Matthews family book garners kudos for regional history

One of the latest books published by the Southeast Missouri State University Press is already being hailed by local scholars as an important work in documenting the history of the region.

The book, published in December, is "Matthews: The Historic Adventures of a Pioneer Family" and chronicles more than 200 years and seven generations of the Matthews family, an economic powerhouse in the area.

"I think it's an important history of Southeast Missouri and a work that tells the story of one of the paramount families in this region," said Dr. Frank Nickell, director of the Center for Regional History at Southeast. "The extent of the Matthews connections reached far and wide."

First-time author Edward "Ned" Matthews III, a member of the Southeast board of regents, is better known as a successful Sikeston businessman than as a writer.

He had no ambitions to make an "important history of Southeast Missouri" when he started the project more than six years ago.

"It started off as kind of a small project," Matthews said. "I was sort of assembling and putting together a family history for my sons. Neither live here, so I always wanted them to have the family history written down and have it where they could take it with them wherever they may go."

The book follows the story of the Matthews family from Virginia and Ohio in the Revolutionary War to Southeast Missouri in the modern day. The family patriarch, Edward Matthews, fought in the Revolutionary War and later moved to Louisiana Territory in what is now Missouri.

The main focus of the narrative is Charles D. Matthews, or C.D., born in 1843. He started out as a poor farm boy -- his father died when he was 8 months old -- who later sold corn and wheat to the Confederacy during the Civil War.

In 1869, he moved to Sikeston, where he began to build a business empire. By the time of his death, the family's land holdings and economic influence was extensive, with 10,000 acres in Scott and New Madrid counties, 4,000 acres in Dunklin County, 22,000 acres in Texas and 32,000 acres in Georgia.

According to Matthews, his ancestor accomplished this through hard work. "He was an extremely disciplined person," he said. "He spent nothing except on necessities."

He worked from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. six days every week, investing his earnings in agricultural projects, land and business ventures.

To write the story, Matthews did research in courthouses in Southeast Missouri and in his family's archives.

The more research he did, the more significance the project took on.

"It's just kept growing and more and more people who heard I was working on this said they wanted to have a copy of it when it was finished," Matthews said. "So it just evolved from a small project to what it turned out to be."

A friend suggested he show Nickell the manuscript, and that led to it becoming a published work.

Nickell said he was extremely impressed when he read the partial manuscript. He knew he was holding something special.

"It's important to note it's more than a family history," he said. "It's not only the family, but it's the whole region. This is an area that was shaped very much by banking and agriculture and land development.

"It's going to be around for a very long time, and the materials inside the book, not available before publicly, now provide an additional dimension of this region's history."

Even Nickell found a great deal of information in the book that he didn't know before.

"I think anyone from this region is going to find things that are going to be surprises," he said. "They're going to see things that they did not know and that have not really been available."

And he points out that only Matthews could have written this history, since it's based mainly on records -- letters, bills, photographs and maps -- out of the private family archives.

Susan Swartwout, who oversees the press, said publishing the book is part of the press's mission to publish local authors. But beyond that, it's just a good read.

"Some historical works are very quantitative and, to me, not so interesting," Swartwout said. "But the Matthews book has story. It's the story not only of the man's family but of this whole region from 200 years ago until now. It's a truly fascinating story."

She said the rags to riches element of C.D. Matthews' life is inspiring and is coupled with the interweaving stories of scores of other local families.

Nickell said it will be a must-read for any student of regional history.

"It's easy to read, it's supported by some excellent photographs," he said. "It's going to become an important resource for the history of Sikeston and the entire area."

"Matthews: The Historic Adventures of a Pioneer Family" is available at Southeast Bookstore and Barnes & Noble and will be available soon at Amazon.com.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182