The Tom & Dorrie Mathews Family Homepage
The Tom & Dorrie Mathews Family HomepageUpdated September 5, 2000 | Thomas J. Mathews Oakley,CA 94561 United States [email protected] |
| I am researching the following families: Thomas Mathews of County Antrim, Ireland, emigrated to Randolph Co., IL, in 1840. James Monroe Strong, descended from John Strong of Virginia, emigrated from Breathitt Co., KY, to Ozark Co., MO, in the 1850s. Sarah Elizabeth Triplett, born about 1851, in MO or thereabouts. Married Robert Eaves 9/7/1872. History of the Mathews Family Our family most likely came to England from Normandy with William the conqueror in 1066. The name at that time would have been 'de Mathieu'. At some point we migrated to Scotland but then crossed over to Ireland with King James I in about 1610 and settled in County Antrim. The reason for this move was that repressive laws in Ireland at that time forbade the hiring of the Irish so any laborers had to be imported from Scotland. Thomas Matthews was born June 12, 1782, about 2 1/2 miles northeast of Ballymoney, Calbarne (or Calharne or Cathome) Parish, County Antrim, Ireland (now Northern Ireland). He was the son of Robert Matthews, born about 1755, the grandson of Thomas Matthews, born about 1730, and the great grandson of Cornelius Matthews, born about 1700. Thomas was a weaver who raised his own flax. His house had a pond, as one of Jannet's first memories was falling into it and being dragged out more dead than alive. Family stories have it that Robert Matthews was the coachman for Sir Robert Ross of Anockavall (Kushawallin) near Dervock, Derrykeighan Parish, County Antrim. Thomas, equally as charming as his modern day namesake, caught the eye of Sir Robert's daughter Nancy, born circa 1791. They eloped and were wed sometime around 1811 or 1812. The marriage reportedly prompted Sir Robert to disown her for marrying outside her social class. Nancy bore Thomas ten children between 1813 and 1834; Nancy, Robert, Thomas, James, William John, Joseph Braden, Hugh, Adam Thomas, Jannet White and Alexander McClaud. Several factors played a hand in bringing about the Matthews Family's emigration to America. In 1834 Thomas' second son, also named Thomas, emigrated to Philadelphia at age 18 and in 1836 migrated west to Randolph County, IL. He wrote home to his family urging them to follow, at first with little success. Back in Ireland Thomas had, perhaps in an attempt to please his noble in-laws, built a home that was much finer than any other in the parish. It was also much finer than he could afford. Once it was paid for he did not have the funds necessary to buy passage for himself and his family. His financial situation was further complicated by the power loom, an invention that all but crippled the home-based weaver's prospects for a comfortable existence. According to the story, it was the house itself which finally tipped the scales. Because it was so much finer than any other in the area, Thomas soon found himself at odds with his neighbors who apparently believed he was trying to play the snob with them. Fortune seemed to smile on Thomas one evening while returning home from Ballymoney. He found in the road a wallet with more than enough funds to finance the voyage and no identification. It was not until after he had moved his family to America that he learned through correspondence who the owner was. Thomas and his sons then made up the amount and sent it back to the man who had lost it. The Matthews family embarked in Belfast on Sept 25, 1839, and, after a stopover in Liverpool reached New Orleans on January 1, 1840. | |
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