Mathews family

The Mathews family is believed to be of Scotch-Irish and/or possibly Welsh ethnicity. 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. However, these traditions lack corroborating records and/or remain speculative. Mathews likely immigrated to America during early years of the Scotch-Irish immigration of 1717–1775. The female progenitor of the family, Ann Archer, immigrated to America during this period, and was of Scotch-Irish ethnicity. ==Overview==

John Mathews settled in Augusta County, Virginia around 1737 and held several local offices in the community. 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. In total, three of Mathews’ sons served as wartime Virginia legislators: Sampson Mathews and George Mathews from Augusta County and Archer Mathews (1744–) from Greenbrier County. Additionally, Sampson Mathews was a lieutenant colonel of Virginia militia, and George Mathews was a brevet brigadier general in the Continental Army. George Mathews was later a U.S. House representative to the First Congress and a governor of Georgia. 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. George Mathews Jr.'s brother, John Mathews (c.1762–1806), was a federal Supervisor of Revenue from Georgia. 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. In addition, their sister Ann Mathews married Samuel Blackburn (an attorney from Frederick County, which encompassed the northern part of the Shenandoah Valley). The couple moved to Wilkes County, Georgia in March 1784, where Blackburn became a general in the Georgia militia as well as a state senator, but the couple moved back to Virginia after Blackburn was implicated in the Yazoo Land Scandal. Blackburn represented Bath County in the Virginia House of Delegates for many terms, but failed in his attempts to win a congressional seat (in each case to William McCoy of Greenbrier County). Because the couple had no children of their own and their adopted son died young, Blackburn manumitted his slaves upon his death, upon the condition that they emigrate to Liberia (all but two complied). 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. His son Henry M. Mathews (1834–1884) later served as an attorney general and governor of West Virginia. 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. 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. He authored the 1926 congressional bill that created the U.S. Army Air Corps from the Air Service, and served as its first chief. Other relations include Thomas Posey (1750–1818), U.S. senator from Louisiana; Peter J. Otey (1840–1902), U.S. House representative from Virginia; and George Mathews Edgar (1837–1913), president of University of Arkansas. ==Offices held==

A list of offices held by members of the Mathews family: • John Mathews (d.1757), justice of Augusta County, Virginia, 1747–1757; Virginia Colonial Militia captain. Father of Joshua, Sampson, George, Archer, and William Mathews. • Joshua Mathews (d.1763), son of John Mathews. • Mary A. Mathews, ∞ William H. McClintic (1825–1892). Daughter of Sampson L. Mathews. • George W. McClintic (1866–1942), judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia 1921–1942; West Virginia House delegate 1919–1921. Son of Mary A. Mathews. • Lockart Mathews McClintic (1860–1928) West Virginia House delegate, dates unknown • George Mathews (1739–1812), 20th & 24th governor of Georgia, 1787–1788 & 1793–1796; U.S. House representative from Georgia's 3rd congressional district, 1789–1791; Georgia assemblyman from Wilkes County, 1786; Virginia burgess from Augusta County, 1775; Continental Army brigadier general. Son of John Mathews. • John Mathews (c.1762–1806), Supervisor of Revenue for Georgia, 1794–1796. Son of George Mathews. • George Mathews Jr. (1774–1836), presiding judge of the Louisiana Supreme Court, 1813–1836; judge of the Superior courts of the Territory of Orleans, 1806–1813; judge of the Superior Courts of the Territory of Mississippi 1805–1806. Son of George Mathews. • Charles L. Mathews (1776–1842), ∞ Lucy Early, sister of Peter Early (1773–1818), 28th governor of Georgia. • William Mathews (1741–1772), justice of Botetourt County, 1770–1772. Son of John Mathews. • Elizabeth Mathews (±1766–1853), ∞ Isaac Otey (1766–1850), Virginia House delegate from Bedford County, 1798–1813. Daughter of William Mathews. • Isaac Otey Jr., Virginia state senator from Bedford and surrounding counties, 1821–1825; Virginia House delegate, 1820–1821. Son of Elizabeth Mathews. • Peter J. Otey (1840–1902), U.S. House representative from Virginia's 6th congressional district, 1895–1902; delegate to the 1896 Democratic National Convention. Son of John M. Otey. • James H. Otey (1800–1863), first Episcopal bishop of Tennessee. Son of Elizabeth Mathews. • John Mathews (1768–1849), Virginia House delegate from Greenbrier County, 1798–1801, 1803–1804, 1813–1814, 1816, 1829; Federalist candidate for U.S. House of Representatives, 1815; clerk of Greenbrier County, Virginia 1831–1849. Son of William Mathews. • Frances Crow Mathews (b. 1814) ∞ Robert C. J. Cary. Daughter of John Mathews. • Roberta Elizabeth Cary (b. 1836) ∞ Ovid A. Kinsolving (1822–1894). Daughter of Frances Crow Mathews. • Wythe Leigh Kinsolving (1878–1964), Democratic Party political advocate; speaker at the 1924 Democratic National Convention. • Ophelia Mathews ∞ William Cary. Daughter of John Mathews. • Henrietta H. Cary ∞ Adam Clarke Snydor (1834–1896) justice of the Supreme Court of West Virginia 1882–1890. Daughter of Ophelia Mathews. • Joseph Mathews (1770–1834), son of William Mathews. • Mason Mathews (1803–1878), Virginia House delegate from Greenbrier County, 1859–1865; ∞ Eliza Shore Reynolds (1808–1872), sister of Alexander W. Reynolds (1817–1876), Confederate States Army brigadier general. Son of Joseph Mathews. • Alexander F. Mathews (1838–1906), delegate to 1888 Democratic National Convention from West Virginia; presidential elector for West Virginia, 1904; West Virginia University regent, 1871–1881; Confederate States Army captain. Son of Mason Mathews. • Mason Mathews (1867–1928), alternate delegate to 1912 Democratic National Convention from West Virginia. Son of Alexander F. Mathews. • Mason M. Patrick (1863–1942), chief of U.S. Army Air Service, American Expeditionary Force, 1917–1918; chief of U.S. Army Air Service, 1921–1926; chief of U.S. Army Air Corps, 1926–1927; U.S. Army major general; Public Utilities commissioner for the District of Columbia, 1929–1933. Son of Virginia A. Mathews. • Archer Mathews (1744–), Virginia House delegate from Greenbrier County, 1780–1782. Son of John Mathews. • Ann Mathews (1765–1852), ∞ Thomas Edgar (1754–1822), justice of Greenbrier County and Rockbridge County, Virginia; son of Thomas Edgar, Virginia House delegate from Greenbrier County. Daughter of Archer Mathews. • George M. Edgar (1837–1913), president of University of Arkansas, 1884–1887; president of Florida State University, 1887–1892. == Other Mathews of Virginia ==

(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. 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, though the connection has not been noted by others. ==References==