Call Number:

50

Repository:

Historical Society of Montgomery County

Extent:

5.4 linear feet

Language:

English

Date:

1856-1915 (inclusive)

Creator:

Mathews, Edward, 1837-1916

Abstract:

Edward Mathews (1837-1916) was a newspaper writer and local historian of Montgomery and Bucks counties in Pennsylvania. The Edward Mathews papers, 1856-1915, consists of newspaper clippings scrapbooks, notebooks and diaries, and a manuscript for Mathews's memoir.

Edward Mathews was born in 1837 in New Britain Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, to a family of Welsh Baptists. A genealogist and local historian of Montgomery and Bucks counties, he also worked in the newspaper industry. Starting out as an apprentice in a newspaper printing office, he took a job as writer for the North Wales Record in 1878, and before long contributed columns, especially on local history, to numerous newspapers in the area. In the 1890s, he began to write books on the history of local families (e.g. The Rosenberger Family of Montgomery County: Historical and Genealogical Sketches (1892),) and locations (e.g. History of Towamencin Township (1894)).

Mathews never married. He died in 1916 and was buried at the New Britain Baptist Church.

Bibliography:

Kennedy, Joseph S. "A Voice from the Past Echoing in the Present: Early Local Historian Edward Mathews Chronicled the Region's Bygone Days." Philadelphia Inquirer, December 14, 1997. Accessed January 31, 2012. http://articles.philly.com/1997-12-14/news/25557378_1_local-history-newspaper-office-historical-society

This collection consists of newspaper clippings scrapbooks, notebooks and diaries, and a manuscript for Mathews's memoir.

There are nine newspaper clippings scrapbooks in this collection, each containing columns on local history written by Mathews, circa 1880-1905. The scrapbooks have been microfilmed.

There is a somewhat larger number of notebooks than diaries in this collection. In the diaries, Matthews recorded the weather, where he ate dinner, and sometimes other details about his day. In the notebooks, Matthews wrote notes primarily about history, probably for his columns.

A highlight of the collection is a manuscript for Mathews's memoir, "The Story of My Life." It is accompanied by two phrenological profiles of Matthews and his family tree.