier County, West Virginia is named.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Mathews (politician)</span> American Revolutionary War general and Virginia politician (1742-1812)

Thomas Mathews was an American Revolutionary War general and Virginia lawyer and politician. For almost two decades, Mathews represented variously Norfolk Borough and Norfolk County in the Virginia House of Delegates, and served as that body's Speaker from 1782 until 1793. He also represented Norfolk at the Virginia Ratifying Convention of 1788.

John Peter Salling, born Johan Peter Saling and sometimes referred to as John Peter Salley, Sayling, Sallings, and Sallee, was a German explorer known for being among the first Europeans to visit parts of what is now Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky. He was imprisoned by the French in New Orleans on charges of spying and escaped together with another prisoner, taking eight months to finally reach his home in Virginia. His detailed journal describing his journeys of exploration was lost twice, and each time Salling was able to reconstruct it from memory. Salling's journal was used as a source in the creation of early maps of Virginia and eastern North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mason Mathews</span> American politician

Mason Mathews was an American merchant and politician in the U.S. State of Virginia. He served in the Virginia House of Delegates, representing Greenbrier County from 1859–1865 as a Whig. This period included the secession of Virginia and the resulting American Civil War of 1861–1865. Though Mathews opposed secession, he chose to support the Confederate States of America when Virginia seceded. Throughout the war, much of his efforts were directed toward the Confederate defense of western Virginia. When his home of Greenbrier County was taken into the new State of West Virginia in 1863, he continued to represent Greenbrier County in Virginia's Confederate legislature in Richmond until war's end. He was a member of the Mathews political family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sampson Mathews</span> American politician

Sampson Mathews was an American merchant, soldier, and legislator in the colony of Virginia.

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

Archer Mathews was a United States pioneer, legislator, and city founder in the colony of Virginia. He was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Greenbrier County from 1780 to 1782.

Gabriel Jones was an 18th-century Welsh American lawyer, legislator, court clerk and civil servant in the colony of Virginia.

William Beverley (1696–1756) was an 18th-century legislator, civil servant, planter and landowner in the Colony of Virginia. Born in Virginia, Beverley—the son of planter and historian Robert Beverley, Jr. and his wife, Ursula Byrd Beverley (1681–1698)—was the scion of two prominent Virginia families. He was the nephew of Peter Beverley (1668–1728), Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses, and the grandson of wealthy Virginia planter William Byrd I (1652–1704) of Westover Plantation. Beverley's mother died shortly before her 17th birthday, and he was sent to England.

The Augusta Resolves was a statement adopted on February 22, 1775 by six representatives of Augusta County, Colony of Virginia, in the early stages of the American Revolution. The resolves expressed support for Congress' resistance to the Intolerable Acts, issued in 1774 by the British Parliament, and a commitment to risk 'lives and fortune' in preservation of natural rights.

The Augusta County Committee of Safety was the shadow government of patriots from Augusta County, Virginia prior to and throughout the American Revolution. One of many such revolutionary committees of safety, the Augusta County committee is notable for writing the first known policy proposal to create a permanent independent state government and federal union of American colonies. The paper was presented by Thomas Lewis at the Fifth Virginia Convention on May 10, 1776, preceding the United States Declaration of Independence by more than 50 days.

The Augusta Declaration, or the Memorial of Augusta County Committee, May 10, 1776, was a statement presented to the Fifth Virginia Convention in Williamsburg, Virginia on May 10, 1776. The Declaration announced the necessity of the Thirteen Colonies to form a permanent and independent union of states and national government separate from Great Britain, with whom the Colonies were at war.

John Buchanan was a colonial Virginia landowner, magistrate, colonel in the Virginia Militia, deputy surveyor under Thomas Lewis, and Sheriff of Augusta County, Virginia. As a surveyor, Buchanan was able to locate and purchase some of the most desirable plots of land in western Virginia and quickly became wealthy and politically influential. As magistrate, sheriff and a colonel the Augusta County Militia, he was already well-connected when his father-in-law Colonel James Patton was killed in 1755. Buchanan had replaced Patton in several key roles by the time of his own death in 1769.

John Lewis was a militia officer, magistrate and prominent Virginia landowner. Born in Ireland, he was forced to emigrate after killing his landlord. He settled in Virginia and, together with his nephew James Patton, became wealthy through land grants and sales during expansion of Virginia's westward frontier. His youngest son Andrew Lewis was a well-known general in the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War. His second oldest son Thomas Lewis was a politician who served in the Virginia House of Delegates. For many years, Lewis engaged in a heated rivalry with his nephew Patton over land grants, judicial power, and the construction of a parish meeting house. He died at his home in Staunton, Virginia at the age of 84.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Waddell, p. 309.
  2. ↑
    • Herndon, G. Melvin (1969). "George Mathews, Frontier Patriot". The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 77 (3): 307–328. JSTOR   4247487.
  3. ↑ Washington & Lee University (1890). Washington and Lee University (1890). Historical Papers, Volumes 1-2. Lexington, Virginia: The New York Public Library. p. 88. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  4. ↑ Morton, p. 40.
  5. ↑ Atkinson, p. 229.
  6. ↑ Notes, p. 298.
  7. ↑ Boots, p. 68.
  8. ↑ Mathews, David (2012). Why Public Schools? Whose Public Schools?: What Early Communities Have To Tell Us. NewSouth Books. p. 32. ISBN   978-1603062602 . Retrieved July 19, 2019.
  9. ↑ Otey, pp. 161, 117.
  10. ↑ Callahan, p. 8.
  11. ↑ Dorman, p. 636-648.
  12. ↑ Stephen, p. 46.
  13. ↑ Bolton, p. 271, 276
  14. ↑ Waddell, p. 26.
  15. ↑ Waddell, p. 1.
  16. ↑ "August County, VA: History". Augusta County, Virginia. Archived from the original on June 8, 2011. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
  17. ↑ Hofstra, Warren (1998). "The Extention of His Majesties Dominions":The Virginia Backcountry and the Reconfiguration of Imperial Frontiers. Vol. 84. Richmond, Virginia: Journal of American History. p. 1284.
  18. ↑ McCleskey, p. 4
  19. ↑ Fischer, David (1989). Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America . Oxford University Press. p. 606. ...early immigration was small,...but it began to surge in 1717.
  20. ↑ Hofstra, Warren (2016). Benjamin Borden (1675–1743). Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  21. ↑ Kegley, p. 60.
  22. ↑ McCleskey, p. 74, 57
  23. ↑ Kegley, p. 63.
  24. 1 2 3 4 5 Feamster
  25. ↑ Chalkley3, p. 268, 315, 341,
  26. ↑ Chalkley3, p. 33.
  27. ↑ Chalkley3, p. 268.
  28. ↑ Chalkley3, p. 341.
  29. ↑ CWF
  30. ↑ Morton, p. 54.
  31. ↑ Walton, Joseph S. (1900). Conrad Weiser and the Indian Policy of Colonial Pennsylvania, pp. 114. Retrieved 12/18/18 from https://archive.org/details/cu31924087975466/page/n135
  32. ↑ Waddell, p. 46.
  33. ↑ Chalkley, p. 15.
  34. ↑ Henning, pp. 194-195.
  35. ↑ Withers, Alexander (1831). Chronicles of Border Warfare, or, A History of the Settlement by the Whites, of north-western Virginia: and of the Indian wars and massacres, in that section of the state; with reflections, anecdotes, &c. Clarksburg, Virginia: J. Israel. p. 66. OCLC   644557683 . Retrieved June 21, 2021.
  36. ↑ Waddell, p. 109.
  37. ↑ Waddell, p. 137.
  38. ↑ Waddell, p. 58.
  39. ↑ Peyton, p. 97.
  40. ↑ McCleskey, p. 178, 201-202
  41. 1 2 Waddell, p. 59.
  42. ↑ McCleskey, p. 175-176, 191
  43. ↑ Waddell, p. 58–59.
  44. ↑ Waddell, p. 118.
  45. ↑ McCleskey, p. 178
  46. ↑ Morton1920, p. 58, 176.
  47. ↑ Chalkley, p. 17, 48
  48. ↑ McCleskey, p. 213, 91
  49. ↑ Chalkley, p. 434.
  50. ↑ Chalkley, p. 61.
  51. ↑ Chalkley, p. 62.
  52. ↑ Waddell, p. 309,
  53. ↑ Morton1920, p. 68.
  54. ↑ Kromkowski, http://vavh.electionstats.com/php/bio.php?pid=4813 Archived December 17, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
  55. ↑ Kromkowski, http://vavh.electionstats.com/php/bio.php?pid=4805
  56. ↑ Kromkowski, http://vavh.electionstats.com/php/bio.php?pid=4797 Archived December 17, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
  57. ↑ McIlwaine, H.R. (1922). Justices of the Peace of Colonial Virginia: 1757-1775. Richmond, Virginia: Virginia State Library. pp. 99, 112. OCLC   857914975 . Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  58. ↑ Ebel, Carol (2003). "George Mathews (1739-1812)". New Georgia Encyclopedia. Georgia Humanities and the University of Georgia Press. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  59. ↑ Louisiana Supreme Court
  60. ↑ Cole, p. 70.
  61. ↑ Kromkowski, C. (2005). "The Virginia Elections and State Elected Officials Database Project, 1776-2007". The Virginia Elections and State Elected Officials Database Project, 1776-2007. University of Virginia Library. Archived from the original on December 15, 2018. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  62. ↑ Kromkowski, C. (2005). "The Virginia Elections and State Elected Officials Database Project, 1776-2007". The Virginia Elections and State Elected Officials Database Project, 1776-2007. University of Virginia Library. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  63. 1 2 3 White, James T. (1904). The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia. p. 431. OCLC   1007087389 . Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  64. ↑ Kromkowski, C. (2005). "The Virginia Elections and State Elected Officials Database Project, 1776-2007". The Virginia Elections and State Elected Officials Database Project, 1776-2007. University of Virginia Library. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  65. 1 2 Cole, p. 71.
  66. ↑ Atkinson, George Wesley (1919). Bench and Bar of West Virginia. Charleston, West Virginia: Virginia Law Book Company. p.  279. OCLC   8899470 . Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  67. ↑ Grose, S.E. (1997). Greenbrier County, West Virginia Heritage. Greenbrier County, West Virginia: Greenbrier Heritage Book Committee. p. 59. ISBN   9780806346687. OCLC   367713986 . Retrieved April 17, 2020.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.