Mathews was born in 1834 and married Sarah Snell Olds of
Lamoille Township, Bureau County, Illinois, on July 4, 1868, in that state. He came to Los Angeles about 1877 from Illinois and had a successful business career: He represented the
Studebaker Wagon Company and had his own implement and machinery dealership in the 200 block of North
Los Angeles Street. He died of
heart failure on January 30, 1907, in a
rooming house on
South Broadway. A
masseuse who was with him at the time summoned help when he was stricken, but four minutes after a doctor arrived, Mathews was dead at age 74. in today's
University Park district. ==Common Council==