Joseph W. Matthews, retired rancher and land owner at Peacock in Stonewall County, was one of the few who had the endurance , patience and industry to struggle against hardships and difficulties and remain and grow up with the country, sharing in its later day prosperity. Mr. Matthews was born in Jackson County Alabama, September 10, 1868, son of John G. Matthews and Sarah Rash. His parents were also natives of Jackson County, Alabama, and during the '70s they came to Texas, travelling by train as far as Ft. Worth and overland to Hood County. They had their home on a farm on the Brazos River for about twelve years and from that county moved out to Stonewall County.

Joseph W. Matthews attended school in a log school house in his native county in Alabama, and also had some school advantages in Hood County, Texas. On March 28, 1889, in Hood County, when in his twenty-first year, he married Miss Myra Walsh, who was born in Navarro County, Texas, daughter of Thomas and Mattie (Chadwick) Walsh natives of Mississippi. Mr. and Mrs. Matthews had a family of ten children: Lela, the wife of Lee Peacock; Thomas, a farmer and rancher at Peacock, married, Laura Monteitha; Annie is the wife of Clarence Smithey of Girard, Texas; Sallie married, Boss Parker, a farmer in Stonewall County; John, a Ford dealer at Aspermont, married, Grace Boyd; Bettie is the wife of Virgil Wright, a farmer; Myrena married, Dewey Craft, who is in the garage business at Peacock; William lives at Aspermont; Joseph, Jr., is a student in the Peacock High School; and Trixie died in infancy.

After his marriage Joseph W. Matthews made one crop in Hood County and then moved out to Stonewall County. His brother William drove the cattle overland to this county in 1890. Mr. Matthews was engaged in running cattle on the open range for about six years and then filed on a homesite of eighty acres. With the influx of permanent settlers and farmers he took up more land. When he first came out to West Texas the country was well stocked with wild game, such as deer, antelope, and turkey, and their were many bleaching buffalo bones over the prairies. There was no market at all for farm products, and consequently farming was not considered by pioneers.

Mr. Matthews in course of years has accumulated 2,600 acres, half of it under cultivation, and he has six sections leased for cattle. His experience has made him a staunch advocate of diversified farming methods. He keeps a heard of Whitefaced Hereford cattle and still gives general supervision to his land and livestock interests. He is also a director of the Peacock Bank. Mr. Matthews in his early days in Stonewall County hauled all supplies from Abiline.

The first cotton raised in this section of West Texas was hauled to Abiline for ginning, but since then cotton gins have been established at many localities. Mr. Matthews and wife first lived in a dugout, and later he hauled lumber from Abiline for his own home and also for the construction of the first schoolhouse at Double Mountain. He donated the ground for the sight of the Methodist Church, which is still standing.

Mr. Matthews served as a member of the local school board for twenty-five years, continuing this service until 1921. He has never sought any political office. He has been affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows fourteen years and with the Woodmen of the World twenty years. Besides his own children Mr. Matthews has twenty-two grandchildren. His farm land is rented out on the crop share basis. Fourteen years ago he built his present home, one of the best in this part of Texas, located on the north side of Peacock. He owns other real estate in town and has 370 acres of land near Double Mountain.595

Notes from Debbie Roberson (a descendant of this line) -

A little of what I know about the history of Joseph W. Matthews (1868 - 1961) is as follows:

Joseph was born in Jackson County, Alabama. His parents, John G. and Sarah (Rash) Matthews and an older son, William, were also natives of Jackson County.

John G. Matthews served in a Tennessee infantry regiment during the Civil War. In 1879, he moved his family to Texas by train to Fort Worth, and overland by wagon to a farm in Hood County.

Joseph W. Matthews married Myra Bell Walsh, a native of Navarro County, Texas in 1889. Joe and Myra Matthews and baby, Lala, came to Stonewall County by wagon with his parents and his brother in 1890. They settled near Eagle Hill where John G. Matthews operated the Double Mountain Post Office. They ran cattle on open range.

Joe and Myra moved to a dugout on a tract of land eleven miles west of Aspermont. My grandfather, Thomas Benton Matthews, was born in that dugout. In 1900 they built their first house.

I will send you more information later.
Thanks so much, this is very interesting..
Debbie790

Her parents were natives of Mississippi. Myra was a native of Navarro County, TX dau of Thomas and Mattie Chadwick Walsh. Her father, son of Col. William Capt. Henderson Madison Walsh, was a Lieutenant Captain in the 35th a Mississippi infantry regiment during the Civil War. Col. Capt. Walsh was killed near the end of the war. The Thomas Walsh family came to Texas after the war, living in Navarro (there is a Navarro Community around Corsicana, TX) , Hood (Granbury, TX), Stonewall and Motley Counties. Both parents died in 1905 near Matador. Tom died in 1902 – Mat died in 1905 Joe and Myra Matthews and baby came by wagons to Stonewall County with his parents and his brother in 1890. They settled near Eagle Hill .