(b. 15 Oct 1755, d. 5 Jun 1828)

The following is taken from the manuscript "A Genealogical History of the MATHEWS FAMILY and ANCESTORS From A Very Remote Period To The Present", Compiled By Dr. James Christopher Mathews, Greenville, Georgia. This manuscript is undated, however, it was probably prepared around 1915 - 1920.

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page 18 - Rev. James Mathews, St., late of Wilkes County, Georgia oldest son and child of Moses Mathews, Sr. and wife Sarah Finley, was born in Virginia, Oct. 15 1755 and moved to South Carolina with his parents in 1760 or 1761, where he grew up to manhood. He first enlisted as a private in the second South Carolina Regiment commanded by Lieutenant colonel Marion, Nov 4, 1775, and was discharged Feb 12, 1776; reinlisted as a private in the Third South Carolina Regiment, Commanded by William Thompson Sept 24, 1776 and served the remainder of the Revolutionary War in the said command. For this service he received a Land Grant which he settled on in Wilkes County, Ga. In 1782, near where his father settled in 1783. He married first in South Carolina a Mrs. Jenkins, who died quite young in Wilkes County Georgia. In 1786 he married Miss Rebecca Carlton daughter of Robert Carlton of Wilkes County, Georgia, who emigrated from the northern part of Virginia with his brother Thomas Carlton soon after the close of the Revolutinary War. He was baptised by Jacob Gibson in Little River (or Broad River) in Souh Caolina in 1773 and was afterward ordained to the Ministry and served various Baptist Churches in Wilkes, Richmond, Lincoln, and Burke Counties, Ga., until his death which accurred at his home in Wilkes County, Ga. in 1828. He was buried near his father's home where his father and mother were buried. He was one of the most noted Baptist divined in Georgia of his time, and highly respected by all who knew him far and near. His wife Rebecca Carlton Mathews survived him, and died and was buried in Penfield, Ga. where she resided after her husband's death, with her only daughter, Rebecca Mathews Devant, in 1840. She was a very devout christian, a noble wife and a devoted mother.

Rev. James Mathews, Sr. and his wife Rebecca Carlton Mathews were the parents of the following children: first, Abram, second Jacob, third Rev. Philip Mathews, Jr., fourth Isaac Newton Mathews, fifth Rev. James Mathews, Jr. Their oldest daughter, whose name is not known by the writer, married a Mr. Devant of Wilekes County, GA. and died without issue. His second daughter, Rebecca Mathews, married her brother-in-law, Mr. Devant and they moved to Penfield, Ga., where they resided until their deaths, and were buried in the city cemetery of Penfield, Ga; They were the parents of two sons, Mr. George Devant, who died in Penfield som years ago without issue, and Prof. Philip Devant of near Crawfordville, Ga. - page 23.