My Genealogy Hound

W. J. Matthews, M. D., a popular physician of Forrest City and a credit to the medical fraternity, was born in Maury County, Tenn., May 28, 1831, being one of eight children born to James W. and S. K. (Dooley) Matthews, natives of North Carolina and Tennessee, respectively. James W. Matthews was a pioneer of Tennessee, a farmer by occupation, and surveyor of Maury County for many years. He died in his eighty-third year, his wife having gone before in her sixty-fourth year. The paternal grandfather was born in North Carolina, and came to Tennessee when James W. was a small boy, dying in Tennessee at a very old age. The maternal grandfather also owed his nativity to Tennessee, and served in some of the Indian wars, and was given the euphonious title of ‘‘Old Capt. Dooley.’’ The great-grandmother was killed by Indians while holding the grandmother (a baby at the time), and engaged in spinning flax. W. J. Matthews passed his early life in the schools of Maury County, Tenn., afterward becoming enrolled as a pupil of Erskine College, South Carolina, remaining away from home for three years. On the completion of his literary education he returned home and began the study of medicine under A. T. Boyd and J. M. Buldridge of Maury County, Tenn., and after having graduated from the Medical Department of the College at Nashville, Tenn., 1860, went immediately to Taylor’s Creek, St. Francis County, Ark. In June, 1861, he entered the Confederate army as a private, this company being commanded by Hon. Poindexter Dunn. After three months Dr. Matthews was promoted to the position of surgeon of the Third Confederate Regiment, and served in that company in the same capacity till the close of the war. Of a company of 100 men from this neighborhood, all were unmarried, with the exception of the captain. They were in the Army of the Tennessee, and participated in the hard-fought battles of Shiloh, Murfreesboro, Missionary Ridge, Chickamauga, Kenesaw Mountain, Ringgold Gap, Golgotha Church, Jonesboro, Franklin and Perryville. Pat. Cleburne was the major-general, and Dr. Matthews was on the field when he me this death. Twenty-one men of the original number (100) returned home, and nine of them are now living. At the close of the war Dr. Matthews resumed his former practice, which he had established a year previous to the war at Taylor’s Creek, and though he voted against secession, he went with his State when it seceded. Coming to Forrest City, in 1871, he has since been actively engaged in the practice of his profession, and has attained an enviable position, both in social circles and as a competent physician. Dr. Matthews was married in 1866 to Miss Ella Eastham, of Summerville, Tenn., but death claimed her in 1871, she having borne two children, now deceased. His second wife was Mrs. Carrie Prewitt, of Saulsbury, Tenn., and to them one child was born, Leta B. Mrs. Matthews died, and his third and present wife was Miss C. M. Gray. Dr. Matthews is a member of the State Medical Association, secretary of St. Francis County Medical Society, and a member of the A. F. & A. M., I. O. O. F., K. of H., and K. & L. of H. He is also an earnest worker in the Presbyterian Church.