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WHO WAS WHO in PLUM TOWNSHIP
~ Titusville Herald ~
Sept. 20, 1961
By H. W. Strawbridge

William H. Matthews

William H. Matthews was born Jan. 8, 1841 in Armstrong County. He was one of seven children of Samuel and Louisa Ambrose Matthews. The family was of Pennsylvania Dutch lineage. William’s middle name was either Harrison or Harry. His brothers and sisters were Fred Matthews, David Matthews, John Matthews, Matilda Matthews McAlevy, Lucinda Matthews Davison and Mary Matthews Foster.
William was little more than a year old when the family came to Plum Township in a covered wagon, driving along their cattle. They settled south of Chapmanville. While there the elder Mr. Matthews farmed and hauled charcoal for the old Union iron furnace which was located a distance north of Cooperstown.

In 1854 the family sold the farm to Nicholson Sharp and moved to Ohio for awhile. Then they moved back to this area and lived for a few years on a farm south of Sunville. By this time William, or “Will” was a good sized teenager and was doing his share of the work.

June 4, 1858 came very nearly being Will’s last day on earth. He had gone to help a young friend, William McClelland, who lived northeast of Bradleytown on the farm of his father, Thomas McClelland. The two lads were in a field quite a distance from the buildings planting a crop on the shares.

A severe windstorm arose and the two boys started towards the buildings. A falling tree struck William McClelland and killed him. Will Matthews was just missed by the smashing tree. It must have been a terrible event which he never forgot.

In fact late May and early June of that year saw some hard storms in northern Venango County. Much property damage was done which included the breaking and uprooting of trees, the unroofing of buildings and the deaths of horses and cattle. On May 31 the barn of Leander Alexander of Jackson Township was leveled to the ground by the high winds. Then the worst one of all, the death of young McClelland, occurred four days later.

Eventually the Matthews family moved onto a farm between Cooperstown and Bethel.

In September, 1862, Will enlisted at Franklin as a private in Company E. of the 16th Pennsylvania Cavalry. Other friends from the Sunville area who enlisted in the same company included his brother-in-law, James F. Davison, Wallace Davison, James and Benjamin Looney.

They were mustered in on Sept. 27, and the entire regiment was duly organized on Nov. 18 at Camp McClellan. On Nov. 30 they marched to Camp Casey, five miles from Washington and were stationed there for several weeks. Thus Will served in the defenses around Washington as an orderly in Gen. Casey’s headquarters.

It is said that Will didn’t have perfect health before his enlistment. He hadn’t been stationed at Washington very long until an epidemic of measles broke out, and he took very ill with them. He had always understood that measles were present in the family when he was born, and he thought he was immune to them. However, he found out different. He was admitted on Dec. 21 to the Armory Square Hospital, located in the nation’s capitol, and was there many weeks, showing no improvement.

The surgeon in charge gave a thorough examination of Will and found him to be incapable of performing the duties of a soldier, so he was given a Soldier’s Certificate of Disability for Discharge, dated Feb. 11, 1863.

Evan after coming home he was a long time recuperating. He finally came around, but never experienced the best of health afterwards.

Military records state that Will was 5 feet, 8 inches in height, with fair complexion, blue eyes and light hair. As this rare photograph shows, he had a heavy shock of hair with sideburns and a mustache. He also had large hands.

About 1864 the Matthews family moved to a farm more than a mile southwest of Chapmanville. They weren’t there very long when Will’s father died suddenly on July 28, 1864. He was flailing wheat that day, and he dropped dead in the house early that evening.

The late Mrs. Elma Bumpus of Bradleytown used to recall a few things about her uncle Will Matthews before her death in 1958 at the age of 92. Also her son, Leo S. Bumpus, recalls a few things he had heard about his great uncle. The late Mrs. Bumpus once said that “Uncle” will was a favorite uncle of the children. He used to go over to her father’s place often and the children made quite a fuss over him. He was never married.

He was an enthusiastic hunter. He did considerable coon hunting many a night.

Although Will was not a church member, he was an attendant of the Sunville Presbyterian Church. Several of the family were members there. After his father died Will took the family and often the Davison family too, to services at Sunville. He used the rig in the summer and the sleigh in winter.

After his father’s death Will inherited a certain number of acres of the farm. Then in 1871 Will bought an additional five acres that adjoined the Matthews place from Isaac Armagost. In 1874 he bought another five acres from Joseph Sharp. For a few years Will and his brother, John, farmed together at home. At the time of his death, Will was assessed for a total of 44 acres.

During the weekdays of March 22 to 26, 1875, Will served as a juryman in the Court House at Franklin. On Friday night, the 26th, he commenced walking home. He either walked part of the way or all the way home. Nevertheless, he had a mean cold, and after getting home he felt worse and went to bed. A doctor was summoned the next day and his condition developed into what as probably pneumonia. He sank fast and died on Monday, the 29th at the age of 34. He was buried in the Sunville Cemetery.

Very few months later his brother, John, bought his land from the other heirs, and Will’s mother and single sister, Mary, moved to Sunville where the mother died in 1885.

Mary married at a rather late age to Pierson Foster and she died in 1914.

Transcribed by Penny Kulbacki Minnick
minnick862@verizon.net

Disclaimer:there may be errors due to transcription of information from both early and late (current contributors) work.