Aside from her date of birth nothing is known of Susanna Mathews. She is mentioned in her father's will and after that nothing is known of her for certain. Recorded in the deed books of Halifax County, NC in 1772 is a sale of two slaves between James Mathews Sr (father of the above children, James Jr. became James Sr. after his father died) and Richard Mathews (son of said James Mathews Sr.) which was witnessed by Susannah Mathews.¹²⁴

James Mathews III was undoubtedly the most successful of the children of James Mathews Jr. He was likely born within a handful of years of 1745. James III's first child was John Mathews with family bible records showing that John was born in 1766. Assuming James III was around 21 years of age or so then this would put his birth year around 1745. A 1754 Edgecombe County, North Carolina deed shows that his grandfather, James Mathews Sr., "sold" his grandson "James Matthis miner" [sic, "minor"] 137 acres for the paltry sum of 5 pence in 1754.¹²⁵ I cannot imagine the significance of this deed of gift in all but name as James Sr. did not bestow a similar gift to any other grandchild. Perhaps it was just the simple fact that James III was the oldest male child of his oldest son and the significance lies in that alone; however it cannot be determined with certainty that James III was in fact his oldest male grandchild. Using our base estimate of 1745 for his birth this deed would have taken place when James III was 9 or 10. Perhaps he was born a little before 1745, but I feel that 1745 is a good marker for at least the latest date that he was born and gives us some context when imagining how old he was at various points in his life.

Halifax County, North Carolina records show that James Matthews III was probably schooled in law (as were several of his children). Records for many Mathews, not just this family group, show that law was a common profession amongst several prominent Mathews. We find James Mathews III listed in Halifax County court records as an attorney and a sitting judge as well.¹²⁶ The Revolutionary War pension request for William Wood of Halifax County includes a sworn statement by Isham Mathews, a son of James III, that his father was a Justice of the Peace for Halifax County and had performed the wedding ceremony for William Wood and his wife Sarah in 1783.¹²⁷

Further bolstering the assumption that the family of James III was the most successful of his brothers, and presumably the oldest, is the fact that he had more wealth in slaves and land as seen in the Halifax County tax records. The 1786 tax list shows him with almost twice as many slaves as his two younger brothers, 9 total for James versus 5 each for Jeremiah and Richard.¹²⁸ His land holdings greatly outnumbered that of his brothers. In 1788 he was taxed for 1250 acres (versus 370 acres for Jeremiah and 350 for Richard).¹²⁹ By 1802 James III held 1625 acres.¹³⁰ No records show James III buying nearly this much land. Primogeniture was still in effect when his father died so he likely received the bulk of it upon his father's death in 1775.

Sometime prior to 1809 James III had moved to Morgan County, Georgia. He is listed in the Halifax County tax lists up to 1802 still holding 1625 acres of land, but he could have held that land even after he moved (in fact he willed 100 acres to his son Isham so he definitely had at least that much left in NC). There is some evidence that James III was in Warren County, Georgia as early as 1797, but more research needs to be done in this area. Between 1809 and 1812 James III was taxed for land held in Morgan County and sundry deeds mention his presence there as well. We do not know the exact date which James III died (although local records to which I am not privy to at this time may have record of the exact date), but it was sometime before 6 Feb 1815 when his will was recorded in Morgan County.¹³¹

James III had a large family and we get the names of his children and some grandchildren from his will which was recorded in Morgan County in Feb 1815. His wife, Sarah Brinkley, daughter of Abraham Brinkley of Halifax County, was not named in the will so presumably she died before her husband.

Jeremiah Mathews was probably the second born son of James Mathews Jr., likely born sometime in the mid to late 1740s. His name appears frequently in the Halifax County deed books, but seldom anywhere else. Between 1765 and 1783 he made 3 land purchases totaling nearly 700 acres, but in 1788 he was only taxed for 370 acres with no indication of what happened to the remaining land.¹³²

In a December 1794 Halifax County deed we learn that Jeremiah had removed to Georgia when he sold some of his land to his nephew Timothy Mathews (a son of James III).¹³³ He apparently still retained some land in North Carolina as several deeds throughout the 1790s make reference to it, although perhaps the deeds only reference vacant land that he formerly owned. Sifting through the records of Georgia we discover that Jeremiah eventually wound up in Baldwin County.

Not many records exist of Jeremiah while he lived in Georgia. The most valuable is his will which was written in 1808, recorded 1814, in which he names his 4 sons, 6 daughters and wife Polly.¹³⁴ His wife was almost certainly not the mother of his children named in the will. His first wife is unknown. Whether Polly was his second or even later wife is unknown, but she is probably the Mary Bowen nee Rains who made a pre-nuptial agreement with a Jeremiah Mathews in Hancock County, Georgia in 1800.¹³⁵ Curiously, even though Jeremiah had moved to Georgia by 1794 his name still appears in Halifax County, North Carolina deed records witnessing several deeds although it could be presumed that he had merely returned home on a couple of occasions during which these deeds were written. Over the period of one month between Dec 1805 and Jan 1806 Jeremiah witnessed 2 deeds on Christmas Day 1805 between William Pullen and Gideon Mathews (thought to be a son of Jeremiah's brother Richard) and one deed on 26 Jan 1806 also between William Pullen and Gideon Mathews.¹³⁶ Gideon had married a sister of William Pullen so perhaps these were Christmas presents for the couple who had not been married that long. A couple of years later Jeremiah witnessed a deed between his brother Richard to an Eli (also appears as Eliz in another deed) Mathews.¹³⁷ These deeds that Jeremiah witnessed illustrate that even though family members would move far away they still remained in touch.

Not much is known of Charlotte Mathews aside from the facts that: she married William Pullen; is mentioned in a handful of Halifax County deeds (see top of this page); and survived at least past Aug 1794 when her husband wrote his will. William Pullen named 6 sons and 4 daughters in his will.¹³⁸

The youngest child of James Mathews Jr. was perhaps Richard Mathews. We can estimate at least the latest date for which he was probably born as sometime before 1755 using census records, but due to the broad age brackets of the early census records we can get no closer than "before 1755" for his date of birth. He doesn't appear in the census records of Halifax County after 1810 so assuming he did not move to Georgia as his brothers did then he likely died between 1810 and 1820. The census records seem to imply he had a rather large family, but since he apparently died intestate we have no idea who they were with absolute certainty. Not including himself the 1790 census of Halifax County shows 8 other males in his household and 3 females, one of which may have been his wife.¹³⁹ The 1800 census shows 6 males not counting Richard and 2 females that were of the correct age to have been daughters and one older female presumably Richard's wife.¹⁴⁰ Prior to 1880 US census records did not normally indicate the relationship of any person to the head of the household so there is no guarantee of course that any of these people in the 1790 and 1800 censuses were children of Richard.

The section on Generation 2, below, will go into some detail into who might have been a part of Richard's family.

With the exception of his son Isham Mathews the James Mathews III family moved to Georgia, possibly all at once, but most likely in stages with different individuals arriving at different times. Several of James's children almost certainly moved there before their father as some are found in Georgia records prior to 1800 while James III is listed in the 1800 Halifax County, NC census. Finding records of them all in Georgia at once at an early date has proven difficult. James III was still being taxed as late as 1802 for land he had in Halifax County, but he may have moved to Georgia prior to that since he didn't actually have to live in North Carolina to be taxed for land he still retained there. John Mathews in particular is seen in Georgia records fairly early. A Halifax County deed record from Nov 1797 states that he was living in Warren County, Georgia at the time of the sale.¹⁴² Records have been found placing John first in Warren County and later in Baldwin County, Georgia. By 1818 John had left Georgia with his last known residence being Milledgeville, the antebellum capitol of Georgia. He had been a state senator representing Baldwin County and before leaving for Alabama posted a notice in the Georgia Journal of Milledgeville thanking the people for their support.¹⁴³

After leaving Georgia John Mathews wound up in Autauga County, Alabama. Much of Alabama was opened up after the War of 1812 with the defeat of the Creek Indian allies of the British. Alabama fever engulfed the nation and many rushed in to purchase land. Alabama was still part of the Mississippi Territory in 1818, but the following year would be granted statehood. When John died in early 1822 he left behind a large family of 4 sons and 4 daughters.

Timothy Mathews, second child of James Mathews III and Sarah Brinkley, was born in 1767. He was educated in law possibly at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (being an NC State graduate I find this reprehensible...). Either alone or with his family Timothy made his way to Georgia and was in Warren County at least as early as 1799.¹⁴⁴ He was likely in Georgia a bit earlier than that as his obituary, in 1846, claimed he had been a resident of Georgia for 50 years which would put his arrival in Georgia at around 1796 or 1797.¹⁴⁵ According to one of his descendants Timothy tried to woo Anne Lane of Halifax County, North Carolina to be his wife, but she was to eventually marry Abner Flewellen. Timothy had to wait a few more years, but he eventually wound up marrying Abner and Anne's daughter Martha in 1801 in Warren County, Georgia when she was but 15 and he 32.¹⁴⁶

Following the trend of many of the descendants of James Mathews III we find that Timothy Mathews was not only an attorney and judge, but also involved in politics. In Georgia he was a Justice of the Peace, a Justice of Inferior Court and also a member of the Georgia state legislature.¹⁴⁷ We find Timothy's name in the records of a number of counties witnessing deeds, administrating estates and performing other legal tasks. His name is commonly found as a witness to deeds involving his siblings, his cousins and his nieces and nephews from Warren County to Bibb County. Timothy is first found in the records of Warren County and next door Wilkes County around the time period of 1803-1804 (see section on Robert Mathews). Later he is found in the area of Twiggs County and next door Bibb County from the 1820s until his death in 1846.¹⁴⁸

Unlike most of the Mathews discussed on this site we learn a great deal about Timothy from a wonderful pair of articles printed in the December 3rd and 4th issues of the Macon Telegraph in 1914. These articles detail the reminiscences of Charles Timothy Furlow (son of Timothy Mathews Furlow who was a son of Margaret Mathews and Charles Furlow) and reveal a great deal about Timothy and reveal what a remarkable person he must have been. In 1821 while living in Twiggs County, GA, about 10 miles from Macon, Timothy Mathews decided to move to next door Bibb County near a settlement called Holton. Timothy was so enamored with the area that he and his wife Martha enticed several of his in-laws to move there as well. Timothy had been involved in politics while living in Twiggs County, having served as one of that county's members of the state House of Representatives in 1815, 1821 and 1822. After moving to Bibb County he continued his civic contributions by serving as that county's state senator in 1825 and 1826. Known as "Squire Mathews" to his family and neighbors, Timothy was a staunch supporter of education and helped establish that first school in the Holton area.

Timothy and his wife Martha, or "Aunt Patsy" as she was known to family and friends, had no children of their own, but they did adopt several foster children. Three of these children were orphans of Timothy's sisters Martha, Margaret and Elizabeth (Zembile Hill, Timothy Mathews Furlow, and Parasade Watts, respectively). The other two were William Lowther Furlow (son of Timothy Mathews Furlow, taken in after his mother died, probably not adopted though) and Matt Redding whose relationship to Timothy, if a familial one exists, has not yet been determined.¹⁴⁹

Clara Mathews married just before or soon after her family moved to Georgia. Her first marriage was to William Butt in either Halifax County, North Carolina or Warren County, Georgia probably in the mid to late 1790s (based on the ages of their children).¹⁵⁰ By the time her father died in 1815 she had remarried to John Gibson¹⁵¹ and at some point moved to Campbell County, Georgia with her second husband. John's will is apparently recorded in both Campbell County and Monroe County, Georgia. Both state that he is "of Warren County".¹⁵² Since the second marriage also took place in Warren County she obviously stayed there after her father moved to Morgan County. She outlived Gibson and by the 1830 census we find her living in Campbell County with one of her sons.¹⁵³ Presumably the son was Jesse since he is found in Campbell County in the 1840 census with a 70+ year old woman in his household.¹⁵⁴ Anecdotal evidence places the date of Clara's death at 4 Jul 1842. Her will was recorded in Campbell County on 5 Sept 1842 so her accepted date of death is most likely quite accurate.¹⁵⁵

There is proof for Jesse Mathews, fourth child of James Mathews III, being in Georgia by Oct 1796 so perhaps this is the year we should use as the approximate timeframe for the James Mathews III family arriving in Georgia. On 26 Oct 1796 Jesse Mathews married Mary Peebles (last name may be "Peoples" or some other phonetic variation) in Warren County, Georgia placing him in Georgia earlier than any dates we have for his brothers and sisters.¹⁵⁶ It seems unlikely he would go all that way just to get married unless he was in the company of his family a bit before that date.

There seems to be much misinformation on the internet concerning Jesse Mathews. Jesse died before Jan 1823 and he probably died in Morgan County, Georgia. Just about every internet reference one can find on this Jesse claims that he died in Warren County around 1822. This is false. Morgan County tax records in combination with that county's court records are quite clear on this. Morgan County tax lists consistently place Jesse in Morgan County starting in 1809 whereas there are no records to place Jesse in Warren County by this date.¹⁵⁷ In the deed books he is active up until about 1817 then he disappears from having any activity in the deed books, e.g. buying/selling or serving as a witness. Beginning in Jan 1823 the court record books mention the orphan's of Jesse Mathews numerous times and in those records other Mathews or others related by marriage are mentioned in reference to his children making it quite clear that Jesse had died in Morgan County.

Mary Peebles apparently did not survive her husband. Jesse is found in the 1820 census of Morgan County, but there is no female in his household old enough to have been Mary.¹⁵⁸ She and Jesse had 6 children.

Isham Mathews, born about 1775, was the only child of James Mathews III who chose to stay in Halifax County, North Carolina when the rest of his family moved to Georgia. Sometime prior to 1810, the estimated date of birth of his oldest child, he married Martha (probably a Flewellen). Arguably, Isham was the most active of his siblings in politics as he held several elected and appointed positions in government during much of his adult life. The first time Isham is known to have entered public service was in 1799 when he was a Constable of a district within Halifax County.¹⁵⁹ With the exception of the year 1800 Isham would continue this duty through 1802. Later, in 1812, we find Isham appointed captain of a company of militia soldiers at the start of the War of 1812.¹⁶⁰ The company was formed 2 months before war was declared, but presumably he served in the war as many other companies were formed at this same time across the state.

A few years after the war Isham began a long career in politics. First, in 1822, he was elected to represent Halifax County in the state House of Representatives. He would be elected to this position again in 1836. For 10 consecutive years from 1824 to 1833 the citizens of Halifax County elected him as their representative to the state Senate.¹⁶¹ In 1834 he was appointed a Councilor of the State of North Carolina.¹⁶²

Isham died in 1847 and in his will, recorded Nov 1847 in Halifax County, he mentioned his wife Martha, a son and daughter and three grandchildren of a second daughter.¹⁶³

Not much is known of James Mathews IV who was the sixth child of James Mathews III. He lived in Morgan County, Georgia near his father and was married to a Susannah.¹⁶⁴ James IV died only a few months before his father sometime before 26 Sept 1814 leaving 4 young children¹⁶⁵ and his widow soon married a Massey. There was no child of his named James so we can finally do away with the generational suffices!

The next child of James Mathews III was a daughter, Martha, about whom little is known although her father's will mentioned that she had married a James Hill.¹⁶⁶ While no children are known to have come from this marriage it is believed that she had a daughter named Zembile who was adopted by her brother Timothy as mentioned above in the section on him. Since this adoption took place it is reasonable to assume she died prior to 1840. This is the first census that Timothy is found and in that year he is shown with all 5 of the children that he and his wife adopted.

Charles L. Mathews, the eighth child of James Mathews III, was born about 1786. He married Sarah Fitzpatrick 17 Mar 1813¹⁶⁷ and they had two daughters (named in his father's will) before Charles' death 20 Nov 1820. His tombstone inscription notes that he was 34 years old when he died and that he was at the "seat of government" (possibly implying he was in Milledgeville at the time of death) serving Morgan County as one its elected members to the state House of Representatives.

The next two children of James Mathews III also died at a relatively young age. Margaret Mathews married Charles Furlow about 1808 and had three children before she died 5 Sept 1816. The youngest of her two sons, Timothy Mathews Furlow went to live with his uncle and namesake Timothy Mathews as mentioned above and was raised by them as an adopted son. The other two children presumably lived with either their father or other in-laws.

Elizabeth Mathews died not too long after her sister Margaret. She had married Ludwell Watts 14 Dec 1808¹⁶⁸ in Morgan County and had three daughters before her death (named in her father's will).

The 11th and last child of James Mathews III and Sarah Brinkley was Hannah Walton Mathews. Little is known about her and her family although it is known that on 13 Sept 1814 she married Reuben Dawson in Greene County, GA (borders Morgan County on the east) and together they had 5 daughters and 1 son.¹⁶⁹

William Mathews was the first of his children mentioned in his father's will. At this point nothing further is known of him. The name "William Mathews" is very common for just about any Mathews family, not just the family that this website is devoted to. Separating one William Mathews from another is difficult where records are scarce.

In her father's will Sarah Mathews is called by what is presumably her married name: Sarah Grimsley. Nothing more is known of her at this point.

The fate of Reese Mathews (also spelled Rheese--- an anglicized version of the Welsh name "Rhys") after his father died is unknown. His name is, however, found in one interesting place that allows us to give him an estimated date of birth. Rheese joined the US Army in the early 1800s and his place of birth and age are given.¹⁷⁴ We learn from the Register of Enlistments that Rheese joined the army for a period of 5 years with an enlistment date of 2 Dec 1803 at Ft. Wilkinson, Georgia. Apparently his enlistment period was for 1805 - 1810 even though he enlisted a little over a year prior to that period. His place of birth is given as Halifax County, North Carolina and that he was 24 years old when he enlisted. Further details included that he was 6 feet tall (rather tall for this time period!) and had blue eyes, light-colored hair, a fair complexion, and that he was a farmer.

Christiana Mathews, or "Kitty" as she was perhaps better known to her family, was born ca. 1780. This date jibes with the order in which her father names her in his will as well as with the date of birth of one of her sons, Simeon Parker born 1802.¹⁷⁵ She probably married William Parker sometime around 1799 and moved west after her father died, probably as land was opening up with successive land lotteries. Not much is known of her at this juncture, however her husband and at least some of her children eventually wound up in Talbot County, Georgia where her brother Josiah would also settle. It appears that Kitty died before her family arrived in Talbot County and was possibly interred in Twiggs County as she is not believed to have been buried in the family graveyard in Talbot County (there is no known tombstone for her there at any rate). Conflicting dates have been found for her date of death that vary by a large margin so at this point no date of death will be indicated.

Abraham is believed to be the 5th children of Jeremiah Mathews. Several documents write his name as "Abram" so perhaps he was commonly called that. His middle initial was B. which is believed to be for "Brinkley". From the 1830 and 1840 census records it is believed that he was born ca. 1780. Both census years list him in the 50-59 age bracket so if he was approximately 50 in 1830¹⁷⁶ and close to 60 in 1840¹⁷⁷ then conceivably he could have been listed in 50-59 both times if the person speaking to the census enumerator wasn't exactly clear on how old he was. If such was the case then 1780 would be a good approximation of his date of birth.

After his father's will was written in 1808 Abraham doesn't appear again in the records until he is found in Alabama in 1819. Alabama had been granted statehood in Dec 1819 so Abraham was part of the wave of people rushing in to acquire land. The records of the General Land Office of the federal government list several patents for land that Abraham had acquired. The Kaufman County, Texas usgenweb page lists some further information on Abraham including a cogent argument for narrowing his date of death to between May and Oct of 1843. One of the Autauga County deeds mentioned on that site also lists Abraham's children. After his death Abraham's family would move on to San Augustine County, Texas where they are first found in the 1850 census.

Josiah was the next child named in his father's will. In Feb of 1811 he married Sarah Jane Brown in Baldwin County¹⁷⁸ and together they had a large family of 13 children.¹⁷⁹ Josiah must have been close to the family of his sister Kitty for together their families eventually migrated to Talbot County, Georgia. Josiah, his wife Jennie and several of their children are buried in the Mathews-McCoy Cemetery in Talbot County.¹⁸⁰ Josiah's headstone gives his date of birth as 14 Nov 1785 and his date of death as 8 Jul 1863. The date of birth on his tombstone further reinforces that supposition that the order of birth of the children of Jeremiah as they are named in his will is largely correct.

It is presumptive that the Rebecca Mathews who married Charles Peavy in Hancock County, Georgia on 7 Oct 1809 was the daughter of Jeremiah Mathews.¹⁸¹ When she was named in her father's will in 1808 she is unmarried and there is only one Rebecca Mathews found in the marriage records of the adjoining counties of Baldwin, Hancock, Putnam and Washington where most records of the extended Mathews family are found for this time period in Georgia. Charles Peavy and his wife Rebecca are found in the 1850 census of Butler County, Alabama¹⁸² and presumably the Charles Peavy who was granted land there per GLO records in 1837 is the same which means that Charles and his wife were in Alabama at least by 1837.¹⁸³

Mary Mathews married Newbell Moore 4 Oct 1810 in Baldwin County, Georgia.¹⁸⁴ Nothing more is known of the couple after their marriage.

As with her sister Mary not much is known for certain of Cebell Mathews after her 13 Nov 1814 marriage to Archibald Woodall.¹⁸⁵ It is possible that the Archibald Woodall found in Jones County, Georgia in the 1820 census¹⁸⁶ and the 1830 census¹⁸⁷ is the husband of Cebell. The ages of Archibald and his wife (whoever she might be) in the 1820 census appear to be correct for the ages that we might imagine for Cebell and Archibald, however in the 1830 census both she and he are in the 40-50 age bracket which seems a little too old, but my supposition about the age of Cebell may be off. Assuming that the order of birth for Cebell's father's will is largely correct then she should have been born after ca. 1790. The 40-50 age bracket in the 1830 would then be approximately correct for Cebell. In the 1840 census an Arch Woodall is found in the Talbot County, Georgia census.¹⁸⁸ In 1840 Arch is shown in the 50-60 bracket and his wife is in the 40-50 bracket which be "even more correct", if such a thing can be said, for the age bracket of Cebell Mathews. There is, of course, no guarantee that this Arch is the one who married Cebell Mathews and certainly no guarantee that the 40-50 female is Cebell.

The youngest child of Jeremiah Mathews was a daughter, Nancy, who married Ward Taylor 31 May 1814 in Baldwin County, Georgia.¹⁸⁹ In 1850 they are found in the Cass County, Texas census.¹⁹⁰ The family must have been living in the area of Cass County from which Marion County was formed in 1860 for it is in Marion County that the Taylor Family cemetery is found. Nancy Mathews Taylor, her husband Ward and many of their children and relatives would eventually be buried here. Ward Taylor's headstone states that he died 18 Oct 1871 and was 80 years old when he died. Nancy Mathews Taylor's headstone states that she died almost a year later on 6 May 1872 and was 77 years old.¹⁹¹

William Pullen, 5th child of William and Charlotte Pullen, married Rachel Sturdivant, daughter of Anderson Sturdivant and Rachel Threewits, in 1807. They were the parents of 9 sons and 2 daughters. Their third child, daughter Jemima Pullen was born 12 Dec 1811 in Halifax County, North Carolina and the fourth, son Thomas Pullen was born 8 Apr 1813 in Tennessee so presumably they moved to Tennessee between those dates and would settle in Jefferson County.¹⁹³

Claire Pullen, born about 1780 married William Pace, a son of Cebell Mathews and her first husband Thomas Pace. Many Pace and Carr (family of Cebell Mathews's second husband) family members would move from Halifax County to Georgia in the early 1800s so it is possible that Claire and her husband moved there as well at some point.

Charlotte Pullen married her first cousin Gideon Mathews sometime in the very early 1800s. There is the presumption that Gideon was a son of Richard Mathews who was a brother of Charlotte's mother. After her husband's death in 1815 Charlotte raised her 4 children in Halifax County, but would move to Nash County with her family and the family of at least one of her brothers-in-law between 1840 and 1850.¹⁹⁴ More on this family in the discussion of Charlotte's husband, Gideon Mathews.

Eaton Pullen, born about 1786, married Phoebe Anderson in 1830¹⁹⁵ and had a family of 5 children that were listed in the 1850 census of Halifax County. Eaton was not listed in the household so presumably he died before the census was taken.¹⁹⁶

Roderick Pullen, or "Ricky" as he is commonly found in records, was the youngest child of William and Charlotte Mathews Pullen, and probably a twin of Eaton. In 1835 he married his cousin Margaret "Peggy" Mathews, a daughter of his first cousin William Mathews.¹⁹⁷ William is thought to be a son of Richard Mathews. Ricky Pullen handled a number of legal matters for his Pullen and Mathews family so it is possible that he was educated in law. Ricky had a fairly large family of 7 children whose names are found in the 1850¹⁹⁸ and 1860¹⁹⁹ census records. Upon his death in 1869 he was buried in the Pullen Family cemetery at the Pullen plantation in Halifax County. R. L. Guffin reports that many Pullens and Mathews were buried at this cemetery, but unfortunately the cemetery no longer exists.

Using a combination of tax, census and deed records it is apparent that even though some Mathews were living next to each other they were recorded in different tax districts giving the illusion that if we only had tax or census records to go by we might be lead to believe that they did not live close together. The census records for Halifax County in 1790 were in some cases ordered quasi-alphabetically, meaning the returns were re-written in last name order by district. The effect of this is that we do not get a feel for who the neighbors of individuals were in some cases. Deed records illustrate that Samuel Mathews was living either next door or very near to Thomas Mathews whereas Richard Mathews was living either next door or very near to James Mathews III and Jeremiah Mathews. Yet, we know from deed records that all of these men were living on Little Fishing Creek and across all deeds they were sharing some of the same neighbors even though the deeds may not point out that, for example, Samuel Mathews lived very near to Richard Mathews even though no record explicitly points that out. The point of all of this is that we have further proof (if more was needed) that all of these Mathews who were related to each other were all living in the same area.

With this is mind we have a limited pool from which to target a possible father for the handful of miscellaneous Halifax County Mathews men about whom we know little about. Tax records give us the name of a David Mathews who is mentioned in no other record group. Deed, probate and census records give us the names of William and Gideon Mathews about whom little is known. Later census records (beginning with 1820) give us the name of Fanny Mathews about whom nothing is known, yet she is living in the midst of the Little Fishing Creek crowd. Even later, in the 1850 census, we find Fanny living beside a Betsey Mathews.²⁰² Both Fanny and Elizabeth are listed as spinsters which either means they were elderly women (both were in their 70's in 1850) who were unmarried or they were listed as spinsters because that was their profession.

Halifax County deeds indicate two likely candidates for sons of Richard. In Sept 1804 Richard sold 123.25 acres to Gideon²⁰³ and William Mathews²⁰⁴ is separate deeds to each. The land that each got was either connected to Richard's land or Gideon's existing property implying that they were all connected together. By 1804 there were few Mathews left in Halifax County and the majority of those remaining have been accounted for, i.e. we can tell where most of them fit in the at-large Matthews family tree. Gideon and William are two of the exceptions. There are no records that connect them to anyone from Richard's generation. In other words, Gideon and William must have been children of either Richard or one of his brothers or of one of the few children of Isaac Mathews Sr remaining in Halifax County since those were the only Mathews who remained there. Everyone else had moved away well before 1804 or had left wills revealing who their children were. As seen in the 1800 census record above Richard had at least two males in his home in the 16-25 age bracket so Gideon and William could have quite possibly been his sons and in my opinion he is the only viable candidate. One of Gideon's descendants has been yDNA tested and been proven to have had a common ancestor with several known descendants of James Mathews Sr., the patriarch of the entire extended Mathews family of Halifax County. From this we know that Gideon at least must have been sired by one of the Mathews of Generation 2.

Fanny Mathews is included in the list of possible daughters of Richard solely from finding a Fanny in the 1820 Halifax County census enumerated in the same as area as the few other Mathews living there.²⁰⁵ She must have been either a wife of some Mathews or an unmarried daughter of one. Perhaps she was a daughter of Richard.

Elizabeth may have been a sister of Fanny. She is found living next door to Fanny in the 1850 census of Halifax County and they were very near in age (listed as Betsey).²⁰⁶

While there is no evidence for Elizabeth or Fanny being daughters of Richard there is at least the observations made from the census records. For David and Isham we don't even have census records. David appears only in the 1786 tax list and no where else. He is listed on the same page as Richard and is the name just above Richard. The main issue against David being a son of Richard is that he is seemingly much older than Richard's other theoretical children so perhaps he was not a son, but some other relative.²⁰⁷