Isaac Newton Mathews papers
Finding aid prepared by Brooke M. Black.
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
© 2017
Manuscripts Department
The Huntington Library
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San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2191
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Title: Isaac Newton Mathews papers
Dates: after 1841-1865
Collection Number: mssMathews
Creator OR Collector:
Mathews, Isaac Newton, 1841-1923
Extent:
108 items in 3 boxes
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Manuscripts Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2191
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: The correspondence between Isaac Newton Mathews and various family members in Indiana and Ohio; chiefly about the American
Civil War. Also includes copies of poems and several essays.
Language of Material: The records are in English.
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader
Services.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and
obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
[Identification of item], Isaac Newton Mathews papers, The Huntington Library, San
Marino, California.
Gift of Mary Jean Odano, April 2016.
Isaac Newton Mathews was a farmer from White County, Indiana and a Civil War soldier. The Mathews (or Matthews) family descended
from Ezekiel and Letitia (Meredith) Mathews, who came to America from Ireland in the early 1800s, to settle in Western Pennsylvania.
John Mathews (1798-1881), Isaac N. Mathews' father was born in Allegheny County. In the 1830s, he moved to Pike County, Ohio;
there in 1833 he married Rhuama Chenoweth Mathews (1812-1873). They soon moved to Northwestern Indiana and in the fall of
1833 settled in Tippecanoe County. Isaac N. Mathews was born in Laramie Township of Tippecanoe County December 26, 1841. In
1845, John Mathews purchased forty acres of public land in White County; by the time of his death, he owned 360 acres of land.
Isaac Newton Mathews attended various schools and farmed.
On July 25, 1863, he enlisted in the 116th Regiment of Indiana Infantry. The regiment was mustered for 6 months' service in
August 1863. Until September 16, the men guarded the U.S. Arsenal in Dearborn, Michigan, and then were ordered to Nicholasville,
Kentucky. They marched to Cumberland Gap and then to Morristown, arriving there at the beginning of October, and then on to
Greenville where they were posted on duty. In November and December 1863, the regiment was ordered to Clinch River, and stationed
on duty at Tazewell, Tennessee until mustered out in early March. The regiment was attached to the Department of the Ohio.
He then returned home to resume farming. In 1865, he married Margaret Keziah Lister (1844-1909), daughter of James W. and
Rhoda (Mowbray) Lister of Carroll County. They had nine children. Mathews was a prominent Republican; he belonged to the Christian
Church at Spring Creek and was a member of the Post No. 171 of the Grand Army of the Republic at Brookston.
The collection is arranged chronologically.
This collection contains correspondence with Isaac Newton Mathews' parents, siblings, many cousins, aunts, uncles, and
his future wife and her family, including friends and relatives who served in other Indiana regiments; correspondents include
brother Ezekiel Mathews, sister Elizabeth Price and her husband James K. Price, John Harness Alkire, Elza W. Lister, Lucinda
Chenoweth Boyles (1838-1918), and others. The letters discuss the life of an extended family of Indiana farmers; local news;
schools; prayer meetings; festival; celebrations, and other diversions (which included visits to photographers); courtship;
gossip, etc.; Civil War in Indiana, including local politics and the Copperhead movement; and war news (including an account
of execution of Union prisoners of war, encounters with Unionists, Lincoln's assassination, etc.) This collection also includes
Mathews' school compositions titled "Washington" and "Slavery," poems composed by him and a copy of the popular ballad "The
Song of Creation" (William H. Bozarth, 1818), which was often attributed to Abraham Lincoln.
Many of the items have damage to them and there is loss of text.
Mathews, Isaac Newton, 1841-1923
United States. Army. Indiana Infantry Regiment, 116th (1863-1864)
Farmers -- Indiana -- Archives
Schools -- Indiana -- History -- Sources
Women -- Indiana -- Correspondence
Indiana -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Sources
Ohio -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Regimental histories -- Indiana -- Sources
Essays -- United States -- 19th century
Letters (correspondence) -- United States -- 19th century
Box 1
after 1841 - 1863, August
Folder 1
Folder 2
Folder 3
Folder 9
Folder 12
Folder 13
Folder 16
Folder 18
Folder 21
Folder 22
Folder 33
Folder 34
Folder 35
Box 2
1863, September - before 1865
Folder 1
Folder 2
Folder 6
Folder 8
Folder 9
Folder 10
Folder 12
Folder 15
Folder 22
Folder 23
Folder 24
Box 3
1865 - undated
Folder 3