Background
Samuel Mathews was born in about 1600 in England.
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Samuel Mathews
Edit ProfileEducation
There is no exact information about his youth.
Career
Coming to Virginia in 1622 and forthwith engaging actively in the colony's affairs. The next year, after serving in the Assembly and commanding an expedition against the seat of the Pamunkeys, he became a member of the council, in which body he served intermittently until his election as governor. In 1624 he was one of the four commissioners "certayne obscure persons, " Sandys acrimoniously designated them later appointed by the Privy Council to investigate conditions in the colony. With William Claiborne he built the palisade between the York and James rivers for protection against Indian attack, and he contracted alone to rebuild the fort at Point Comfort but expended so liberally of his own resources in this enterprise that Governor Harvey sought his favor by recommending him to King Charles for special privileges in compensation. Mathews, however, was not to be bought; "a man of a bold spiritt, turbulent and strong", he was soon alienated by the executive's usurpations and abuses of power, and led the council in the revolt which culminated in Harvey's deposition. When Harvey was returned to office by the King, he sent the chief rebels to England under accusation of treason and seized their estates. The leaders of this first American uprising in defense of popular rights were never called to trial, but so rancorous was Harvey that he despoiled and ransacked Mathews' property and delayed obeying the Privy Council's order to make complete restitution to him. Mathews regained his seat in the council in 1642 and again busied himself in the contention with Baltimore over the Maryland territory. Himself a Puritan and an early convert to the Parliamentary cause although named by John Hammond the chief persecutor of the 'Independents' in Virginia from 1652 to 1657 he was in England as agent to recover Maryland to Virginia; but before returning from his unsuccessful mission, he signed, November 1657, an agreement with Baltimore settling the differences between the two colonies. On March 13, 1658, he succeeded Digges as governor, and shortly became involved in a controversy with the Assembly. When the burgesses, disregarding precedent, refused the governor and council seats in the House, Mathews declared the body dissolved. The burgesses refused to disperse, claiming supremacy as representatives of the people; whereupon the Governor offered certain concessions. These the Assembly rejected and deposed Mathews and his councilors, but upon their recognizing the authority of the House reelected them as responsible to it alone. The remainder of his term, until his death in office, was uneventful; but he governed with efficiency, honesty, and liberality, and under him Virginia prospered.
Achievements
Personality
Industrious and forceful, he rapidly acquired a fortune through planting and trading, and added to his standing as well as his acreage by his marriage to Frances, daughter of Sir Thomas Hinton, and widow successively of Capt. Nathaniel West and of the wealthy Abraham Piersey. Posterity has overlooked both the passionate striving for justice and the sturdy independence of this "most deserving Common-wealth's-man, " who, according to a contemporary, kept a good house, lived bravely, and was a true lover of Virginia; but for a time he was perhaps the leading and most influential citizen of the colony, distinguished little less for his extensive holdings of land and his comfortable, self-sufficing plantation at Blunt Point than for his unquestioned ability and character.
Connections
In 1629 he was married to Frances, daughter of Sir Thomas Hinton, and widow successively of Capt. Nathaniel West and of the wealthy Abraham Piersey.
