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EARLY SETTLERS OF SANGAMON COUNTY - 1876
By John Carroll Power

These biographies were submitted by a researcher and evidently abstracted from the 1876 History of Sangamon County, IL. Errors could occur, so one should always verify the correctness by obtaining copies of vitals and performing all necessary research to document what is contained herein.



MATTHEWS, JOSEPH, was born in Buckingham county, Va., and when a young man went to Fayette county, Ky., where he was married to Tabitha Rutherford, a native of that county. After spending a few years each in Wayne and Cumberland counties, Ky., they moved to Sangamon county, Ill., arriving Oct. 20, 1830, in what is now Cooper township. They had eleven children, some of whom died, and some married and remained in Kentucky and Tennessee.

SALLY married in Kentucky to Charles Thomas. She died in Mechanicsburg in 1865, leaving one son, ROWLAND D. Thomas, who is married, and lives in Cooper township.

ELIZABETH, born in Kentucky, married there to Dr. Joel Hughes, came to Springfield in 1834, and in 1837 went to Ashley, Mo., where Dr. Hughes died. His widow married in Springfield to Williom Brown, and died Oct. 19, 1859, in Cotton Hill township.

WILLIAM S., born in Kentucky, married in 1833, in Sangamon county, to Mrs. Lucinda Ashley, whose maiden name was Cooper. He died in 1834, leaving one child, WILLIAM S., Jun. He served three years in the 130th Ill. Inf., part of the time in Andersonville prison. W. S. Matthews, Jun., lives near Edinburg, Illinois.

LOT P., born Oct. 11, 1811, in Cumberland county, Ky., married in Sangamon county June 28, 1838, to Eliza Forrest, who was born in 1815. They had four children in Sangamon county. SARAH J., born April 30, 1839, married Joseph Breckinridge. See his name. He died, and she married Thomas Pike. LAVINA A. died, aged twenty-two years. JOHN HENRY, born June 8, 1848, is a minister in the Christian church at Toledo, Ohio--1874. JAMES J., born March 4, 1854, lives at Illiopolis. Mrs. Eliza Matthews died July 13, 1866. Lot P. Matthews lived in Cooper township until the death of his wife. Since that time he has been traveling as a colporteur in the Christian church.

JOSEPH H., born Nov. 2, 1813, in Cumberland county, Ky., married in Sangamon county, Oct. 20, 1843, to Sarah A. Hayley. They had eight children in Sangamon county. FRANCES A., born July 11, 1844, married Dec. 4, 1859, to Charles H. Bridges. See his name. JAMES F., born Jan. 1, 1846, died in his nineteenth year. THOMAS P., born Nov. 18, 1848, married Silence A. Pearce, and live in Niantic, Macon county, Ill. MARY E. died in her third year. AMELIA and CORDELIA, born July 2, 1854; WILLIAM A., born June 10, 1857, and ALICE, born Dec. 26, 1859. The four latter live with their mother. Joseph H. Matthews died Oct. 16, 1861, in Pawnee, and his widow and children reside in Illiopolis, Sangamon county, Illinois.

JAMES J., born in Kentucky, married in Sangamon county to Ann Dozier, and both died.

Mrs. Tabitha Matthews died August, 1835, and Joseph Matthews died Dec. 15, 1844, both in Cooper township, Sangamon county, Illinois.



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