James Mathews (June 4, 1805 – March 30, 1887) was an American lawyer and politician who was a two-term member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

from 1841 to 1845.

Early life and career

Matthews was born at

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

, Trumbull County, Ohio. After studying law he was admitted to the Ohio Bar in 1830. He then moved to

Coshocton, Ohio Coshocton is a city in and the county seat of Coshocton County, Ohio, United States approximately 63 mi (102 km) ENE of Columbus. The population was 11,216 at the 2010 census. The Walhonding River and the Tuscarawas River meet in ...

, where he practiced law. From 1832 to 1837 Mathews was a member of the Ohio State senate.

Congress

In 1841 he was elected a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from

Ohio's 13th congressional district The 13th congressional district of Ohio is represented by Representative Tim Ryan. Due to reapportionment following the 2010 United States Census, Ohio lost its 17th and 18th congressional districts, necessitating redrawing of district lines. ...

which then covered

Knox County, Ohio Knox County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 62,721. Its county seat is Mount Vernon. The county is named for Henry Knox, an officer in the American Revolutionary War who was later the fir ...

Coshocton County, Ohio Coshocton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 36,612. Its county seat is Coshocton. The county lies within the Appalachian region of the state. The county was formed on January 31, 18 ...

Holmes County, Ohio Holmes County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 44,223. Its county seat is Millersburg. The county was formed in 1824 from portions of Coshocton, Tuscarawas and Wayne counties and organize ...

and

Tuscarawas County, Ohio Tuscarawas County ( ) is a county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 93,263. Its county seat is New Philadelphia. Its name is a Delaware Indian word variously translated as "o ...

. In 1842 Mathews was re-elected from

Ohio's 16th congressional district The 16th congressional district of Ohio is represented by Representative Anthony Gonzalez (R). It is located in the northeast of the state, covering Wayne County and with arms extending north into the suburbs of Cleveland, and east into Grea ...

which only differed from the old 13th in that it did not include Knox County. In 1844 Mathews did not run for re-election.

Later life

In 1855 Mathews moved to

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state' ...

Marion County, Iowa Marion County is a county in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,414. The county seat is Knoxville. It is named for Francis Marion, a brigadier general from South Carolina in the American Revolutionary War. G ...

. From 1857 to 1859 he served as prosecuting attorney for this county. He also latter served as a professor of

pomology Pomology (from Latin , “fruit,” + ) is a branch of botany that studies fruit and its cultivation. The term fruticulture—introduced from Romance languages (all of whose incarnations of the term descend from Latin and )—is also used. Pomol ...

at Iowa State College (now

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the ...

) and Knoxville's postmaster.

Sources

Congressional biography
* Parsons, Stanley B., William W. Beach and Dan Hermann. ''United States Congressional Districts, 1788-1841''. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1978. * Parsons, Stanley B., William W. Beach and Michael J. Dubin. ''United States Congressional Districts and Data, 1843-1883''. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1986. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mathews, James (American politician) People from Trumbull County, Ohio People from Coshocton, Ohio People from Knoxville, Iowa 1805 births 1887 deaths Ohio lawyers Democratic Party Ohio state senators Iowa State University faculty Democratic Party members of the Ohio House of Representatives 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American lawyers Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio