Greenbrier County, West Virginia The MATHEWS Family of Greenbrier County ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Valerie Crook, , January 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pgs. 7-9 MATHEWS FAMILY OF GREENBRIER. From the early years of colonial adventure along the James River men of the Mathews name have had a distinguished part in the affairs of Virginia. The scope of their action was extended beyond the Alleghanies before the Revolution, and from about that time they have constituted one of the most notable families of old Greenbrier County, and from here have gone into the larger life of the state and even that of the nation. In the following paragraphs several individuals of the Greenbrier County Lineage are selected for special mention with incidental reference to some others who have made "history." The first American of the family was Capt. Samuel Mathews, who came to Virginia in 1622, was a leader in an Indian campaign the following year and in 1624 was one of the commissioners appointed by the king to investigate the condition of the colony. In succeeding years he figured prominently in Colonial affairs, and on March 13, 1658, became governor of the colony, was disposed by the House of Burgesses, but immediately reelected, and he died while still in office, in January, 1680. Another member of this family was Thomas Mathews, who was created an admiral in the British Navy in 1718, and died in 1751. His son, John Mathews, came from England and settled in Augusta County, Virginia, in 1730, and later permanently located in Rockbridge County, on Mill Creek, a tributary of Buffalo Creek, which empties into North River. Here he operated a large plantation of over 1,600 acres granted him by George the Second, under patent from Governor Dinwiddie. This patent is carefully preserved in the possession of his descendant Charles Gardner Mathews, of Lewisburg, Greenbrier County. John Mathews married Ann Archer, and they were the parents of seven sons and four daughters. Five of the sons, it is recorded, followed Braddock, on his ill fated campaign in 1754. One of the sons, George Mathews, was particularly active and efficient in protecting the early settlers from Indian depredations, and at the battle of Point Pleasant in 1774, commanded a company under Gen. Andrew Lewis. It was his company that by a forced march up Crooked Creek turned the enemy's flank and saved the day for the Virginians. George Mathews likewise had a conspicuous part in the Revolutionary struggle, and received special mention for his service in the battles of Monmouth and Brandywine. At the close of the war he held the rank of brigadier general, and, removing to Georgia, was twice elected governor of that state, in 1786 and in 1794, he was also a member of Congress from Georgia. However, the branch of the family in which this article is more particularly interested is through another son of John Mathews, Joseph Mathews. Joseph Mathews married Mary Edgar, daughter of James and Mary (Mason) Edgar. They were married April 17, 1794. Of their six children the fifth was Mason Mathews, one of the most notable citizens of Greenbrier County in the last century. Mason Mathews was born at Lewisburg, December 15, 1803, and died September 16, 1878. His early career was one of hardship and self denial. He was a boy when his father died, and other misfortunes befalling the family at that time he loyally accepted obligations that left him no time for personal leisure or selfish plans. He worked in a store at Lewisburg, and for a number of years turned over his earnings to the rehabilitation of the family fortunes. He was deputy to the high sheriff of the county, and in 1828 was elected commissioner of revenue, a position he held many years by reelection. In 1827 he married Miss Eliza S. Reynolds, member of one of the best known families of Lewisburg. Soon afterward he removed to Frankfort, Greenbrier County, and became a merchant, and in the course of years laid the solid foundation of his personal fortune. Subsequently he returned to Lewisburg, and was justice of the peace until the entire judicial system of the state was changed by the convention of 1849-50. For years he was treasurer of the Board of Commissioners of Free Schools. Because of his judicial temperament he was often called npon to arbitrate differences arising among his neighbors. He was a veritable father to his people. He opposed secession, favoring the Union, but when the state passed the ordinance of secession he cast in his lot with the Confederacy, for which he made many sacrifices. From 1859 to 1864 he was a member of the Virginia Legislature. Mason Mathews was a gentlemen of the old school, unfailing in his courtesy, which was given to those of high as well as low estate. He was honest and upright, devoted to his family and few men enjoyed the love and esteem accorded him. Mason Mathews was the father of eight children, and lived to see seven of them grown, married and successfully established in life. The most noted perhaps of them was Henry Mason Mathews, who became one of the great lawyers of West Virginia, served as attorney-general, and also as governor of the state. Another son of Mason Mathews was Capt. Alexander F. Mathews, who added to the prestige of the family name in Greenbrier County. He was born at Lewisburg in 1838 and died December 17, 1906. At the age of fifteen be entered the University of Virginia, and graduated two years later with high honors and the degree Master of Arts. For a time he taught school, and at the beginning of the Civil war he esponsed the Confederacy and was commissioned captain, and served as aide-de-camp on the staff of General Wise and afterward was in service in North Carolina. When the war was over he returned to Lewisburg, with physical energies unimpaired, but impoverished in fortune. He married in 1865 Laura Gardner, of Christiansburg, Virginia. He taught school, and though he had studied law in the University of Virginia, he was debarred from practicing that profession because of having taken up arms against the United States. Later he formed a partnership with his famous brother, Governor Henry M. Mathews, and was also a partner for a time of Judge Adam C. Snyder. Capt. Alexander Mathews steadfastly refused to hold office. Along with the legal profession he was a banker for many years, being president of the Bank ofLewisburg. This was the oldest bank between Charleston, West Virginia, and Staunton, Virginia. He was man possessed of high ideals, and made those ideals effective in his every day life. Intellectually he was one of the best equipped lawyers of his time. Capt. Alexander Mathews and wife had seven children: Mason; Charles Gardner; Mary M., deceased wife of D. C. T. Davis; Eliza P., the only surviving daughter; Maude M.; Florence V.; and Henry A. Mason Mathews, son of Capt. Alexander F. Mathews, is one of West Virginia's ablest bankers and financiers. He was born at Christiansburg, June 29, 1867. He was reared in Lewisburg, and that city has always been his home. He had a public school education, attended a military academy at Bethel, Virginia, and studied law until failing eyesight compelled him to relinquish professional ambition. He soon afterward entered the Bank of Lewisburg as a teller, and has been with that institution thirty years or more. Since 1908 he has been its president. His financial ability has brought him a wide field of service. He helped organize the Richwood Bank and Trust Company. He was a director for ten years and later elected president of the First National Bank of Ronceverti, and is still its president. He is now vice president and was the first president of the Virginia Joint Stock Land Bank at Charleston, which succeeded the Virginia Rural Credit Association, of which Mr. Mathews was also president. He is a director of the West Virginia Mortgage and Discount Corporation of Charleston, which was organized in 1921. He has also been extensively interested in land and oil developments. Mason Mathews married Jane C. Montgomery, of Lewisburg. Their children are: Florence M., wife of Buford Hendrick, Jr.; Alexander F.; and Elizabeth M. A soldier of the great war, an air pilot, who lost his life in France, was Alexander F. Mathews, only son of the Lewisburg banker. He was born August 23, 1895, and was educated in the Greenbrier Presbyterian Military School and graduated in 1914 from Culver Military Academy of Indiana, with the rank of first lieutenant. He also spent a year in Purdue University, and in 1915 entered Cornell University. He was one of the young men of university training and technically equipped who volunteered at the very beginning of the war when America entered the struggle. He volunteered for the aviation service in March, 1917, was in training at Miami, Florida, and in July 1917, ordered to France. He was commissioned first lieutenant of the American Air Force on September 29, 1917, and was then sent to England for special training with the Royal Flying Corps. April 1, 1918, he returned to France, and though an American aviator was assigned to duty with the Eighty-fourth Squadron Royal Flying Corps. Having downed 3 1/3 enemy machines, he lacked only a fraction of the work required of an "Ace". On the night of August 24, the day after his twenty-third birthday, he was killed by a German bomb dropped during a raid over the section on which he was engaged. His death was instant. His captain wrote as follows: "I have known Alex. ever since he joined the squadron and have done a great deal of work with him over the lines, and there was nobody I would sooner go into a scrap with. He was an excellent pilot and was very keen, and had become one of the tried and trustworthy pilots who are the backbone of a fighting squadron. A chap like Alex. is awfully hard to replace, for although only with us for five months he has been in dozens of fights and was a very experienced and scientific Hun fighter." The body of Lieutenant Mathews was subsequently returned to America, and was laid to rest in the National Cemetery at Arlington. Charles Gardner Mathews, a brother of Mason Mathews, the Lewisburg banker, was born at Lewisburg February 14, 1869. He was educated at private schools in Virginia and the University of Virginia, where he studied law. Though admitted to the bar, his active years have been devoted to private business affairs. In 1907 he married Miss Harriet B. Tompkins. Their two children are: Jane Graves and Charles G., Jr.