Note: the headstone spelling of the last name is "Mathews", but some sources such as his Fairfield Ledger-Weekly obituary spelled it as "Matthews".

The DOB per the headstone inscription was Nov. 9, 1849 and the DOD was Nov. 22, 1905. Both dates vary somewhat with sources - some use Nov. 7, 1849; someone perhaps misread the inscription and thought that the "9" was a "7". No birth records available for 1849 for clarification. The DOD per the headstone inscription was Nov. 21, 1905, which in theory was on a Tuesday. The obituary and some probate records listed the death date as being on Nov. 22, 1905, which was a Wednesday. Will use the Nov. 21, 1905 DOD for this memorial - no Jefferson county death record was entered for William, so this discrepancy can't be determined with 100% accuracy.

That said, there are a number of Ancestry family trees for William that use a variety of Ancestry location hints for where William died. Most of those hints are in error - William died in Jefferson county, Iowa. Those Ancestry location hints are often very misleading and should be regarded with major caution.

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Married first to Elizabeth Snook Mathews on Feb. 7, 1871 in Jefferson county, Iowa. They had one child, Eliza Mathews (she married Joseph Albert Ellsworth in 1888). Elizabeth is believed to have died in 1911 and buried in Dahlonega cemetery in Wapello county, Iowa. Verification of that burial there is underway as of October 22, 2014.

Husband of Caroline Neff Mathews, married January 24, 1878 in Jefferson county, Iowa (Caroline's Fairfield Ledger obituary inadvertently listed the marriage date as January 17, 1876). They had eleven children.

Per the listing of heirs of William in his 1905 probate file in Jefferson county, Iowa, they were:

(spellings vary with other sources)
((ages per heirs listing a/o Nov. 25, 1905 probate file))

> James Wilbur Mathews (27)
> Ralph Leroy Mathews (25)
> William Daniel Mathews (23)
> Loyd Mathews (22)
> Elsie Mathews (20)
> Charles Mathews (18)
> Lulu Mathews (17)
> Maggie Mathews (15)
> Effie Mathews (14)
> Della Mathews (12 - twin)
> Stella Mathews (12 -twin)

Note: see Caroline's memorial regarding her actual date of death. Certain Ancestry family trees inadvertently used the wrongly engraved headstone inscription for her to assume certain ages of children at the time of her death. As a result, some of the ages found in certain Mathews related family trees on Ancestry may be off by a year or so.

Married surnames of the daughters omitted at this time - some had multiple marriages, or need further research for clarification.