Background
Claude Matthews was born on December 14, 1845 at Bethel, Kentucky. He was the son of Thomas and Eliza Ann (Fletcher) Matthews. His maternal grandfather was Thomas Fletcher, who represented a Kentucky district in Congress, 1816-17.
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Claude Matthews was born on December 14, 1845 at Bethel, Kentucky. He was the son of Thomas and Eliza Ann (Fletcher) Matthews. His maternal grandfather was Thomas Fletcher, who represented a Kentucky district in Congress, 1816-17.
Matthews graduated from Centre College, Danville, Kentucky, in 1867.
Leaving Kentucky shortly after his graduation, he settled on a farm near Clinton, Ind. , where he became intensely interested in the breeding of fine live-stock, and soon attracted much attention by his success with shorthorn and Jersey cattle, and with trotting horses. Acutely conscious of the difficulties that confronted the rural classes in the United States, he became an active member of the Farmers' Mutual Benefit Association. Matthews was a stockman rather than a politician, but he spoke well in public, and sometimes campaigned for Democratic candidates. In 1876 he was elected to the Indiana legislature from a strongly Republican district, and thereafter was much in demand for political speeches. In 1882 he stood for election to the state Senate, but was defeated. In 1890, however, when the influence of the Farmers' Alliance demands was being felt throughout the country, he was nominated for secretary of state on the Democratic ticket, and was elected. His long interest in farming made him an available candidate for governor in 1892, and with him at the head of their state ticket the Democrats won a notable victory. His term of office, from January 1893 to January 1897, coinciding as it did with one of the worst periods of depression the nation had known, was far from tranquil. The election of a Republican legislature in 1894 increased his difficulties. From April to June 1894, a coalminers' strike occasioned much disorder in the vicinity of Terre Haute, Fontenet, and Farmersburg. Militia had to be used freely to insure the passage of coal trains. The coal strike was scarcely settled when the Pullman railroad strike spread into Indiana. At Hammond the disorders were so serious that Federal troops were sent from Chicago to maintain order until the state militia should arrive on the scene. Matthews promptly called out eight companies of militia, including a section of artillery, later relieved by eight more, and in a short time had the situation in complete control. When the state auditor, on advice of the attorney-general, held that there was no state money available to pay these troops, the Governor promptly borrowed the necessary sum, $40, 962, on his own personal credit. A later legislature voted payment of the bill. His vigorous handling of the Indiana situation contrasted sharply with the methods used by Gov. John P. Altgeld in Illinois. Matthews' administration was also notable for his contest with a corporation that carried on winter races, prize-fighting, and similar amusements at Roby, Lake County, Ind. Claiming that the law was being deliberately evaded, the Governor asked the courts for an injunction against the Roby gamesters, which he finally secured. Less spectacular, but probably more important, was the enactment of amendments to the tax law during his administration. Matthews' prominence as governor of Indiana, together with his adherence to free-silver views, led to the presentation of his name for the Democratic presidential nomination at the Chicago convention in 1896. He received the vote of his own state on several ballots, in spite of the strong Bryan sentiment that finally overcame the convention. He did not long survive his term of office as governor.
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On January 1, 1868 he married Martha Renwick Whitcomb, daughter of Senator James Whitcomb, a former governor of Indiana.