Mason Mathews (December 15, 1803 – September 16, 1878) was an American merchant and politician in the U.S. State of Virginia (present-day

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

). He served in the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

, representing

Greenbrier County Greenbrier County () is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 32,977. Its county seat is Lewisburg. The county was formed in 1778 from Botetourt and Montgomery counties in Virginia. History P ...

from 1859–1865 as a Whig. This period included the secession of Virginia and the resulting

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

of 1861–1865. Though Mathews opposed secession, he chose to support the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...

when Virginia seceded. Throughout the war, much of his efforts were directed toward the Confederate defense of western Virginia. When his home of Greenbrier County was taken into the new

State of West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...

in 1863, he continued to represent Greenbrier County in Virginia's Confederate legislature in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

until war's end. He was a member of the Mathews political family.

Early life and business

Mason Mathews was born on December 15, 1803, in Lewisburg,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, to Mary Edgar and Joseph Mathews.

Callahan Callahan may refer to: *Callahan (surname) Fictional characters *Father Callahan, in Stephen King novels *Harry Callahan (character), in ''Dirty Harry'' movies * Jack Callahan (''Neighbours''), from the Australian soap opera ''Neighbours'' *Mik ...

, p. 8 His family was politically prominent in western Virginia.

Combs Combs may refer to: Places France * Combs-la-Ville, a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris United Kingdom *Combs, Derbyshire, England *Combs, Suffolk, England United States *Combs, Arkansas, a community *Combs, Kentucky, a com ...

, p. 7 One of his great-uncles,

Archer Mathews Archer Mathews (1744 – 1796) was a United States pioneer, legislator, and city founder in the colony (and later U.S. state) of Virginia. He was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Greenbrier County from 1780 to 1782.Leonard, Cynt ...

, served as an original

trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, is a synonym for anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility to t ...

of the City of Lewisburg when it was founded in 1782. Mason Mathews's father bought an early lot in the city, and moved his family from Augusta County (present-day

Rockbridge County Rockbridge County is a county in the Shenandoah Valley on the western edge of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 22,650. Its county seat is the city of Lexington. Rockbridge County completely surrounds the ...

) to Lewisburg in the 1790s. Mason Mathews was primarily

homeschooled Homeschooling or home schooling, also known as home education or elective home education (EHE), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted by a parent, tutor, or an onlin ...

by his mother. He was a boy when his father died, and he found work as a local store clerk to support his family. On September 27, 1827, Mathews, at age 24, married Eliza Shore Reynolds, the 19-year-old daughter of Thomas Byrd Reynolds and Sally Ann McDowell. They had eight children: Mary Edgar, Sally Ann, Henry Mason, Virginia Amanda, Alexander Ferdinand, Joseph William, Eliza Thomas, and Sally Patton. Around 1827, Mathews moved to Frankford, Virginia (now West Virginia), where he established a successful mercantile business. Beginning in 1845, he resided at 1335 Washington Street East, in Lewisburg, West Virginia. He sent his three sons to be educated at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

. In 1860, he owned 10 slaves.

Political career

Local offices

Mathews was elected sheriff of Greenbrier County around 1825, under High Sheriff James Andrews. He resigned the office in 1828, and in 1830, at the age of 27, was appointed by the Greenbrier

County Court A county court is a court based in or with a jurisdiction covering one or more counties, which are administrative divisions (subnational entities) within a country, not to be confused with the medieval system of ''county courts'' held by the high ...

to the office of

Commissioner of the Revenue The Commissioner of the Revenue is one of five locally elected constitutional officers whose authority is specifically conveyed in the Virginia Constitution. The other four are the treasurer, sheriff, Commonwealth's attorney, and clerk. In gen ...

for Greenbrier County's lower district, being also appointed to the upper district in 1832. He additionally served as a

justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

for the city of Frankford, and again in Lewisburg, from about 1834 to 1850, at which point the state judicial system was overhauled by the

Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850 The Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850 was an assembly of elected delegates chosen by the voters to write the fundamental law of Virginia. It is known as the Reform Convention because it liberalized Virginia political institutions. Backgro ...

. He additionally served as the treasurer of the

Board of Commissioners A county commission (or a board of county commissioners) is a group of elected officials (county commissioners) collectively charged with administering the county government in some states of the United States; such commissions usually comprise ...

of Free Schools, which raised and deployed funding for the education of poor children in the absence of a public school system.

Virginia House of Delegates

In 1859, Mathews was elected to the

for Greenbrier County as a representative of the Whig Party. In the 1860 presidential election, Republican

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

won the presidency over Democrat

John C. Breckinridge John Cabell Breckinridge (January 16, 1821 – May 17, 1875) was an American lawyer, politician, and soldier. He represented Kentucky in both houses of Congress and became the 14th and youngest-ever vice president of the United States. Serving ...

. As a result, Southerners began to discuss secession in earnest. Mathews, like many western Virginians, opposed secession; on April 11, 1861, Mathews wrote to a local newspaper, "I am in favor of the preservation of our glorious Union, and a resort to all Constitutional remedies for its restoration. Next to my Bible, I reverence heConstitution of my Country & the Union." However, on April 17, Virginia's

Ordinance of Secession An Ordinance of Secession was the name given to multiple resolutions drafted and ratified in 1860 and 1861, at or near the beginning of the Civil War, by which each seceding Southern state or territory formally declared secession from the United ...

passed. Mathews, along with Greenbrier County, chose to support the

. Unionists from northwestern Virginia soon met at the

Wheeling Convention The 1861 Wheeling Convention was an assembly of Virginia Southern Unionist delegates from the northwestern counties of Virginia, aimed at repealing the Ordinance of Secession, which had been approved by referendum, subject to a vote. The first ...

to establish the

Restored Government of Virginia The Restored (or Reorganized) Government of Virginia was the Unionist government of Virginia during the American Civil War (1861–1865) in opposition to the government which had approved Virginia's seceding from the United States and join ...

, which would function as Virginia's official Union government. Greenbrier County, which had not sent a representative to Wheeling, nevertheless fell under the Restored Government's jurisdiction. This area became the

in June 1863. Mathews chose to ignore the new state, and though he found himself living in Union territory, continued to travel to

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

to represent his county in the Confederate Virginia House of Delegates, where he kept his seat throughout the war. In the House, Mathews served on several standing committees related to state

fiscal policy In economics and political science, fiscal policy is the use of government revenue collection (taxes or tax cuts) and expenditure to influence a country's economy. The use of government revenue expenditures to influence macroeconomic variables ...

. These included the Committee on Claims, which generally dealt with issues related to private bills and petitions, and the Joint Commission on Executive Expenditures, from which body he submitted legislation supporting the families of soldiers injured in the war, and advocated for improved infrastructure in western Virginia by means of an extended

Covington and Ohio Railroad Covington and Ohio Railroad was part of a planned railroad link between Eastern Virginia and the Ohio River in the 1850s. The mountainous region of the Allegheny Front (eastern side) of the Appalachian Plateau between an existing canal, railroads ...

. He also was tasked with examining the state Treasurer's accounts.

Civil War

On the outbreak of war, Mathews' sons volunteered for the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

, where each ultimately received an officer commission. One son, Alexander F. Mathews was assigned to the brigade of

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

Henry A. Wise Henry Alexander Wise (December 3, 1806 – September 12, 1876) was an American attorney, diplomat, politician and slave owner from Virginia. As the 33rd Governor of Virginia, Wise served as a significant figure on the path to the American Civil W ...

in the Western Virginia Campaign.

, p. 18 The brigade saw action at the

Battle of Carnifex Ferry The Battle of Carnifex Ferry took place on September 10, 1861 in Nicholas County, Virginia (now West Virginia), as part of the Operations in Western Virginia Campaign during the American Civil War. The battle resulted in a Union strategic vict ...

, where Wise and his co-commander, general

John B. Floyd John Buchanan Floyd (June 1, 1806 – August 26, 1863) was the 31st Governor of Virginia, U.S. Secretary of War, and the Confederate general in the American Civil War who lost the crucial Battle of Fort Donelson. Early family life John Buchan ...

, engaged Union troops under General

William S. Rosecrans William Starke Rosecrans (September 6, 1819March 11, 1898) was an American inventor, coal-oil company executive, diplomat, politician, and U.S. Army officer. He gained fame for his role as a Union general during the American Civil War. He was ...

. The battle was a strategic win for the Union, causing the Confederates to withdraw from the northwestern Virginia region. Generals Wise and Floyd each blamed the other for the loss, resulting in significant discord in the ranks and negative attention from newspapers. Mathews, to assess the urgency of the situation, spent several days in the camps of both Wise and Floyd, and then wrote to Confederate President

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as a ...

urging that both men be deposed, stating, "They are as inimical to each other as men could be, and from their course of actions I am fully satisfied that each of them would be highly gratified to see the other annihilated." Letters from Mathews and others, as well as the correspondence from the generals themselves, moved Davis to address the rift between the generals, which at this point had spread throughout their respective camps. Davis removed Wise from his command. The 1862 Battle of Lewisburg, another Confederate loss, further destabilized the region. Union

occupations Occupation commonly refers to: *Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment *Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces *Military occupation, th ...

and raiding of Lewisburg followed, including the raiding of one of Mathews' properties during the fall of 1863. In a letter to a son, he recalled, " ey appropriated everything they wished when they went, many fared worse than I did. I think we ought to be thankful that they treated us no worse."

, p. 22 He cited the loss of farming equipment, a vehicle, a horse, livestock, material goods, and a formerly enslaved person named Ned, who likely left with the Union troops.

Later life

When the Confederacy dissolved, all other Confederate soldiers and office holders were barred from holding state office. Mathews' eldest son, Henry M. Mathews, was elected to the

West Virginia Senate The West Virginia Senate is the upper house of the West Virginia Legislature. There are seventeen senatorial districts. Each district has two senators who serve staggered four-year terms. Although the Democratic Party held a supermajority in t ...

in 1865, but was unable to take his seat due to these restrictions. Addkinson-Simmons When the restrictions were overturned, the younger Mathews would go on to become the 7th

attorney general of West Virginia Attorney may refer to: * Lawyer ** Attorney at law, in some jurisdictions * Attorney, one who has power of attorney * ''The Attorney'', a 2013 South Korean film See also * Attorney general, the principal legal officer of (or advisor to) a gove ...

and 5th

governor of West Virginia A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

. Mason Mathews died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

at his home in Lewisburg on September 16, 1878, at the age of 74, and was buried at the Old Stone Church in Lewisburg, West Virginia.

, p. 41 Mathews' daughter, Virginia Amanda Mathews, married Alfred S. Patrick in 1863. Their son Mason Mathews Patrick was the Chief of the US Air Service, AEF during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and again during the

Interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...

of 1921-1926. In 1926 he drafted the Congressional bill that created the US Air Corps from the Air Service, and he served as the first

Chief of the Air Corps Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boat ...

from 1926-1927.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mathews, Mason 1803 births 1878 deaths American merchants Burials in West Virginia Mathews family of Virginia and West Virginia Members of the Virginia House of Delegates People from Greenbrier County, West Virginia People of pre-statehood West Virginia People of Virginia in the American Civil War People of West Virginia in the American Civil War Virginia Whigs 19th-century American politicians Virginia sheriffs People from Lewisburg, West Virginia