Joel is only called ``grandfather'' in his grandson TQ Matthews' letter explaining the family, but one first source for knowing it is Joel at the head of this family is the information supplied by TQ's daughter, Mary Matthews Robertson, for LDS (Mormon) sacraments for the dead.
However, there are many records which trace Joel's life. He's in the part of Washington County, North Carolina which became Greene County, Tennessee as early as 1783, listed as Joel Mathew on the census.
Joel served in the Revolutionary War while living in western North Carolina. On June 12, 1783, he was granted 50 pounds worth of specie by North Carolina for his services during the revolution. This is a relatively large amount compared with amounts received by those listed near him in the source used. There is no known pension record or other source to tell us exactly what Joel's role was. In this part of North Carolina, the battles were in both directions -- the British to the east and Indians to the west. The British attempted to build a tribal confederacy of the various Indian tribes to fight the colonists. The Chickamauga Indians in particular were active in this part of the country. Col. (later General) John Sevier was one revolutionary leader and hero from this part of North Carolina and Tennessee. Some soldiers from this territory also took part in the key Battle of King's Mountain.
The specie issued by North Carolina to pay its revolutionary soldiers was primarily redeemable in exchange for land in the western part of the state (now Tennessee) at a rate of ten pounds per hundred acres. Joel Matthews received 200 acres in what became Greene county on the south side of the Nolichucky River on Flag Branch on September 20, 1787.
Other Greene Co. land transactions involving Joel Matthews (also spelled Mathis or Mathews) include:
$41+106+53=200$ acres, the amount granted in 1787. If Joel sold off all his land in 1793, I don't know what he did for the next 10 years. But apparently he's still in Greene Co. since he is the security bondsman for his son James' marriage there in March of 1803.
Joel and his family move to Pulaski Co., Kentucky shortly after that 1803 marriage. In July 1803, Joel Matthews received a Land Warrant (Pulaski Co. Land Grant #528) for 400 acres on Pitman's Creek in Pulaski Co.
On the 1798 Greene Co. tax lists, ``Joel Mathew'' is listed with 217 acres, 1 white poll (adult male) and 25 Squirrel Scalps (a very typical number) in Capt. Reese Gullock's Company, 1798. Joel Mathews still has 217 acres in 1800, 1 poll, no Squirrel Scalps, and there is also a Danel Mathews listed (no polls, no acres)
In the letter of Joel's grandson, Tunstal Quarles Matthews, TQ mentions that Joel is a baptist preacher. In January, 1804 Joel presents his credentials as minister with the Baptist church and is granted the right to perform marriages in Kentucky by the Pulaski County Court.
In 1804, this Matthews family (Daniel, David, James, and Joel) first appear on the tax lists of Pulaski County, Kentucky. Joel is assessed for 400 acres on Pitman's Creek in March of 1804.
According to the tax lists, most of the rest of the family leaves Pulaski by 1816, but Joel is still there in 1817, after which he also is no longer listed.
On Aug. 10, 1826, Joel Matthews officiated at the marriage of of Polly Matthews and William Chizum in Ross Co., Ohio. Since much of the Matthews family moved there, it is thought that it is probably this same Joel who performed the marriage. Joel hasn't been found in the 1820 census, but in 1830 in Pike Co. (which adjoins Ross Co.), is a Joel Matthews with one male 70-80 (presumably Joel), one male 30-40, one female 50-60 and one female 15-20. The will of Joel Matthews recorded in Pike Co. on 8 Oct 1834 mentions only a wife Jane and no children. It gives a colt to Daniel Jenkins and James O'Brian and was witnessed by Lewis and Rachel Moore. This may or may not be the same Joel Matthews since Joel's wife is named Patty in the Greene County, Tennessee records, and with the large number of children Joel had, it seems odd that they weren't mentioned in his will. But for now, I'm basing this Joel's death date on the assumption that it is the same Joel Matthews.
In 1997, Shirley (Anderson) Reed found the Pike Co. marriage record of Joel and Jane. This makes the name of the wife, Jane, match the wife named in the will of Joel Matthews. We still can't know for sure that this is our same Joel who marries the Jane Moore late in life, but at least the pieces fit together nicely now. Jane was married previously to Ezekiel Moore. The witnesses to Joel's will were Jane's son from that first marriage, Lewis Moore, and Lewis's wife Rachel (Cross).
This might also explain why the elderly Joel didn't follow his children when they went to Indiana. Since Jane had family in Ohio, they might have wanted to stay near them.
In Greene County, Tennessee, an interesting association begins between this Matthews family and a Morgan family. (At least this is the earliest known association between them, they may have known each other previously also.) The Morgan family (originally from Bedford Co., Virginia) is mainly that of Lewis Morgan and his sons Adonijah and Thomas who also lived near the Nolichucky River in Greene Co. Thomas and Adonijah Morgan also served in the Revolutionary war from this area. This Morgan family moved to Pulaski County, Kentucky before the Matthews did, about 1800. There are several marriages between the Matthews and Morgan extended families. Lewis Morgan had a sister Elizabeth, wife of John Vardaman, who also lived in Pulaski County with her family, coming there about 1779 (which makes the Vardaman family the first ones of these families to come to Pulaski County, although it wasn't yet called Pulaski County until 1798).
Another sister of Lewis Morgan, Letitia (or Leatice), also came to Pulaski Co., KY late in her life with her second husband, John Powell.
From Pulaski County, parts of the Morgan and Matthews follow each other across the country. Both families move to Ross County, Ohio in the 1810s, and then Joel's son James Matthews follows Adonijah Morgan and his children to Fayette and Shelby counties, Indiana. Here again, grandchildren of Elizabeth Morgan Vardaman (children of her son John Vardaman III), led the group to Fayette County, Indiana, coming in about 1812. Included with this group was Nancy Vardaman and her husband Daniel Green. Daniel Green was a son of Joel Matthews' sister, Elizabeth (Matthews) Green.
Thomas and Elizabeth (Matthews) Green also came to Fayette County, Indiana about the same time with more of their family.
Adonijah's son Amaziah Morgan was the executor of the will of Joel's son, Obadiah Matthews in Rush County, Indiana. Varying branches of both families wind up near each other in Keokuk County, Iowa. The first evidence that they actually knew each other and didn't just coincidentally live in the same place comes in Greene County, Tennessee about 1798 when Adonijah Morgan and Joel Matthews are parties to the settling of the estate of John Hopton. Hopton's will was dated Sept. 5 1796, naming Adonijah executor and was also witnessed by a Lewis H. Morgan. Joel's name is connected with this estate as a witness somewhat later and a specific date wasn't given, but nearby court records in the source used were from around 1798.
I am reasonably certain about only some of Joel's daughters: Sally (mentioned in TQ's letter), Lucy (Joel signs the marriage bond), Patsy (Joel is again marriage bondsman), and Cynthia (Joel is again marriage bondsman). The others, Permelia and Susanna, seem less likely and may not be Joel's children (but are probably nieces if not daughters). Joel presided at the marriages of Permelia Mathews and Jas. Stone on 28 May 1807 and Cynthia Mathews and John Williams on 16 Jan. 1810 both in Pulaski Co. It seems likely they were some relation.
Sources for this individual: @S193@ @S387@ @S388@ @S236@ @S389@ @S390@ @S391@ @S198@ @S199@ @S392@ @S194@ @S393@ @S394@ @S395@ @S396@
