Ann married John Mathews WFT est 1755-1805 in Tennessee, USA. John was born WFT est 1730-1768; died WFT est 1755-1850. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

The Will of John Bowen, is recorded in Will Book 4, Page 136, Records of Augusta County, Virginia:

"In the Name of God Amen. I John Bowen of Augusta County Colony Dominion of Virginia being very sick and weak in body but of perfect mind and memory thanks and praise to God and calling to minde the mortallity of my body & knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die, first of all I commit my soul to the hands of God who gave it and my body to be buried in the earth at the discretion of my executors Secondly I ordere all my just debts to be paid & as for the remains of my estate both rail & personal to be disposed of in manner & form as followeth. Item I give and bequeath unto my three sons John Moses and William Bowen all my lands and tennements and if either of them the said John Moses or William should die before they have lawful issue or come to the years of maturity his part of said lands & tennement is and shall be equally devided between my three daughters Viz Anne Rebecka & Elizabeth or the heirs of their body lawfully begotten and that if two or all shall die of my sons then the whole is to decend to be equally devided between my daughters in manner & form as afforesaid. Item I give and bequeath unto my three daughters before mentioned Anne Rebeka & Elizabeth all the remains of my personal estate to be equally devided between them except Item I give and bequeath unto my dearly & well beloved wife Rachel Bowen, the bigg sorrel mare her bed & all her close and her thirds of all my personal estate & first liberty of the dwelling house & plantation during her weedohood or natural life but if she marries she is to have only the dwelling house and one halfe of the improvement during her natural life AND LASTLY I constitute nominate and appoint Rachell my well beloved wife William Mathews & William Bowen my trusty and well beloved brothers to be Executors of this my last will and test & I doe by these presents disannul revoak and disalow all other wills & teste and this to be my last will in testimony whereof I have hereunto interchangably set my hand this twenty seventh day of July 1768.

John (his x mark) Bowen LS

"Sealed & Delivered
in the presence of us

"John Smith; Joseph Luney; Richard Mathews; Malcolm Allen

"At a Court Continued and held for Augusta County August the 17th 1768, This last will and testament of John Bowen deceased was proved by the oaths of Malcolm Allen and Richard Mathews two of the witnesses thereto and ordered to be recorded and on the motion of William Mathews and William Bowen two of the Executors therein named who made oath according to law certificate for obtaining a probat thereof in due form is granted them they having with security entered into and acknowledged their bond according to law.

"Recorded in Augusta County Clerk's Office, Staunton, Virginia, in Will Book 4, Page 136."

John married Rachel Mathews WFT est 1733-1766. Rachel (daughter of John Mathews and Anne Archer) was born WFT est 1716-1744; died WFT est 1770-1831 in Davidson County, Tennessee. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Rachel Mathews died in Davidson County, Tennessee. She married 1st, John BOWEN, Jr., son of John BOWEN, Sr., and Lily McILHANEY. John Bowen, Jr. died in 1767/8, in Augusta County, Virginia where his Will was either dated or filed 27 July 1768. After Rachel Bowen's first husband's death, she took her three daughters to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1783/4. In Nashville, she became the second wife of one Ebenezer TITUS. Ebenezer Titus died 14 September 1807. He owned a plantation on Dry Creek, in the Northern part of Davidson County, Tennessee, also on Mill Creek in the southwestern part of Davidson County. Rachel (Mathews) Bowen had six children by her first husband, and it is not known whether or not she had children by Ebenezer Titus. She had six children by her first husband.

John married Lily McIlhaney WFT est 1694-1750. Lily was born WFT est 1675-1718; died WFT est 1708-1800. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

John Mathews was apparently born in Ireland and emigrated from Ireland to what is now Augusta County, Virginia, by way of Pennsylvania, with his in-laws, the Archer family, and many other Augusta County pioneer families. Various sources pinpoint his arrival in the County as early as 1724 and as late as 1739. He settled in the fork of the James River, near the Natural Bridge. Many sources attempt to show that John Mathews was a great-great grandson of Governor Samuel Mathews, and a son of Captain Samuel Mathews who died in Richmond County, Virginia in 1718. For a discussion of the various items which prove that the John Mathews who was a great-great grandson of Governor Samuel Mathews in fact died in 1729, see that John Mathews. Quite aside from the fact that this John seems to have died some twenty-eight years prior to the demise of John Mathews of Augusta County, is the fact that John Mathews and Ann, his wife, did not name any of their seven sons either Samuel, Francis, or Baldwin. This is, at best, circumstantial evidence as all branches of the Mathews family seem obsessed with the repeated use of the same given names for their male progeny.

The most often given date is that given in Waddell:

[Waddell, Joseph A., Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, second edition 1902, reprinted Bridgewater, Virginia: C. J. Carrier Co., 1958, page 209]

"John Mathews, one of the first settlers in Borden's tract, about 1737.....His wife was Ann Archer, daughter of Sampson Archer. His sister (in-law) Betsey, was the wife of Robert Renick." John Mathews died between the date of his Will - 20 April 1757, and the date it was probated -- 16 November 1757. [Will Book 2, Page 205, public records of Augusta County, Virginia.] The tract of land upon which he actually settled appears to have been adjacent to rather than actually a part of Borden's tract or grant. In 1742, John Mathews was in command of a Company of Augusta Militia, and was Captain of Militia during the time of the French and Indian Wars, and in Braddock's Campaign. [Pettigrew, Marion Dewoody, Marks-Barnett Families and Their Kin, Macon, Georgia: The J. W. Burke Co., 1939, p. 200.] His Will names his eleven children, of whom we have data concerning all but one.

Five of the seven sons of John Mathews served in and/or gave Patriotic service during, the Revolutionary War (the other two being dead by the time of the Revolution), and several of the sons-in-law and/or grandchildren also served.

"Sometime about 1735 or 1736, Benjamin Borden, Sr., (sometimes called Burden), obtained form Gov. William Gooch of Virginia, a grant of land then in Augusta County, Virginia, of 100,00 acres, on condition that he would settle on this grant one hundred families. Eventually he did bring from the North of Ireland, and settled on this grant, ninety two families, and a complete grant was made to him for the 92,000 acres. Each settler family entitled Borden to 1,000 acres around each cabin.

"Among the immigrant families who came to Augusta County, was John Mathews, his father-in-law, Sampson Archer, and his brother-in-law, Robert Renick. The names of other families were Alexander, McClung, Moffett, Mulholland, Stewart, Reid, Moore, and many other Scotch-Irish people. Mathews, Archer, and Renick settled in the forks of the James River, rather close to Natural Bridge, in what is now Rockbridge County, Virginia.

[McClintic, Judge George W., "Archer, Mathews and Others", - article in the West Virginia News, June 16, 1938, on the 160th anniversary of Greenbrier County, quoted in The Renicks of Greenbrier.]

"Borden's plan for his own profit was to convey to each of the families settling on this grant a certain number of acres, much less than the thousand acres and make his profit out of the excess of each thousand acres over and above the amount conveyed to the settler.

"He did, by deed dated 7 June 1742, grant to John Mathews, described as 'yoeman', (Borden himself being described as 'gentleman'), certain tract of land out of this 92,000 acre grant, comprising 237 acres, 2 roods and 10 poles, which small tract was fully described in the deed. This deed was recorded in Orange County, Virginia, where the land then lay, on the 26th day of August 1742, Augusta County had not yet been organized."

Recorded in Orange County, Virginia, in Deed Book 8, at Pages 135 and 136, is the following instrument:--

"Borden to Mathews

"This Indenture made the 10th day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and forty-two between Benjamin Borden of the County of Orange gent of the one part and John Mathews of the said County yeoman of the one part. Witnesseth that the said Benjamin Borden for and in consideration of the sum of five shillings current money of Virginia to him in hand paid by the said John Mathews at or before the sealing & delivery of these presents the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged Hath granted, Bargained and Sold and by these presents doth grant, bargain and sell unto the said John Mathews two hundred and ninety seven acres two rods and ten pole_ of land being part of ninety two thousand one hundred acres of the said Borden's patent and which said patent beares date the sixth day of November one thousand seven hundred and thirty nine in the said county, viz:

"Beginning at a double popler on a hill called the Timber Ridge corner to John _____land an running thence South 42 Deg. west one hundred and eighty pole_ to ashe between two chestnut trees South forty eight Deg. east one hundred sixty pole_ to a hickory Sapling? North forty two Deg. East three hundred pole_ to a hickory and _____ white oak on the side of a hill North forty eight Deg. West one hundred sixty pole to a hickory in John _____ line thence with his line South forty deg. West one hundred and four pole to the first mentioned popler the place of beginning and all houses, buildings orchards _____ watercourses in of its commodities hereditaments and appurtenances and whatsoever to the said premises hereby granted or every part thereof belonging or in anywise appertaining and the reversion and reversions, remainder and remainders rents issues and profits thereof To have and to hold the said two hundred and ninety seven acres two rood and ten pole to the said John Mathews and his heirs for one whole year and all and singular other the premises hereby granted with the appurtenances unto the said John Mathews his Exrs and _____ and assigns from the day before the date _____ during the full term and time of one whole year from thence _____ ensuing fully to be compleat and ended yielding and paying therefore the rent of one ear of Indian corn on _____day next if the same shall be lawfully demanded to the intent and purpose that by virtue of these presents and of the statute for the transferring over into _ the said John Mathews may be in actual possession of the premises and be thereby enabled to accept _____ of the reversions and inheritance thereof to him and his heirs. In witness whereof the said Benjamin Borden gent hath hereunto set his hand and seal the day & year first above written.

Benjamin Borden (Seal)

Signed, sealed and delivered in presence of :

(three witnesses)

"At a court held for Orange County on Thursday the 26 day of Aug 1742, Benjamin Borden gent acknowledged _____ for _____ granted to John Mathews which on the motion of the said Mathews is admitted to record.
Test: Jonah (Jonath.) Gibson, CC"

Recorded in Deed Book 8, at page 137, 138, and 139, of the Records of Orange County, Virginia is a Deed from Benjamin Borden to John Mathews, dated June 7, 1742, recorded on August 26, 1742, conveying outright, the same tract of land described in the above instrument.

The following is from a copy on file in the Virginia State Library, Reel 107, p. 40b.-

"Patents No. 31 - 1751-1756. Reel 29, pp 664-5.
Jhn. Matthews's Pat: 1600 acres

"George the Second and To all & Know ye that for divers good causes & considerations but more especially for & in consideration of the sum of Eight Pounds of good & lawful money for our use paid to our Receiver General of our Revenues in this our Colony and Dominion of Virginia. We have Given, Granted and confirmed and by these Presents for us our Heirs and Successors Do give Grant and Confirm unto John Matthews one certain tract or Parcel of Land Containing One thousand six hundred Acres lying and being in the County of Augusta on Mill Creek in the Fork of James River and bounded as followeth to wit:

"Beginning at a Stake near a blazed black Oak corner to Erwin Patterson's Land and running thence with his Line South 30 (deg) East eighty six Poles to three black Oaks in the old Patent line then with said line North 75 (deg) East 226 Poles to a white Oak North 18 (deg) East 54 Poles to a Hickory and black Oak corner to Thomas Williams Thence with his line North 35 (deg) East 114 Poles to a white and black Oaks corner to Williams's Then North 70 (deg) east 102 Poles three white Oak Saplins in William's line then North 3 (deg) East 238 Poles crossing Mill Creek and another Branch to two white Oaks then North 82 (deg) West 201 Poles to a white and black Oaks West 120 Poles to between two black Oaks then North 40 (deg) West 100 Poles to a white Oak on a Hill South 62 (deg) West 160 Poles to a white and black Oaks South 25 (deg) East 86 Poles to three white Oak Saplins then North 85 (deg) West 96 Poles to a black and white Oaks then South 59 (deg) West 96 Poles to a black Oak and South 17 (deg) East 22 Poles to a black Oak and Hickory Corner in Poage's Land with his Line South 40 (deg) East 1 Poles crossing Mill Creek to a red Oak Then South 30 (deg) West 90 Poles to a large Chestnut Then South 40 (deg) West 212 Poles to a red Oak and Hickory South 100 Poles to three black Oaks South East 46 Poles to two black Oaks and a white Oak in Erwin Patterson's Line with said Line North 59 (deg) East 326 Poles to the Beginning.

"With all and To have and To be held & Yielding and Paying and Provided & In Witness & Witness our Trusty and well beloved Robert Dinwiddie Esquire our Lieutenant Governor and Commander in Chief of our said Colony and Dominion at Williamsburgh.

"Under the Seal of our said colony the tenth day of September One Thousand seven hundred and fifty five In the twenty ninth year of our Reign.
Robert Dinwiddie."
----------
The Will of John Mathews, recorded in Will Book 2, Page 205, records of Augusta County, Virginia, is as follows:

"IN THE NAME OF GOD AMEN the twentyeth day of April in the year of our Lord God One Thousand Seven Hundred and fifty seven

"I John Mathews of the forks of James River and County of Augusta Gent being very sick and weak in body but in perfect mind and memory thanks be to God for it therefore calling unto mind the mortality of my Body and knowing if it is appointed for all men once to die Do make and ordain this my last will and testament VIZ I principally and first of all I give and recommend my soul into the hands of God that gave it and for my Body I recommend it to the Earth to be buried in a Christian like and decent manner at the deserction of my Executors hereafter mentioned nothing Doubting but at the General Resurrection I shall receive the same again by the Mighty Power of God and as touching such worldly estate where with it hath pleased God to bless me in this life I give bequeath and dispose of in the following manner and form and first I order and appoint that all my just debts may be paid and discharged and Secondly I leave and bequeath to my well beloved son John all that tract or parcel of land whereupon he now liveth as it is laid off to him butted and bounded upon condition that he pay unto me or to my use the sum of eight pounds twelve shillings current money of Virginia and Thirdly I give and bequeath to my well beloved son Joshua all that tract or parcel of land whereupon he now liveth during life and at his decease to be for the use of his two children Anne & Elizabeth and if either of them die before ye age of maturity ye said estate to fall to the survivor and if both happen to die before of age the estate to fall to their Uncle George & Archer & William to be equally distributed betwixt them and Fourthly I leave and bequeath to my well beloved son Richard one English shilling and Fifthly I leave to my beloved son Sampson all that tract of land lying upon Bordens Creek called and known by the name of Kellys Entry containing three hundred and fifty acres upon condition he pay to my use the just sum of ten pounds current money of Virginia and Sixthly I leave and bequeath to my well beloved son George one English shilling and further I leave and bequeath to my three well beloved daughters Jane Anne & Rachel one English shilling each and further I leave and bequeath to my Dearly Beloved Daughter Elizabeth to the value of thirty pounds when at the age of maturity to be valued by the Executors and if she shall die before she comes to age or marriage her part shall desend to my sons William and Archer and I further give and bequeath to my Dearly and beloved William and Archer this plantation whereon I now live with the still and mills with all my household furniture to be equally divided betwixt them when at age and further I give and bequeath to my Dearly and well Beloved wife Anne all and sole management of said plantation and stock and movables of every sort untill my sons arrive at age and shall have a lawfull and decent maintenance of the same during her life and if my sons and she cannot agree when grown up she shall have five pounds collected yearly off sd. estate for her maintinance while she remains a widow but if she marries again she must remove off said premises and be deprived of all part and privilege of said estate only her body cloaths she shall have and no more and further I do leave and bequeath the sum of three pounds current money to the poor of Augusta Parish, Provided the sd. parish is not divided before my decease and if it is devided to the poor of ye parish where I belong to be disposed of at ye descretion of the Vestry I do further ordain constitute and appoint my well beloved Sons Sampson & George to be my only and sole Executors of this my last will and testament and I do hereby utterly disallow revoke and disannul all and every other former testaments wills and legacies requests and Executrs. by me made in anywise before this time named willed bequeathed (and further I do appoint my Dearly beloved sons Sampson & George my Executors of this my last will to execute and perfect deeds of Lease and Release to William Bradshaw of a certain tract of land sold to said Bradshaw) Ratifying and Confirming this and no other to be my last will and Testament in witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal the day and year above written.

"Signed Sealed and Published Pronounced & Declared by the said John Mathews his last will & testament in presence of the ye subscribers Viz

Mathew Campbell N.B. before Signed Inter-Anne A (her x mark) Kelley lined give &)
John Poage John Mathews Seal

"At a Court held for Augusta County Novr the 16, 1757, This last will and testament of John Mathews Gent decd. was proved by the oaths of Mathew Campbell and John Poage two of the witness_ thereto subscribed and admitted to record. And on the motion of Sampson & George Mathews the Executors therein maned who made oath according to Law. Certificate is granted them for obtaining a probat_ thereof in due form giving security where upon the sd. Sampson & George with John Poage & John Mathews their securities entered into & acknowledged their bond.

Test

Recorded in the Augusta County Clerk's Office, Staunton, Virginia, in Will Book 2, Page 205."

The foregoing is from a Certified copy of the Will of John Mathews. One might wonder on reading same, why some of his older children were apparently cut off with only a shilling. A search of the deed records in Augusta County will show that these children had already been deeded extensive lands etc.
-----------
Following are some notes on John Mathews from various sources, as compiled by Mildred Hanna:

John Mathews, Sr., had a grant of 1600 acres on Mill Creek of James River. Part of the tract Robert Poage obtained from George Robinson and James Wood by Caveat. Robert Poage, George Robinson and John Mathews made a rush for the Valley of Mill Creek, on Poage's Run, and scattered settlements were made in different part of the territory, before any large grants were considered by the Council. John Mathews is mentioned in Orange County Order Book of 1735-45 which , we are informed, constitutes early enough mention of him to provide eligibility for membership in the Colonial Dames.

John Buchanan's list includes John Mathew_ and he is listed on this page as a member of the Justices. On the same page, Kegley says "of the twelve most able men in the county who constituted the Vestry, John Mathews was among those commissioned. He served as a member of the Vestry until his death in 1757. Just before his death, he was elected one of the Wardens. Sampson Archer, father-in-law* of John, who was elected to the Vestry.....was the other one." (*or in light of subsequent investigation, brother-in-law.) This was Trinity Church, Staunton, Virginia, and the names are on the old record books.

The following quotation, though exasperatingly shy of source references, sheds some circumstantial evidence as to John Mathews' origins:

The following book [French, Mrs. J. Stewart, The Doak Family, pp. 89-91.] contains this:

A letter from Miss I. C. VanDeventer, of Kansas City, Mo., gives many interesting details of family history, and it is therefore quoted here in full:
503 Munford Court,
Kansas City, Mo.,
May 30, 1933.

"My Dear Mrs. French:

"I am in receipt of copies of the Lookout and also your letter, and find the Doak data interesting. Hope you have more of the early history in your book, as that is what I am interested in. Had hoped that you would have the date of marriage of Samuel Doak and Jane Mitchell, as they were married on the voyage that would have given us date of their coming. Note that you place the date of their coming to America at about 1740. Our data handed down in the family, placed the date about 1720, and it may have been between those dates. I doubt if they came as early as 1720, but possibly before 1740, as Samuel Doak, Jr., is placed as the sixth child, born in 1749, so it is probably that his parents were married prior to 1740. A John Mathews, emigrant from the North of Ireland, is said to have come in 1737, and as his history runs parallel with ours and he settled in the Beverly grant, he may have been a brother to our George. His descendants have been prominent and there is so much about them in the reference books. They were prominent in the Revolution and his son, George, was three times Governor of Georgia.

"As to the spelling of the name, it was originally Mathews (one "t"). George Mathews, who emigrated with Samuel Doak, Sr., had 12 sons and one daughter. Four of the sons, Alexander, Allen, Jeremiah, and George, when they went from Virginia to Tennessee dropped the "w" and spelled the name Mathes - the tradition is, so that their descendants would know each other.....

"The Mathews and Doak families emigrated from Ireland together, and I have the notation that their home there was in County Antrim, in the neighborhood of Ballynure, between Belfast and Ballymena. Have not looked up the source of this information just now. They finally settled in Augusta Co., Va., and the sons, Samuel Doak, Jr., and Alexander Mathes, went together to Washington Co., Tenn., and were on the way at the time of the surrender of Cornwallis. They walked through the wilderness, and Theodore Roosevelt in "The Winning of the West" says that Samuel Doak "drove before him an old flea-bitten grey horse loaded with a sackful of books; crossed the Alleghenies and came down along blazed trails to the Holstun settlements." Alexander Mathes gave fifty acres of land for the site of Washington College. He was one of original elders in Salem church and also a charter member of the college board. There was a memorial window placed in Salem Church to the three Alexander Mathes names, who were ruling elders covering a period of 102 years consecutively.....
Sincerely,
(Miss) I. C. VanDeventer."


The following was written for the Rockbridge County, Virginia BiCentennial 1738-1938, by Colonel C. N. Feamster, of St. Petersburg, Florida:--

"Many of the families who were among the first settlers in what is now Rockbridge County, Virginia remain here for a few generations and then moved on leaving their names here only in the old records.


"Captain John Mathews, commissioned Captain in 1742, took up by Royal Grant 1600 acres of land.....This tract, roughly an oblong diamond shape, extended from near Buffalo Forge to the rear of and beyond "Hickory Hill". It was three miles long and one and one-half miles wide in the middle. The Falling Springs Church and cemetery are on the tract near the Northeastern corner.....

"In addition to being a Captain, John Mathews was Justice of the Magistrates Court and Vestryman of the Church of England, and was one of the most prominent men of Augusta County as it was then.....

"Taking up the sons in order listed in the will of Captain John Mathews we find that each was deeded previously or willed, three to four hundred acres of land. Captain John owned other tracts besides his 1600 acre tract. Each daughter was willed one shilling. The second of the seven sons, John, met with dire tragedy. His inheritance, the Northeastern end of the 1600 acre tract, home and improvements were near the spring situated below the cemetery on the Falling Springs Church property..... This home undoubtedly stood about where the center of the Falling Springs cemetery is now situated. John, Junior, was also a vestryman in the Church of England.

"The oldest son, Joshua, married in 1750, died in 1762, leaving three daughters. The elder, Elizabeth, married Captain John Murray who was killed in the Battle of Point Pleasant. Martha married Thomas Posey of Fredericksburg, whose intimate friendship with George Washington was well known. He was a Major in the Revolution, later Brigadier General, U. S. Army and Lt. Governor of Kentucky. In the chancery suit over the estate of John Mathews, Junior after his murder, Martha was given the title to the part containing the Falling Springs Church property. Martha's son, John Posey, deeded his interest to his father, Thomas, on August 16, 17_7, Thomas Posey deeds 3A 15 ? Poles to the Trustees of the Church, the stone church and burial grounds having already been located there.

"The third son Richard, married Eleanor Bradshaw, a neighbor, sold his inheritance, moved to Kentucky, then to Robertson County, Tennessee where he died in 1799. He left many descendants.

"The fourth son, Sampson, was Colonel in the Revolution and one of Augusta's most prominent men. His descendants in Virginia are very numerous, but through the female lines only. Professor Alexander L. Nelson, the well known and highly honored professor of Mathematics of Washington and Lee was a descendant. Sampson was a vestryman and lay reader in the Church of England.

"George, the fifth son, was a Captain in the Battle of Point Pleasant and Colonel of the 9th Virginia Regiment, Revolutionary war..... Descendants of Colonel George in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana became prominent and amassed so much property that the remark was made two generations ago that jointly they were worth a hundred million dollars.....

"The Sixth son, William was co-heir with his brother, Archer, to that part of the 1600 acres upon which was the so-called Manor House, a large log house on the little rise where Captain John Michie built the frame house now occupied by the Claytons. William and Archer were minors when their father died in 1757....."

The serious student of the family origins etc. might wish to read the above mentioned WADDELL's Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, and for more data as well as a good background account of the events behind the Scotch-Irish Immigration to Virginia, the following book is recommended:

PEYTON, J. Lewis, History of Augusta County, Virginia, Orig. publ. 1882, reprinted Bridgewater, Virginia: 1953.

Also, Chalkley's Abstracts of Augusta County Court Records, and KEGLEY's Virginia Frontier are replete with references to the Mathews family.

John married Anne Archer WFT est 1714-1751. Anne (daughter of Sampson Archer) was born WFT est 1697-1724; died WFT est 1751-1811. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]