This deed is the legal origination of land that eventually served as my father’s family childhood homeplace.
James Douglass was an appointed deputy surveyor of Colonel William Preston, county surveyor, when Kentucky was known as Fincastle County of Virginia. In April 1774, Douglass joined John Floyd, Hancock Taylor (uncle to future US President Zachary Taylor), and Isaac Hite in heading to Kentucky. Other members of the surveyors group soon joined.
Although surveys had been conducted in the region a year or so prior, those claims were not considered legitimate because the men conducting the surveys were not deputized by Col. Preston.
In the detailed account, The Fincastle Surveyors in the Bluegrass, 1774 by Neal O. Hammon, around July 3, 1774, Douglass, having left the headwaters of the Elkhorn, “discovered a spring which he named Jessamine after his daughter, an only child.” This spring of Jessamine Creek served as the primary water supply for the my father’s homeplace.
He has shared memories of how integral was that spring to his youth. Finding arrowheads, swimming, how it would swell and on a few occasions shot up like a geyser, how he saved his older brother from drowning there, when the bridge was built…and more. I knew the creek spring as where the family gathered for my uncle’s pig roasts.
Kentucky Doomsday book record of 1,000 acre land grant at Jessamine Creek spring described as “a remarkable camping spot” which I had seen referenced on a landowners map by Clyde Bunch of the Jessamine County Historical Society.
Attempts to transcribe the handwriting and legal jargon of this time the late 1700s were a bit futile. When I am able to get clarity, I can revisit and update the references. I am building the timeline for how Douglass’ deed eventually came to be owned by Pleasant Cook, my 2nd great grandfather.
Words I can decipher – James Douglass, 1,000 acres, the District of Kentucky, 5 or 6 miles below Hickman creek, head of Jessamine Creek, a remarkable camping place.
Spot, the Faynes’ farm dog, from my grandmother’s youth. Violet Fayne and her family lived in and around Little Hickman along Sugar Creek Pike in Jessamine County. She was the middle sibling of the five children and was born in June 1913. If she was still living at home when this photograph was taken, it would be circa 1924-1929.
My great grandmother’s obituary produced as keepsakes by the local newspaper. It has been interesting to live as witness to the demise of the print journalism industry.
In Memoriam
HERALD-LEADER
Lexington, Ky. January 8 1963
Mrs. Martha B. Corman
Mrs. Martha Bradshaw Corman, 81, the widow of Suber* Corman, died at 7 p.m. Sunday at St. Elizabeth Hospital, South Fort Mitchell.
She was a native of Lexington. Mrs. Corman lived at 6 Floral Avenue in South Fort Mitchell and was a member of the Madison Avenue Christian Church there.
She is survived by five daughters, Mrs. Fanny Dean Mathews, Nicholasville; Miss Viola Corman and Miss Madeline Corman, both of South Fort Mitchell; Mrs. William Englett, Victorville, Calif., and Mrs. Joseph Neal, Kansas City, Mo; two sisters, Miss Susie Ghant, Nicholasville, and Mrs. Minnie Scanlon, Prineville, Ore; 12 grandchildren, and 21 great grandchildren.
The body was taken to the Allison and Rose Funeral Home in Covington.
It will arrive here at noon Wednesday and will be taken to Kerr Brothers Funeral Home where services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Thursday. Burial will be in the Lexington Cemetery.
One of two examples of obituary keepsakes laminated and serve as bookmarks.
A TRIBUTE
published in the pages of
THE LEXINGTON LEADER
LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY
JAN 7 1963
Memorial Obituary
Mrs. Martha B. Corman
Mrs. Martha Bradshaw Corman, 81, widow of Suber* Corman, died at 7 p.m. Sunday at St. Elizabeth Hospital in South Forth Mitchell.
A native of Lexington, Mrs. Corman had lived at 6 Floral Avenue in South Fort Mitchell and was a member of the Madison Avenue Christian Church there.
Survivors are five daughters, Mrs. Fanny Dean Mathews, Nicholasville; Miss Viola Corman and Miss Madeline Corman, both of South Fort Mitchell; Mrs. William Englett, Victorville, Calif., and Mrs. Joseph Neal, Kansas City, Mo., two sisters, Miss Susie Ghant, Nicholasville, and Mrs. Minnie Scanlon, Prinville, Ore.; 12 grandchildren and 21 great grandchildren.
The body was taken to the Allison and Rose Funeral Home in Covington. It will arrive here at noon on Wednesday and be taken to Kerr Brothers Funeral Home where services will be conducted at 1:30 p.m. Thursday. Burial will be in the Lexington Cemetery.
The transcription below is my attempt to decipher the handwriting and legal jargon of the late 1800s. You will notice question marks and placeholder text that informs my research. Additionally the FAN (friends, acquaintances, neighbors) approach yields rich opportunities with the names of Stifers, Rhorer, Welch, Campbell, etc.
The deed is the third in a series of entries pertaining to a certain tract of land in Jessamine County that passed in 1873 from Francis Grow and Amanda J. Grow, his wife, to my 2nd-great-grandfather, Henry Harden Corman and Sophia Smith Dean, his wife. Henry and Sophia had one child, Surber Harden Corman, my great grandfather (see image below).
Surber Harden Corman (1867-1948) (father), Martha Jane Bradshaw Corman (1881-1963) (mother) and, I have tentatively concluded, Fanny Dean Corman (1901-1976), Surber and Martha’s first child.
Surber was the only child of Henry (1835-1909) and Sophia (1836-1910) and presumably heir to his parents’ estate. They sold the property (in part or in total) in 1906 to James M. Laury.
Mortgage
Corman, Henry H
To
Lowry, James M.
Acknowledged before me by
Henry H. Corman and
Sophie Corman his wife
March 8 1906
N. A. Dierarson J. C. C. ?
By James M. Lowry
Recorded in Mortgage Book 19
Page 174
The Jessamine Journal Print, Nicholasville, KY.
? ? paid (2 b) ?
This Indenture, made and entered into this 8th day of March 1906 between Henry H. Corman and Sophie Corman his wife of the County of Jessamine State of Kentucky parties of the first part and James M. Lowry of the County and State aforesaid County of the second part
Witnesseth, that the parties of the first part, for and in consideration of the sum of one dollar to _____? In hand paid, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, and the further consideration hereinafter mentioned, do hereby sell, grant, and convey to the part of the second part, his heirs and assigns, the following described real estate, to-wit: all that tract of land except 10 acres more or less which was some time ago deeded to John P. Lowry record of which is in the office of the Clerk of the Jessamine County (branch?) lying and being in Jessamine County Kentucky on the waters of Jessamine Creek and formerly known as the (Tozier?) Mill property and (bordering) the lands of R. (Daversbooth?) Stifers, Rhorer, Lowry and the lands of (?) Welch and (something -ing) 40 acres more or less and being a portion of the same tract of land (conveyed) to Henry H. Corman by Rev P. Campbell and wife by deed of record in the Office of the Clerk of the Jessamine County Clerk in Deed Book No. 16 Page (638)
To have and to hold the same, with all the rights, privileges and appurtenances thereunto belonging, or in anywise appertaining unto the second party, his his heirs and assigns forever, with covenants of General Warranty.
Nevertheless, it is understood between the parties thereto that this instrument is to operate as a Mortgage to secure the second party in the payment of a note of (even) date hereof for Two hundred dollars (?) and payable twelve months after date and bearing interest at the rate of seven per each (?) from date until paid – executed by Henry H. Corman and payable to James M. Lowry.
This Mortgage is intended to secure (…) or extrusions of the whole or any part of the above described note
Now, should said first parties well and truly pay off and discharge said note interest when the same becomes due and payable, then this Mortgage and all other writings as may exist as evidence of said debt shall become null and void, otherwise it shall remain in full force and effect and said grantor hereby especially waive and release all rights or claim they have or may have hereafter have, which arises out of or is given by the Exemption and Homestead Laws of Kentucky in and to the property hereby conveyed; also all right to dower in said property is included in and made part of this Mortgage and these covenants and conveyances are especially made part of this Mortgage.
Witness our hands the day and year first above written.
Henry H. Corman
Sophie Corman
State of Kentucky,
County of Jessamine
I, N. R. Dickerson, Clerk of the County Court of the County aforesaid, do certify that the foregoing instrument of writing from Henry H Corman & Sophie Corman his wife
To James M. Loury
Was on the 8th day of March 1906 produced to me
In my office, and was acknowledged by Henry H. Corman and Sophie Corman his wife parties thereto
To be their act and deed, and was this day lodged for record by the grantee, which, together with this certificate, is duly recorded in my said office.
The only images I have found thus far of VIOLA MURPHY, my 1st cousin 2x removed, are in her early youth. She was the only one of her three siblings to live beyond 10 years. As it was, she died at 31yo from tuberculosis.
Viola was the fourth child born to Daniel J. Murphy, Jr., and Mary Bell “Mayme” Bradshaw, both of Mercer County, Kentucky.
Left-to-right: Susie Bradshaw (standing), Mary Bell “Mayme” Bradshaw Murphy (seated in chair), Maudy May Murphy (seated on porch), Daniel Murphy (seated in chair) holding ViolaMurphy in his lap, and Martha Jane Bradshaw (standing). Circa 1898-99.
Just two and a half years before the birth of Viola, mother Mayme had a nervous breakdown. She refused to acknowledge the death of her 15-month-old daughter, Florence. Three years earlier, she had lost her first child, Surber, in infancy, also.
Parents Mayme Bell and Daniel Murphy lost 3 children in ten years.
Family records indicate Maudy May was handicapped in some way. Viola Murphy was only 2yo when her 8yo sister, Maudy May Murphy, died. Based on these facts, the family portrait on the porch must have been very close to the time Maudy May died. It was not a thing to smile in photographs but could this image have captured any more poignantly the layers behind those faces?
Baby Viola Murphy seated on lap of father Daniel Murphy.Viola Murphy from a tin-type
My grandmother, Martha Jane, came to live with Mayme, her eldest sister’s family, to care for them all. The 13yo Martha must have had a special relationship with her very young niece, as she named her second daughter Viola.
Adolescent Martha Jane Bradshaw, my great-grandmother.
And, in further layers of complexity, my grandmother’s manuscript recounts a falling out between Martha Jane and Daniel Murphy, her brother-in-law. Something happened when Martha Jane lived with the Murphys. It was a hurt that Martha Jane carried into adulthood.
The tragedy and sorrow of the Murphy family household – what a burden for a 13yo young woman to carry as her own caregiving yoke. What an introduction to mothering after losing her own mother when she was only 5yo.
When Viola Murphy died June 6, 1928, she was living in Danville, Boyle Co, KY. She had married Willie Duncan. There are records showing two children, Myrtle Chestnut and Annabelle. This is an area needing further research as I have since found refuting evidence.
Two ancestors I’ve discovered received pensions for service during the War of 1812 – Pleasant Easley and George A. Corman, Sr. Both served in the Fifth Kentucky Regiment under Lt. Col. William Lewis.
Pleasant Easley served as a private in Captain James C. Price’s Company. Known as the “Jessamine Blues” this unit of Jessamine County militia were so called by their remarkable uniforms. They experienced losses at the Battle of River Raisin. I definitely have this on my next level research topics.
Private Easley served August 15-October 1812. Six months after his discharge, Pleasant married Patience Dean Holeman. I am still working on the birth and death dates for this family. Some of these findings do not yet make sense despite being based on research, and therefore may be incorrect. For now, I am going with Pleasant and Patience as likely my 4th-great grandparents.
Then, we have my 3rd-great grandparents George A. Corman, Sr. (1793-1866) and Abigail Hicks (1796-1880). Of their information, I am much more certain.
Pennsylvania-born, Jessamine Co Kentucky volunteer George Corman (or Cornman) served as a 19yo private in Captain Hamilton’s Co of Kentucky Militia, August 15, 1812-February 15, 1813. Corman was recorded as a Prisoner-of-War (POW) on January 22, 1813. A reference to Palladium on March 24, 1813 needs follow-up. Six months after discharge, George married Abigail in Fayette Co, KY, on August 5, 1813. George died and was buried with others in family, Corman Cemetery, Bethel Pike, Nicholasville, KY.
Both Kentucky militia soldiers, Pleasant and George volunteered. Both married six months after military service. Both settled in Jessamine Co.
Resource: Jessamine Historical Quarterly, Vol.2, No. 1, January 2003, published by Jessamine County Historical & Genealogical Society (www.jesshistorical.com)
that.Kentucky.girl
A 6th-generation Kentuckian on a journey to find out – follow along
Cutters came to stay with my parents while recuperating from broken bones after a fall. As it turns out, she came back more than once from broken bones. Would you believe it was in the 90s of her lifetime, though? Truth.
100 years and still learning
My grandmother, Cutters, lived to be 101. Only the final year to 18-months was limited by physical constraints. Her years between 1977 to 2013 were lived independently within community after Granddaddy died May 1977. This original aging-in-place home support network she inspired, and to which she contributed, is but one of the blessings from Jessamine County to me.
Only a small number of times she needed assistance in recuperation and mobility. Her children, Phyllis & Herbert, took good care of Cutters, their Mother. The love shared in her family I can only hope to honor, in turn. I have learned to look for ways to live her lessons again. Practicing loving service to others. She loved Jesus.
In this image, Cutters is seated in a recliner with pillows reinforcing her resting collar bone and shoulder. She holds a 21st century mobile device in her Roman chiseled masterpiece of hands and somehow that irony works. In her other hand, she is connected by mouth to a red and white striped peppermint candy cane. In Burberry wrapped and earphones in full effect. To the uninitiated, I say sorry. That so many will never know how amazingly this woman’s life impacted others. Thankfully, I am one who witnessed and can relive stories with my own loved ones.
With her hands, she worked making food and a home for family, friends, homemakers and those in need. This included her elderly father in his widowed years. She prepared fresh-from-the-farm meals, with green beans, corn, tomatoes and more. With her hands, she endured. She held the dying body of her first born child.
Those hands have richer lives all their own, what stories they could tell and energy they emit even now only in a photograph. And, the typing fingers of those same hands would let you know in no uncertain terms if she did not approve of something you shared on Facebook. Yes, she was active on Facebook. And that was also after she was 90yo.
Another ancestor I never knew existed in the Mathews with one “t” lineage, thank you Ancestry.com, was named Dr. Joseph McDowell Mathews. His grandfather is my 3rd great grandfather.
This example really floors me for not knowing or being known among family. Additionally, there is not much to commemorate him and his significance appearing in areas of public domain where I think there should be. This is another reason my passion has a purpose. This man deserves wider recognition. I mean, was he the first to say “Turn your head and cough”? If so, I rest my case.
Joseph M. Mathews, MD
With the help of online archives for The Kentucky School of Medicine, a predecessor to the University of Louisville School of Medicine, I located several images of Dr. Joseph McDowell Mathews. He served on faculty at least seven of the graduating class years between 1887 and 1903, but I plan to dig deeper on this point for clarification. Next research visits must include UofL archives.
low-quality screenshot of cropped image online Dr. Joseph McDowell Mathews
1847 Born New Castle, Henry County, Kentucky
He was the fifth child born to Caleb Moffett Mathews & Frances Ann Sullinger Edwards-Beasley Mathews, in Henry County, KY, on May 29, 1847. Father Caleb Mathews was a prominent attorney and judge for the county in the early formation of New Castle. The children of the Caleb Moffett Mathews family were considered “illustrious” and were presumably well-educated, as their father had been. There are references to the Henry Academy and its formation.
You can read more about Caleb and his two Mathews brothers, Joseph & William. These were the only sons of John Mathews, the first Mathews ancestor to settle in Kentucky, and his wife Sarah McDowell Mathews. These three brothers were all younger than ten years old when their father John died. A guardianship arrangement was established with George Moffett in 1816.
If Ancestry.com connections are valid, the McDowells and Moffetts were Revolutionary War Patriots and offer rich layers of exploration along a separate rabbit hole.
Education to physician educator
After his youth spent in Henry County having attended New Castle Academy (a.k.a., Henry Academy?), Mathews attended the medical school in Louisville, KY and graduated at 20yo in 1867. There is more than one reference to him studying medicine in Europe (either London or Germany…or both). His career flourished over the next nine years. He served on faculty of Kentucky School of Medicine, as president of the state board of health, and as chairman of surgery for Medical College of Louisville.
1876
The first reference to Dr. Mathews’ residence and practice as listed in the Louisville city directory was in 1876. Then, the following year, he married Sarah “Sallie” Trumbo Berry of Versailles, Woodford County, KY, on May 29, 1877. They were married in Midway, Woodford County.
Sallie was a 29yo widow and the mother of William F. Berry, born 1867, who Dr. Mathews later adopted. The origin story of William F. was tragic for Sallie, too. Sallie may have had a tumultuous first marriage as indicated by a newspaper clipping reporting when her father, Adam Trumbo, murdered her first husband, William T. Berry, when son William was 5yo. There is more to that story, to be sure. Search in blog for Trumbo for the next installment on this.
Louisville practice
The Louisville City Directory shows Dr. Mathews’ lived and practiced in Jefferson County between 1876 and 1914. Dr. Mathews lived in Louisville as shown in the census records of 1880, 1890, 1900 & 1910.
Between 1876 and 1914, Dr. Mathews’ Louisville practice was located at: 747 Walnut Street, 647 Walnut Street, 289 5th Street, 580 4th Street, 10 Warren Bldg, 342 W. Walnut Street, Mathews & Asman, 411 Masonic Temple, 308 Masonic Temple, 316 West Chestnut Street and, finally, 308 Masonic Temple.
In the same timeframe, the home residences noted in city directories of Dr. Mathews were located: 19th Street, Broadway, Alexander’s Hotel, 518 W. Breckinridge, 923 4th Street, 500 Belgravia Ave, and Louisville Hotel.
By 30yo, Dr. Mathews began narrowing his practicing interests to colon and rectal diseases. What might have triggered such drive? When New York City did not provide for his pursuits, he then went to London to study at St. Marks Hospital. Determination. In 1879, Dr. J. M. Mathews became “the first US physician to limit practice to colon and rectal disease.”
1880
The 1880 US Census shows Joseph M. Mathews, doctor, 33yo, Sallie, 32yo, and William, 13yo, living at “house #186, South Side Jefferson Street” in Louisville, Jefferson, Kentucky, USA. With Dr. Mathews on faculty at Kentucky School of Medicine, Louisville, Jefferson County, KY.
1896
Dr. Mathews served as editor for the Mathews’ Medical Quarterly.
1898
Dr. Mathews elected President of the American Medical Association.
Joseph McDowell Mathews, M.D.
THE MEANING OF THE HONOR
Dr. Mathews is Now President of America’s Greatest Medical
Association and One of the Most Splendid
In the World.
Dr. Joseph M. Mathews of this city who was elected President of the American Medical Association at Denver Wednesday has in that election xxx on of the highest that be paid a physician as this is a national body and comprises every State and Territory in the Union. Dr. N. ??? of Chicago was the President last year, and Dr. ?name, Surgeon General of the army, is the retiring President. Dr. Mathews has had many honors conferred upon him in the past. He is ex-President of the Mississippi Valley Medical Association, President of the Kentucky State Medical Society, President of the State Board of Health of Kentucky, and has this year been First Vice President of the American Medical Association, the great body of which he has just been elected President. A few weeks ago a Pennsylvania university conferred upon him the degree of X.X.D.
The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Saturday Morning, June 11, 1898
1899
From Mathews to the Millennium – A Century of Achievement
A History of the American Society of Colon & Rectal Surgeons, 1899-1999
Written & Edited by J. Byron Gathright, Jr. M.D. and Richard S. Bragaw
1900
The 1900 Census shows their residence as 923 Fourth Avenue, Louisville, Jefferson County, KY. A search for this address turned up in a parking lot adjacent to Spalding University properties, downtown Louisville. I have yet to find images of the house. It is possible there were photos taken by municipal entities prior to the razing.
By this year, son William T. Berry was considered an invalid brought on by illness. He would die from pneumonia in March of the following year.
In 1900, there were at least two other Mathews with one “t” living in Louisville, Kentucky. As of now, I do not find evidence of a connection to these families.
One other juxtaposition of note that I plan to pursue in research: In the 1900 US census, the enumerator lists residents living at 921 Fourth Avenue, presumably next door to the 923 Mathews Family residence. Headed by 58yo Henrietta Long Miller, Samuel A. Miller’s widow of five years, along with their 28yo daughter Eleanor Everhart Miller Bingham, her husband of four years, Robert Worth Bingham, 29yo, and their child, Robert, 3yo.
Much has been written about the Millers, Longs, Binghams in their situations marked by tragedy and grief. Was Dr. Mathews a neighbor of the family that would become pivotal to the development of Louisville as a city? What if any interaction was there? Would any journals they kept hold clues to my own ancestors? Would their family photo archive show their home?
According to the Pewee Valley Historical Society, the Miller family home located at 921 Fourth Avenue was razed to make way for building The Puritan Apartments, which opened in 1917. It stands to reason the house located next door would also have been impacted by the sizeable land project of an apartment building.
1901
Burying babies
And, in further sadness, according to this obituary below, Sallie lived to bury her only son, William F. Berry. His obituary opens up several lines of inquiry, including athletics and baseball in Louisville, a career in Philly and end of life as an invalid.
WILLIAM F. BERRY DEAD
Formerly An Athlete, But Recently An Invalid
William F. Berry, thirty-two years of age, died of a complication of diseases at the home of Dr. J. M. Mathews, 923 Fourth avenue, at 3:xx o’clock yesterday morning. Mr. Berry, formerly one of the best-known baseball players and athletes in Louisville, was an invalid for three years. He first became ill in Philadelphia. After leaving Louisville, he went to the Pennsylvania metropolis and engaged in business. He suffered an attack of the grip, and pneumonia, which later developed, brought an ailment which wrecked his constitution. He was compelled to retire from business.
Mr. Berry was the son of Mrs. J. M. Mathews. The funeral will take place from the residence this afternoon at 3:3o o’clock. The Rev. Carter Helm Jones will conduct the services.
THE COURIER-JOURNAL, 6 MAR 1901 – PAGE 10
1902
Joseph McDowell Mathews, physician, surgeon, author, was born May 1, 1847, in New Castle, Ky. He is president of the Kentucky state board of Health. He is the author of Mathews on Disease, of the Rectum and Sigmoid Flexure.
Herringshow’s Encyclopedia of American Biography of the Nineteenth Century (1902)
The US Directory of Deceased American Physicians, 1804-1929, Dr. Mathews was an “Allopath” with practice specialties and places including in: Louisville, KY, May 5 1911, Los Angeles, CA, November 25, 1915, Seattle, WA, Jan 20, 1925. Licenses: KY, 1893. Professorship: Louisville and Hospital Medical College, Louisville surgery, JAMA Citation 91:1910
Sometime after 1901, Dr. & Mrs. Mathews changed their residence to Los Angeles, CA. Did Sallie need to change her scenery following the death of her son? Dr. Mathews’ practice sites included: Seattle, Los Angeles, Louisville. Was he in demand as the foremost practitioner on his area of focus?
1920
The 1920 Census Los Angeles Assembly District 64, Los Angeles, California; Page 13B; Enumeration District: 228. Joseph M. Mathews, 72yo, living on So Carondelet Street as Head of House, married to Sara E. Mathews, 68yo. Renting.
California to paradise, but Kentucky remains
1928
After an illustrious career and presumably a choice retirement, Dr. Mathews died from pneumonia at 80yo in Los Angeles, CA, on December 2, 1928. He and Sallie were living in the Shoreham Hotel, Carondelet Street in their eighteenth year as California residents. Would the Shoreham be as swanky back then? I suspect so. OG swanky.
Obituary, 1928
DR. JOSEPH MATHEWS DIES
LOS ANGELES – Dr. Joseph McDowell Mathews, 81, former president of the American Medical Association died here . Dr. Mathews came to Los Angeles 18 years ago from Kentucky, where he began his career after he was graduated from the University of Louisville. Born at New Castle, Ky., Dr. Mathews went to London in 1879 and on returning to Louisville became a pioneer in proctology and was the first presidnet of the American Proctologic Society.
Lexington Herald-Leader, December 3, 1928 (their typo, not mine)
She was 78yo. His wife, Sallie, died 18 days later and her funeral services were held at Little Church of the Flowers, Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, CA. Dating back to 1906, the Glendale location was the first Forest Lawn Memorial property. Of the network of parks, this original location today features the Forest Lawn Museum.
Obituary, 1928
MATHEWS, December 20, 1928, at the Shoreham Hotel, Mrs. Sallie E. Mathews, widow of the late Dr. Joseph M. Mathews.
Funeral services will be held Saturday, December 22, at 11 a.m. at the Little Church of the Flowers, Forest Lawn Cemetery. A. E. Maynes of the George A. Fitch, Inc., director, (Seattle and Louisville papers please copy.)
The Los Angeles Times, December 22, 1928, Page 16
“Dr. Mathews wrote a booklet on Proctology, a subject he originated and was the first Orthodox physician in the world to adopt proctology as a field of practice.”
Dr. & Mrs. J. M. Mathews were cremated and without memorialization, now side-by-side at Cave Hill Cemetery. A brief stop at the office confirms by map their location adjacent to the drive just up the hill from this administrative building. Their sites are without markers but aside the headstone for William F. Berry. They are there with the son but anonymous in the deep ground around. They left no children, also referred to as “without issue” which makes me wonder if they were close to their nieces and nephews?
Was that no-marker decision rooted in humility, anonymity or something else? No will of either among my records yet.
1938
According to the February 1991, every other year beginning in 1938, the American Proctology Society commemorates founder Dr. Joseph McDowell Mathews with The Joseph M. Mathews Oration.
What did the society publish? Where are those records? Was this a convention event?
Another doctor in the family
The Henry County Historical Society has been in transition recently but I plan some summer 2023 research road trips that will allow me to move closer in my understanding of the Mathews family in New Castle. And then, Danville.
Next, I will share about the connection to Dr. Ephraim McDowell, another cousin, 6x removed from me, who is famous as a pioneer surgeon for performing the first ovariotomy in Kentucky.
that.Kentucky.girl
A 6th-generation Kentuckian on a journey to find out – follow along
My grandmother’s Kentucky Education Association, Inc. membership card, 1943-1944.
1943-1944
Kentucky Education Association Incorporated and Commonwealth of Kentucky seal
This Certifies That
Mrs. Pleas Mathews Co. Jessamine
having paid the annual fee of $1.50, plus the Regional District dues, which includes subscription to the Kentucky School Journal, is an active member of the KENTUCKY EDUCATION ASSOCIATION (incorporated) and the Regional District Association for the year dated July 1, 1943 to June 30, 1944.
James Richmond President
W. P. King Secretary Treasurer
BRING THIS CARD TO THE CONVENTION
As I sit pondering this, there opens up potential sources for discovery, including archives of KEA and copies of the Kentucky School Journal. And, I wonder what the conventions were all about. And, how hard was it to spare that $1.50 and other dues?
In ’43-44, Fanny Dean was wife of farmer Pleas, disabled WWI veteran who had one of his clavicle bones removed, which profoundly impacted life on ol’ homeplace. She was a mother of four children (12yo, 11yo, 9yo, 6yo) and would give birth to her fifth in August 1944. Teaching. Farming. Moming. Caregiving. Did she ever sleep?
Given those realities, I am curious whether she had to live away from the family while teaching, as was a common practice of the time. That would have been even more challenging for the family on the homeplace. Traveling to and from the schoolhouse on a daily basis would have left very little time for much else. It would likely not have been by motor vehicle.
Many more inquiries in my head. More research rabbit holes with questions I may never answer. I am not deterred.
that.Kentucky.girl
A 6th-generation Kentuckian on a journey to find out – follow along
SENIOR CITIZENS ENTER FLOAT IN JAMBOREE PARADE – Jessamine County Senior Citizens Center entered an “Autumn Memory” float in the Jamboree Parade, held here October 6. Tagging along behind the entry was a horse-pulled wagon carrying other seniors. Pictured on the float are O. F. Sanders, David Willhoite, Cleo Willhoite, Mary Shearer, Arval Durham, Violet…
This deed is the legal origination of land that eventually served as my father’s family childhood homeplace. James Douglass was an appointed deputy surveyor of Colonel William Preston, county surveyor, when Kentucky was known as Fincastle County of Virginia. In April 1774, Douglass joined John Floyd, Hancock Taylor (uncle to future US President Zachary Taylor),…
Spot, the Faynes’ farm dog, from my grandmother’s youth. Violet Fayne and her family lived in and around Little Hickman along Sugar Creek Pike in Jessamine County. She was the middle sibling of the five children and was born in June 1913. If she was still living at home when this photograph was taken, it…
In Memoriam HERALD-LEADER Lexington, Ky. January 8 1963 Mrs. Martha B. Corman Mrs. Martha Bradshaw Corman, 81, the widow of Suber* Corman, died at 7 p.m. Sunday at St. Elizabeth Hospital, South Fort Mitchell. She was a native of Lexington. Mrs. Corman lived at 6 Floral Avenue in South Fort Mitchell and was a member…
The transcription below is my attempt to decipher the handwriting and legal jargon of the late 1800s. You will notice question marks and placeholder text that informs my research. Additionally the FAN (friends, acquaintances, neighbors) approach yields rich opportunities with the names of Stifers, Rhorer, Welch, Campbell, etc. The deed is the third in a…
A resource* housed in the Jessamine County Public Library on Main Street, Nicholasville, KY, was published as a commemorative Jessamine County history and included individual citizens’ written accounts. My grandmother, Cutters, contributed her own biography which was included in this publication. What I find funny or ironic is that whoever proofread or otherwise made an…
February 3, 2023 is the 78th anniversary of the death of this person – Dr. Mathews – my ancestor I never knew I had. He is on a branch of my paternal family tree – Mathews with one “t” as we say, that I discovered only through my Ancestry.com research.
William H. Mathews II, MD
Here’s what I compiled from resources: He was born 5th of 11 siblings to William H. & Sarah Ann Porter Mathews, in Nicholasville, Jessamine Co, KY. He was the older brother of John Shanon Mathews, my dad’s grandfather. He was uncle to Pleas Cook Mathews, my grandfather.
Dr. W. H. Mathews II was born, was raised and later settled his family and his medical practice all in the proximity of the location noted on map as “W. H. Mat(t)hews” (see “C” in Chattersville)
Medical education in late 1800s
William H. Mathews, II attended medical school in Louisville, KY, in September 1881. Other names affiliated with his education include Kentucky School of Medicine and Hospital Medical College, from which he graduated in 1883. His obituary makes reference to an additional course in microscopy. I’d like to know what medical school was like in the late 1800s.
He married Fannie Scott of Nicholasville in 1884. The 1900 & 1910 Census records show they lived in Nicholasville, Jessamine Co, KY. They had two children Thomas Scott Mathews and Wm. H. “Doc” Mathews III.
Jessamine Co histories and his obituary place Dr. Mathews’ forty-four acre farm and practice located 3 miles south of Nicholasville, Jessamine Co., on Lexington and Danville Turnpike where he was born. He farmed and practiced as a physician at his homeplace. He was noted as a member of the Methodist Church. [Question to answer: Which one?] He provided care to the residents of Jessamine County for what might have been more than 40 years. [Another question.]
Concurrent storylines
Dr. Mathews II died at 88yo in Nicholasville, KY, on February 3, 1945. Across the county not far north, my dad was about to turn 10yo in a couple months and Pleas’ Jessamine Co tobacco farming family looked very much like this (see photo). Dr. Mathews may have checked in on his nephew Pleas’ family of five young children. Right? Would there have been any law against family treating family then?
The Mathews Family around 1945 or so (front) Bobby, Marita, Kenneth, (back) Marjorie, Fanny Dean holding David, and Pleas. I stare and stare at this image and ponder how much alike my father and his father appear here. Look at them – similar stance, far-off eyes squinting, head tilted at the sun.
The various Mathews relations likely all gathered at the funerals for Mayme Cook Mathews in March 1940, or that of her husband, John Shanon Mathews, who died a month later, April 1940. William would have attended his younger brother John’s funeral, I say. And yet, I have not found anything to corroborate.
Perhaps it was timing and geography that had something to do with a tradition of not knowing the family members. Maybe they just did not have anyone to carry forward all their stories to the younger generations. Was there a falling out of some sort, somewhere along the tree branches? Could it have been that Pleas returned from WWI combat without that connection?
I have not been searching long enough to have a true basis for these theories and yet I am not deterred. I will continue to seek more stories to live through my study and my imagination. I strive to be a giving ancestor by capturing what I can while I can as best I am able.
Other physicians in the tree
UP next (or soon, anyway) Dr. Mathews II’s first cousin (also my first cousin, 3x removed), Dr. Joseph M. Mathews, was a notable physician teaching and practicing in Louisville, Jefferson County, KY. Then, there is evidence of a connection to Danville’s Dr. Ephraim McDowell, a first cousin 6x removed from me, who is famous as a pioneer surgeon. More to follow from these rabbit holes.
that.Kentucky.girl
A 6th-generation Kentuckian on a journey to find out – follow along
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that Kentucky girl 