Brick Wall: If William Mathews married his first cousin, Where are the In-laws?

 

Brick Wall: Who are Marthy Mathews' parents?

Problem: The Mathews family history that I have says:

 “William John Mathews born 30 Nov 1820... was married to Martha “Marthy” Mathews 29 Jan 1846. They were first cousins. Her father was the brother of Thomas.”

There is no other mention of any siblings or parents of Thomas emigrating. Who and where are Marthy’s parents?

Evidence:

·         In the 1840 passenger manifest for the ship Jane Ross listing Thomas Matthews and family, three names are missing. In addition to Nancy who had sailed to New York with her husband aboard the Oxford, arriving 03 May 1839, Robert (age 26) and my ancestor, Joseph (age 14) were missing from the manifest.

·         In another passenger manifest for the Eliza Grant, that sailed into New York on 11 August 1836, another Mathews family is listed. This family includes a:

    Mathew Mathews           age 52                  Male         Laborer
Robert Mathews                   24                     “           Weaver
Rose Mathews                      23                 Female      None
Jane Mathews                  21                      “              None
Martha Mathews              19                      “                  "
William Mathews              16                  Male              Weaver

There was another Robert Mathews (a 20-y.o. laborer) traveling aboard the Eliza Grant but he was traveling separately and there is no apparent connection.

·     The only result for a census search of Mathew Mathews was a record in the 1850 Mortality Index that reported that a 65-year-old widower named Mathew Mathews, a farmer from Ireland, died in October, 1849 in Allegheny County, PA, after a two year illness.

Church records for the Jordan’s Grove United Presbyterian Church of Marissa, Illinois, reports on June 17^th, 1843, (page 10) that says “The following persons were admitted on the accompanying certificates, John Brown from Mount Pleasant, Washington Co. Pa, signed by Alexander Damian moderator - Mrs. Martha Matthews from Peters Creek, Washington Co. Penna, signed James Brown Moderator, William Matthews from Peters Creek, Washington County.  Pa signed by James Brown Moderator, Robert Matthews from Peters Creek. Washington County, Pa, signed by James Brown Moderator, Miss Martha Matthews from Peter's Creek Washington County, Pennsylvania, signed by James Brown moderator.” As William and Martha Matthews were not married until 1846, it is possible that the ‘Miss Martha Mathews’ is her but not the ‘Mrs. Martha Mathews’.

·         The 1850 census for Randolph County 5 South Range 6 West lists a Robert Mathews family that is not part of the Thomas Mathews immediate family. It includes the following names:

    Robert  Mathews             40           Ireland
Lucinda Mathews             24           Illinois
William Mathews             2             Illinois
John Mathews                   6/12      Illinois
Martha Mathews             61           Ireland

·         Hill Prairie Cemetery in Randolph County has a headstone with the inscription:

Martha

Wife of

John Mathews

A Native of County Antrim

Ireland

Died

 15 Mar 1870

Aged

80 Yrs. 1 Mo. 15 D.

 

·         It’s noteworthy that the headstones for William and Martha Mathews have the exact same wording and format, changing only the names and dates.

Inferences:

·         The Robert and William who travelled with Mathew Mathews may have been Thomas’s sons. Mathews was described as a laborer and Robert and William were listed as weavers. That suggests that they may not have been his sons. In addition, the ages of Robert, William and Martha are close enough to the ages of the people we are looking for.

·         Passenger manifest records exist for every member of the Thomas Mathews family except for Joseph Mathews and two likely records exist for William. I suspect that the 14 year old ‘William’ was actually Joseph. It was not uncommon for older sons to precede a family intent on emigrating to earn money to pay for the family’s passage but why would they have sent a 14-year-old when there were three other likelier candidates for the job?

·         Allegheny County, where Mathew Mathews died, and Washington County, where William, Robert and two Marthas resided before coming to Randolph County, are next to each other. This supports the theory that they came over together on the Eliza Grant. I have no idea where the elder Martha Mathews came from.

Conclusions:

·         I believe that Joseph Mathews accompanied his family aboard the Jane Ross under the name William.

·         I believe that the elder Martha Mathews is the sister-in- law of Thomas Mathews and possibly the younger Martha’s mother. This would make John Mathews a brother of Thomas although there is no evidence as to whether he ever came to America.

·         Mathew Mathews is also a possible sibling of Thomas although I have never heard of any other family member having the first name of Mathew.

Regardless of what I believe, I am aware that none of these conclusions can be considered proof and that my research cannot yet be considered ‘reasonably exhaustive’.  I believe that I need to compare all of the Mathews headstones at Prairie Hill Cemetery to my list of Thomas Mathews descendants to see how many are not direct family members. The search is never over.