John Matthews was also known as John Mathis. John Matthews was born in 1690 at England. He married
Alice Andrews in 1716 at Bass River, Burlington County, New Jersey. John Matthews died in 1779 at Little Egg Harbor, Burlington County, New Jersey. John Mathis was born in England about the year 1690, and when a youngman he and his brother, Charles emigrated to America. Their firstplace of residence in the new world was at Oyster Bay, on Long Island.Charles Mathis finally settled at Shrews bury township, Monmouthcounty, New Jersey, where he has a numerous race of descendants.
At a early date there were Mathewes who settled at Cape May, NewJersey. No doubt they were relatives of John Mathis and CharlesMathis. When John Mathis first came to Long Island, he resided atOyster Bay.
John Mathis appears to have been the first white man who settled atBass River. In the year 1713 John Mathis was living on Long Island,and in that year, he and William Birdsall and Moses Forman purchasedDaniel Mathis Island, (Then called Biddle' s Island) of Daniel Leedsof Springfield, New Jersey.
In the year 1714 John Mathis was residing in Little Egg Township,Burlington County, New Jersey, and in September of the same yearWilliam Birdsall sold his share of the island to John Mathis, andshortly after Moses Forman sold Mathis his portio n of the property.This survey contained in all 250 acres. This was John Mathis' firstpurchase of land in Egg Harbor. It is portion that Moses Formanfinally settled in Ocean county, and was the forefather of the Formansin that section; fro m a certain record he owned a farm in Egg Harbor.It is situated on the east side of Bass River, and this was thecommencement of his course as a land speculator, which steadilyincreased until he became the greatest land holder of the township .At the time he bought it, it was in its primeval state, but he settledon it and soon had it cleaned up and formed into a valuable farm. Thisisland received its original name from William Biddle, one of thegreat land proprietors of New Jersey . The island has remained in theMathis family till 1887.
Mathis is not the original, and therefore not the proper method ofspelling the name. The ancient form was "Mathews." It is said thatJohn Mathis considered it a difficult name to pronounce and write, andfor this cause he made the alteration, an d thus it became modernizedinto Mathis, and long custom has made Mathis the permanent way ofwriting and pronouncing the name among most of the descendants of JohnMathis. In almost all of the deeds for John Mathis' land his name iswritten Mathe ws.
The learned in such matters say, that the Norman signification of theterm Mathews is "As stubborn as a mule." This is indeed an appropriateappellation, for it is a useless waste of time and patience to attemptto turn a true, full-blooded Mathi s or Mathews from what he considersthe right course. A Mathis can be led by truthful and pleasant wordsand just and honorable acts, but treat him to the essence of meannessand he cannot be driven any further than can the most stubborn muletha t ever came under the lash.
Doubtless the Norman invaders of England found John Mathis' ancestorsas true as steel and as stubborn as mules to the interests of theirnative England, and hence the designation for their stubbornness. TheMathis family is remarkable for longevi ty, for their excellentMemory, and for their preciseness in business affairs, and theirexalted sense of justice, and further for their aptness in learning,for keeping their own counsel and even the secrets of others, andlastly for attendin g to their own instead of other peoples' business.These are the traits of character of the thorough dispositionedMathis, yet there are many who possess the name who have but a smallportion of the nature and principles belonging to the genuin e race.
In the year 1716 John Mathis married Mrs. Alice Higbee, widow of JohnHigbee of Long Island, and eldest daughter of Edward and Sarah (Ong)Andrews, (Edward died October 26, 1716, age 79 years) the founder ofTuckerton, New Jersey, and son of on e of the most prominent Quakerministers of his day. John Mathis' wife brought him a valuablepersonal property. She had the reputation of being a strong-mindedwoman who possessed of unusual business talents, ordering andarranging her affairs wi th the utmost regularity and good judgment,and it is also affirmed that she was a greater speculator than herhusband, and it was in a measure owning to her influence andspeculative passion and forethought that he became such an extensivelan d holder. Taking into consideration the age in which she lived andalso the meager opportunities she had for acquiring knowledge she hada fair education. She wrote a better hand than her husband. She isdescribed as a large, tall and muscular wom an, of a dark complexionwith black eyes and black hair, which she inherited from her father,Edward Andrews. Alice had married John Higbee in about 1712, he diedsoon after leaving two children, Abigail and Edward. Abigail Higbeewas born May 22 , 1713. She married Robert Leeds, son of Joseph Leeds1st. Their children were:
Solomon Leeds,
Rebecca Leeds,
and Mary Leeds.
Edward Higbee was born June 4, 1714. He married and lived in AtlanticCounty, New Jersey, and was the forefather of all Higbee of thatsection.
John and Alice (Higbee) Mathis had six sons and one daughter:
Micajah Mathis born September 9, 1717, died November 11, 1804,*
Job Mathis, born May 13, 1719, died 1771,*
Sarah Mathis, born July 19, 1721, died April 17, 1799,*
Daniel Mathis, born September 7, 1723, died in 1764 or 1765,*
Jeremiah Mathis, born March 14, 1726, died December 23, 1762,*
Nehemiah Mathis, born June 13, 1728, Little Egg Harbor township,Gloucester County now
Atlantic County,*
and Eli Mathis, born June 4, 1730, died April 14, 1795.*
After John Mathis had gotten his island farm in successful operation,he purchased 813 acres of land of John Budd, and on this tract hecleared a farm now known as the Francis or more properly the Thomas E.French farm situated on the east sid e of Bass River. His nextlocation of a farm was what is known as the Enoch Mathis or SmithMathis farm on the west side of the same river and opposite his firsttwo farms, and his next establishment of a farm was on the farm westand south of th e Enoch Mathis farm which is known as the ArthurCranmer and Daniel Sooy Farms.
John Mathis was a slave holder and employed his slaves in clearingland and farming. It will be seen that he had at this time four farms,two on each side of the river and these four, tradition says, werecarried on under his direction and supervi sion, he going from farm tofarm as necessity required. This state of things continued until someof his sons got married when he deeded each one of them a farm and setto work for themselves. He was not only an extensive farmer and landholder , but was also a money lender. He seems to have loaned topersons in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania., Springfield, Northampton,Southampton, New Jersey, and various other places. David Falkinburgsecured the one hundred and fifty pounds from John Math is for thefirst tavern established in Tuckerton. During the Revolutionary War heloaned a considerable amount of money for the purpose of assisting inthe struggle for freedom, but when payday came he was paid withContinental paper which prove d to be next to no pay. The lender wascompelled to take large packages of the scrip which soon depreciatedto utter worthlessness. These packages of continental paper were keptin the Mathis family for several generations, but at this tim e it isall destroyed. This War loan proved a ruinous adventure for his moneyaffairs, but did not interfere with his land speculations, and inspite of his numerous losses he died the wealthiest man of his timeand the township in which he lived.
It is impossible at this time, 1887, to name all the lands owned byJohn Mathis. The following list can be vouched for, they're dated,number of acres and names of the sellers, viz.:
1713 250 acres of Daniel Leeds. This is Dans Island and has neverbeen out of the possession of the Mathis family.
1722 50 acres of Thomas Wetherill
1722 270 acres of Thomas Wetherill
1729 813 acres of John Budd
1727 10 acres of John Budd
1734 10 acres of Zebulon Grant
1737 50 acres of Zebulon Grant
1737 37 acres of Zebulon Grant on Ives Branch
1737 100 acres of Nathaniel Gripps
1737 156 acres of Mordecai Andrews
1737 68 acres of Joseph Parker
1738 10 acres of Joseph Parker on Bass River Branch
1739 5 acres of Joseph Parker on Bass River Branch
1739 50 acres of Reuel Elton on Bass River Branch
1741 50 acres of Joathan Wright
1742 20 acres of Joathan Wright
1742 50 acres of Joathan Wright Turtle Island at the mouth ofMullican River
1742 50 acres of Joathan Wright
1742 109 acres of Joathan Wright
1742 150 acres of Joathan Wright This was a tract of cedar swampon Tronqurlity
1742 100 acres of Langdon Bills of Bucks Co., Pennsylvania.
1745 400 acres of Joseph Parker of Chester, Pennsylvania.
1747 230 acres of marsh on Belanga Creek
1747 44 acres of Thomas Wetherill of Burlington City, New Jersey
1749 150 acres of Thomas Wetherill
1751 50 acres of Charles Read
1751 107 acres of Charles Read
1751 100 acres of Thomas Gardiner
1759 36.5 acres of Thomas Gardiner
1761 50 acres of Smith & Hewlings
1738 John Mathis bought of his step son, Edward Higbee, lands which heowned in Huntington township and county of Suffolk on Long Island.Higbee's grandfather paid three hundred pounds for the right to locatethe land above named. There must hav e been several thousand acres asrights were very low at that time.
At this time no one knows what Mathis did with those lands which heowned on Long Island. He might and he might not have conveyed themaway. I think it probable that he did sell the land and that was onesource from which he derived the money whic h he lost by continentalpaper.
In 1722 John Mathis bought of Thomas and William Fox of Springfield,New Jersey, a large tract of marsh on the west neck Meadow which liesin the township of Little Egg Harbor extending from the point of MilesIsland to a considerable distance abo ve Mathistown Mill includingwithin its bounds cedar swamp and upland. He also bought surveys ofGeorge William and Thomas Pancoat, also George Budd, WilliamsHewlings, Thomas Macks, Henry Davis, and others.
Whenever one of John Mathis' sons married he provided him with a farmas far as his farms went he gave each a farm. Too such as he had notfarms for he deeded large tracts of unimproved land on which theysettled and made farms for themselves . He deeded his son, Micajah thefarm now known as the Francis French farm. To his son, Job, he deededDaniel Mathis Island, John gave Sarah her portion of his estate inmoney. To his son, Jeremiah what is now call Mathistown, Nehemiah hegave th e property called the Point Place, to Eli, he gave theproperty on the west side of Bass River in which is now included theArthur Crammer Farm, the Maja Mathis farm, the Crammer Howell farm,the Enoch Adams farm and the other settlements.
John Mathis was the first King's Magistrate appointed for the townshipof Little Egg Harbor. He was associated with many of the eminent menof his day and generation, and especially of the state of New Jersey.Having married into the most eminen t family of the first settler inEgg Harbor, he was related to people of the highest standing in thatlocality, as well as in other sections. He was the soninlaw of EdwardsAndrews, an eminent Quaker minister, a brotherinlaw to Jacob and Peter Andrews, both noted ministers in the society of Friends, also abrotherinlaw of Robert Allen of Bass River, and brotherinlaw to ThomasRidgway. His soninlaw, John Leeds was a public Friend, his grandson,Vincent Leeds (son of John Leeds) , was a minister and some of hisnephews and nieces of the Society of Friends (Quaker Ministers).
John Mathis died at the advanced age of 88 years on October 23, 1779at Tuckerton, New Jersey, and his wife lived to the age of 91 years.They were buried in the Friends' Graveyard at Tuckerton, New Jersey,where all of the first settlers and seve ral generations of theirdescendants are awaiting the resurrection of the dead.
John Mathis had seven children, therefore, there will be sevenbranches of his descendants. I shall name them in the order of theirages and delineate them by generations as far as I am able. Hisdescendants are many and widely scattered and it wi ll be impossiblefor me to give a correct list of them all. I shall do the best I canwith what information I am able to command.