John Mathews (American pioneer)

John Mathews (died 1757) was an early American pioneer, militia officer, and ecclesiastic official in the present-day U.S. state of Virginia. Likely born in Ireland, Mathews was among the first residents of Augusta County, Virginia (present-day Rockbridge County). He was an officer in the county militia, which fought in Braddock's Expedition of the French and Indian War, and he served as a justice, vestryman and de facto public officer for the county, tending to local religious, administrative and infrastructural needs. In the year of his death, he was serving as a churchwarden.

John Mathews
Personal details
Died1757
Augusta County, Virginia
NationalityBritish-American
Spouse(s)Ann Archer
Children
Eleven, including:
RelativesMathews family
Occupationfarmer
Military service
Allegiance Great Britain
Branch/serviceVirginia provincial militia
RankCaptain
Battles/warsFrench and Indian War
 • Braddock expedition

Mathews 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).

Origin

John Mathews' place of birth and parentage are subject to debate. He arrived in the Valley of Virginia in the years before the establishment of Augusta County, Virginia in 1738.[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]

The Scotch-Irish immigration to America began in 1718, with an influx of immigrants settling in Chester, Pennsylvania from 1719 to 1722,[6] which at that time encompassed the banks of the Susquehanna River to the north and south of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.[7] The majority of these early Scotch-Irish settlers of Chester County, Pennsylvania are thought to have come from the northwest of Ireland due to their naming conventions of Pennsylvania towns (such as Derry, Donegal, and Toboyne, all named for their respective towns in northern Ireland to the west of the River Foyle),[8] and it is believed that all of the early settlers of Augusta County, Virginia came from these settlement in Pennsylvania.[9]

An 1869 London publication states that a branch of a prominent Welsh Mathew family settled "in the north-west of Ireland,"[10] leading some to suggest that John Mathews of Augusta County, Virginia was a descendant of this family through a Theobald Mathew (d. 1699), whose father George Mathew moved from Radyr, Wales to Thurles, County Tipperary, Ireland in 1625.[11][12] 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,[13] and another sources indicates that John Mathews was the son of British admiral Thomas Mathews.[14] None of these connections have been noted by professional scholars.[15][16]

Historians Joseph Waddell and Lymon Chalkley, whose secondary source works compile most of the known facts of Mathews' life, do not speculate on Mathews' ancestry, and state that the time and place in which Mathews settled (present-day Rockbridge County, Virginia) was predominately settled by Scotch-Irish immigrants, with Waddell 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."[17]

Life

Settlement
Map of Borden's Tract, Augusta County, Virginia, circa 1757

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.[18] 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.[19] In pursuit of this aim, the Virginia Governor's council granted land speculator Benjamin Borden a 100,000 tract of land in then-Augusta County, and Borden recruited, almost exclusively, immigrants from the Scotch-Irish immigration of 1717–1775 to this tract.[20][21]

Being one of the earliest arrivals in the area, Mathews made a rush for lands outside of Borden's Tract, and in 1739 received a grant for 1,600 acres in the valley of Mill's Creek, a tributary of Buffalo Creek in an area called Poage's Run.[22][14] This tract, of an oblong diamond shape three miles long and a half mile wide in the middle, extended near present-day Buffalo Forge to the north and Hickory Hill to the south. The Falling Springs Presbyterian Church is located on this site.[23] Mathews settled on this tract, building a log "Manor House" in the southwest corner.[23]

Mathews additionally purchased 297 acres from Borden in 1742 for five shillings.[24] At this time, Mathews was a yeoman farmer.[25] He sold his plot in Bordern's Tract in 1748,[25] and over the ensuing decade bought and sold numerous landholdings and made improvements to his properties.[26][27] By 1750, he was recognized in official records as a gentleman, or a member of the landed gentry of colonial Virginia.[28][29]

Militia service

Mathews, like all able-bodied men of Augusta County, served as a member of the county militia.[30] In 1742, he was listed as a private in Augusta County's 2nd company, commanded by Captain John Buchanan.[31] Other sources indicates Mathews was appointed captain in this year.[32][23] At this time, the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy were launching offensives against the white settlers of western Pennsylvania and Virginia, who they found to be in violation of the 1722 Treaty of Albany.[33] In December 1742, the Iroquois descended on Augusta County, resulting in significant losses to life and goods of the settlers.[31] Such activity would continue over the years, often during winter, when food and supplies were relatively scarce. Mathews, who operated a farm on his property, cited "losses by Indians" in the winter of 1745.[34]

When the French and Indian War broke out in 1755, Mathews served as an ensign in an offensive against the French and their Indian allies in what would come to be known as Braddock's Expedition.[35] Up to five of Mathews' sons served alongside him in the infantry.[14][36] 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.

Governor of Virginia Robert Dinwiddie had set aside lands to be granted for service in the war, with 400 acres for privates and increasing amounts, based on rank, for officers.[37] Mathews, in 1755, received a 1,600 acre grant from Dinwiddie "on Mill Creek in the Forks of the James."[38] In the following year, 1756, Mathews retained his commission of captain of infantry for the Augusta County militia.[39] It wouldn't be until the years 1758–1761, after Mathews' death, that Augusta County would see a brief reprieve from Indian warfare.[40]

Ecclesiastic and civic duties

In the spring of 1746, Mathews was confirmed a Justice of the Peace of the Magistrate's Court for Augusta County.[41] As such, he issued warrants and reviewed arrests. One case, involving a man's death by drowning in the James River, Mathews judged to have been accidental.[42] Mathews additionally acted as an overseer of construction efforts in the county, including, in 1753, a road from the North Forks of the James River to Renix Road, for which forty-five workers were employed,[43] and another, presumably smaller road, begun in 1754, from North River to Campbell's School House, for which three men were employed.[44]

In 1746, in the first election held in the county, Mathews was elected to the vestry of the Anglican Church for the Augusta Parish, along with eleven other men.[45] At this time in Virginia, vestrymen, though ecclesiastic officials, were de facto public officers who represented the entirety of the local government.[46] As such, vestrymen were required to take all relevant oaths of allegiance for public office. This presented a conflict for the Presbyterian Scotch-Irish, dissenters of the established Church of England in the Virginia Colony.Waddell explains that they "probably pleaded the necessity" of taking the oath despite their dissent.[47]

Mathews' duties as a vestryman included processioning lands, issuing levies, providing for parish expenses, tending to the poor, and other local administrative needs.[47] Additionally, on at least one occasion Mathews' house served as an informal church before Augusta Parish had an official building for the purpose.[48] In the year of his death, 1757, Mathews was serving as one of two wardens for the county.[49][50] In his will he bequethed his lands and property to his wife and children, and left ten dollars to the poor of the Augusta parish.[51]

Family
Main article: Mathews family

John Mathews married Ann Archer, daughter of Sampson Archer, a Scotch-Irish immigrant.[52] They had eleven children: John Jr., Joshua, Richard, Sampson, George, William, Archer, Jane, Anna, Rachel, and Elizabeth.[53]

Mathews' eldest son, John Jr., was murdered along with his family in their home in 1763,[54][1] the site of one of the earliest church gatherings in Augusta County.[55] A relative later deeded this land to the trustees of the Falling Springs Presbyterian Church, which now stands on the site of the old Mathews house.[23][56]

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,[57][58][59] and also served in military roles during the American Revolutionary War.[60][61][62] Sampson Mathews, as colonel of Virginia militia, led a defensive effort against Benedict Arnold's 1781 raid of Richmond.[63][64] George Mathews was Colonel of the 9th Virginia Regiment in the Continental Army, and was captured with his regiment during the Battle of Germantown. After the war, he moved to Wilkes, Georgia, and was quickly elected governor of Georgia. He served two non-consecutive terms in this office, with an intervening term as a US Representative to the First Congress. His political reputation was tarnished by his involvement in the Yazoo Land Scandal.[65]

William Mathews served as a justice of the peace in Botetourt County[66] until his death 1772.[67]

Notable descendants

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

References
  1. Waddell, p. 309
    • 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. Bolton, p. 271
  7. Bolton, p. 276
  8. Bolton, p. 272
  9. Waddell, p. 26
  10. Notes, p. 298
  11. Boots, p. 68
  12. 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.
  13. Otey, p 161, p. 117
  14. Callahan, p. 8
  15. Dorman, p. 636-648
  16. Stephen, p. 46
  17. Waddell, p. 1
  18. "August County, VA: History". Augusta County, Virginia. Archived from the original on June 8, 2011. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
  19. Hofstra, Warren (1998). The Extention of His Majesties Dominions:' The Virginia Backcountry and the Reconfiguration of Imperial Frontiers, Journal of American History. 84. Richmond, Virginia: Journal of American History. p. 1284.
  20. 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.
  21. Hofstra, Warren (2016). Benjamin Borden (1675–1743). Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  22. Kegley, p. 60, 63
  23. Feamster
  24. Chalkley, p.525
  25. Chalkley3, p. 268
  26. Chalkley3, p. 268, 315, 341,
  27. Chalkley3, p. 33
  28. Chalkley3, p. 341
  29. CWF
  30. Waddell, p. 45
  31. Waddell, p. 46
  32. Morton, p. 54
  33. 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
  34. Chalkley, p.15
  35. Henning, p. 194-195
  36. Henning, p. 195
  37. Rice, Itis K. (2011). "Bounty Lands". The West Virginia Encyclopedia. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  38. Dorman, John F. Orange County Virginia Deed Book 10. p. 54.
  39. Waddell, p. 137
  40. Waddell, p. 162
  41. Chalkley, p.17
  42. Chalkley, p.434
  43. Chalkley, p.61
  44. Chalkley, p.62
  45. Waddell, p. 58
  46. Peyton, p. 97
  47. Waddell, p. 59
  48. Waddell, p. 118
  49. Chalkley, p.494
  50. Waddell, p.58
  51. Morton1920, p. 58, 176
  52. Waddell, p.309
  53. Waddell, p.309
  54. Morton1920, p. 68
  55. Waddell, p. 118
  56. Waddell, p.309
  57. Kromkowski, http://vavh.electionstats.com/php/bio.php?pid=4813
  58. Kromkowski, http://vavh.electionstats.com/php/bio.php?pid=4805
  59. Kromkowski, http://vavh.electionstats.com/php/bio.php?pid=4797
  60. Waddell, p.278
  61. Ebel, Carol (2003). "George Mathews (1739-1812)". New Georgia Encyclopedia. Georgia Humanities and the University of Georgia Press.
  62. Rice, Otis K. (1986). A History of Greenbrier County. Lewisburg, West Virginia: Greenbrier Historical Society. p. 61. ISBN 0961750502. OCLC 15539717.
  63. Waddell, p.278
  64. Bryan, Charles (2014). "Richmond's Benedict Arnold". Richmond Times Dispatch. Retrieved April 17, 2020. When Jefferson learned of the destruction, he ordered Virginia militia units under Sampson Mathews to harass Arnold’s force.
  65. Ebel, Carol (2003). "George Mathews (1739-1812)". New Georgia Encyclopedia. Georgia Humanities and the University of Georgia Press. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  66. McIlwaine, pgs. 99, 112
  67. Cole, p. 69-70
  68. Louisiana Supreme Court
  69. Cole, p. 70
  70. 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.
  71. Rice, p. 224
  72. 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.
  73. White, James T. (1904). The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia. p. 431. OCLC 1007087389. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  74. 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.
  75. White, James T. (1904). The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia. p. 431. OCLC 1007087389. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  76. Cole, p. 71
  77. 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.
  78. White, James T. (1904). The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia. p. 431. OCLC 1007087389. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  79. Cole, p. 71
  80. 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
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