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Houston Mathews, now
living retired at Moberly, is a native of Ran-
dolph County, and a
member of one of the historic old pioneer families
of Missouri. He was born
six miles east of Moberly in 1846, and is a son
of Peter H. and Etline
(Calloway) Mathews. Etline Calloway belonged
to the Calloway family
who settled at Old Franklin, Mo., with the Boones,
Bryants and Flanders
family who were the first settlers in that locality.
When she was a child,
Etline Calloway lived in the old fort which was
built at Old Franklin for
protection against hostile Indians. She was
born in 1819 and died in
1905, and her remains were buried in Oakland
Cemetery.
Peter H. Mathews was
born near Nashville, Tenn., in 1817. He was
a son of William Mathews,
who was an officer in the War of 1812 and
served under General
Jackson as a captain at the battle of New Orleans,
and he is buried in the
same cemetery where Andrew Jackson was buried.
William Mathew's father
was a Revolutionary soldier and served under
Washington, William
Mathews, grandfather of Houston Mathews, mar-
ried Betsey Hontas, who
was a neice of Pocahontas. Dr. Tennessee
Mathews an uncle of
Houston Mathews, who was born at Dixon Springs,
Smith County, Tenn., Oct.
12, 1810, and died Feb. 15, 1887, was a grand-
son of the Mathews who
with the Emetts and O'Connels, were the found-
ers of the United Irishmen.
His name was Alexander Mathews and he
settled at Jefferson City,
Mo. and died there.
To Peter H. and Etline
(Calloway) Mathews were born the following
children: J. G.,. was born
in Tennessee and is now deceased; Ruth, died
in 1842; Mrs. Fannie
Irons, Decatur, Ill. Houston, the subject of this
sketch; Mrs. Mary Weed,
deceased; William, deceased; and Mrs.Mattie
Stidger, deceased.
Houston Mathews was
reared in Randolph County and received his
education in an old log
school house of the early day primitive type which
stood just east of Moberly
for many years. When a boy Mr. Mathews
worked on farms, mills
and followed lumbering and in 1866 he came to
Moberly. This was about
the time the town was platted and the first
sale of lots was taking
place. After that Mr. Mathews went to Texas
and in 1870 returned to
Moberly. In 1875, he went to the Black Hills
and to California, returning
to Moberly the same year. He then worked w
for Woods and Allen as a
bartender for a time and in 1878 bought their -
business, which he
conducted until July, 1918.
Mr, Mathews is a member
of the Benevolent and Protective Order
Elks.
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