Edward Mathews, Historian and Hilltown Thomas Descendant

See attached pages for more about his life, his meticulous research and writing. He was descended from both the William Thomas family and the Evan Thomas family in Hilltown. While he didn't serve in the military many of his ancestors were in…

See attached pages for more about his life, his meticulous research and writing. He was descended from both the William Thomas family and the Evan Thomas family in Hilltown. While he didn't serve in the military many of his ancestors were in Revolutionary War--a few on the Evan Thomas side were Loyalists.

Mathews is a primary source for much Hilltown Thomas info. He had direct contact with his Evan Thomas ancestors who would have known Evan's daughter, Diana. His oral history would be exacting. He was an expert on local records. If he indicates Evan senior died c1766 in New Britain and was buried in the New Britain Baptist Church cementery, as is Mathews and his family, it is not to be rejected--he knew this church, its history and records. He knew the Evan Thomas family and their history.

His writing style was that of a newspaper writer who included direct quotes from a source for documentation rather that footnote. In this case he is telling the reader that that Evan had died c1766 by quoting the church book. If one is going reject this they should strong proof that it isn't so. He cannot be equated to those publishing company or family genralogies that were pumped out in late 19th century. He lived and researched in the same area. He saw many things and knew much oral history, that today's researchers can't access.

A Voice From The Past Echoing In The Present Early Local Historian Edward Mathews Chronicled The Region's Bygone Days. By Joseph S. Kennedy, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT Posted:December 14, 1997

LANSDALE — Those who spend their careers researching and writing local history seldom receive the fame and fortune of popular national historians. Yet the local historian makes a vital contribution to our understanding of the past by bringing to life a part of the national historical puzzle.

Such a man was Edward Mathews, whose early work in the history of our region still makes an impact in the present.

Like so many early local historians, Mathews had no formal training in that field.

``I have a natural taste for historical research . . . and a good memory for dates and figures,'' Mathews once said of his work.

His writing was distinguished by its detail and meticulous documentation.

According to the records of the Historical Society of Montgomery County, Mathews was born on a family farm in New Britain, Bucks County, on Feb. 9, 1837. He came from a family of Welsh Baptists who had lived in the area for several generations. As a boy, he received a basic education in the schools in New Britain, and, as a teenager, he was apprenticed in the printing office of the Bucks County Intelligencer in Doylestown.

His work in the newspaper printing shop required him to do a great deal of reading, which acted as continuing education for him.

Poor health kept him, as a young man, from completing his apprenticeship, but later he did spend several winters working in a newspaper office in North Adams, Mass.

At age 41, in 1878, he took a job as a writer for a weekly newspaper, the North Wales Record. He started writing articles on local history that became popular with readers. His stories usually dealt with old houses or tracts of land such as a single farm in which he would track the transfer of the property from the time of William Penn. In doing this, he was unearthing historical primary sources.

By the 1880s, he was contributing articles to other papers in Montgomery County, such as the Lansdale Republican, Ambler Gazette, Skippack Transcript, Harleysville News, and Norristown Herald. With these various outlets, he was covering the local history of large parts of Bucks and Montgomery Counties.

He never made much money. Notes from one of his diaries indicate that in 1912 he had an income of $275.62 for the year.

Mathews was a bachelor with a large circle of friends. He usually dined at restaurants but was frequently invited to dine with friends. As a working newspaper writer, he was able to obtain passes for railroad and trolley lines. He also received free passes to various forms of entertainment such as plays, lectures and baseball games.

Thanks to the transit passes, he was able to visit Florida, New England and Colorado, and he usually spent a week at Ocean Grove, N.J.

By the 1890s, he discovered the bicycle and became a great biker, cycling from his home in North Wales and later Lansdale to places such as Fort Washington, Paoli and Brandywine.

During that decade, he began to write books on the history of local families, such as the Thomases and Rosenbergers, and on the history of specific locations, such as Towamencin, Hatfield, and the Montgomery Baptist Church.

Never much of a social mixer, he was fond of children and cats. Every Sunday he attended a different Protestant church in the region but never joined any of them.

While well-known among historical circles, he was a shy man, and when asked to give papers before the historical society on a number of occasions, he would write the paper and have someone else read it to the society's membership. In 1910, he was made an honorary member of the historical society. As a result, he gave the society his diaries - which noted details of his historical research - along with a series of scrapbooks of his writing, and other items of local historical interest.

``I have endeavored to preserve my writings that are not in book form. . . . These will be of value to somebody when I am gone,'' wrote Mathews in a letter to the society.

Alice Smith, librarian of the society, reports that the scrapbooks and diaries are still widely used by researchers looking into families and historic houses in the North Penn area.

Mathews fell ill while visiting his niece in New Britain and died New Years Day, 1916, at 79. He was buried with four generations of his family on the grounds of the New Britain Baptist Church.

Edward Mathews Bucks County Historian