Benjamin Franklin Mathews (1819–1888) was elected

Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

San Bernardino County, California San Bernardino County ( ), officially the County of San Bernardino and sometimes abbreviated as S.B. County, is a County (United States), county located in the Southern California, southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is locat ...

, on September 14, 1863, and served from October 1863 to October 1865. Mathews was born April 16, 1819, in

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Hamilton County, Tennessee Hamilton County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is located in the southern part of East Tennessee on the border with Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, ...

. He arrived in Salt Lake in 1847 with

Mormons Mormons are a Religious denomination, religious and ethnocultural group, cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's d ...

, from

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. He moved on to California in 1850, where he kept a hotel between

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and Auburn. Mathews came south to arrive in the Mormon colony of

San Bernardino San Bernardino ( ) is a city in and the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 census, making it the List of ...

, on March 30, 1852. Here he was at various times a

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, Justice of the Peace and finally sheriff. Unlike many Mormons in San Bernardino he did not return to

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

during the

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in 1857.

Sheriff of San Bernardino County

Mathews won a close race on September 14, 1863, for sheriff of

San Bernardino County San Bernardino County ( ), officially the County of San Bernardino and sometimes abbreviated as S.B. County, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of th ...

which included much of what is (northern and western

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today). Unlike most of his eleven predecessors he actually served out his full term of office from January 1864 to January 1866. Mathews led the posse that hunted down Jim Henry of the

Mason Henry Gang The Mason–Henry Gang were bandits operating in Central and Southern California between 1864 and 1865. As the American Civil War was in progress, they were able to pose as Confederate States of America, Confederate Partisan (military), Partisan ...

in San Jacinto Canyon on September 14, 1865.According to the Los Angeles Tri Weekly News: On September 14, 1865 the sheriff with a posse of three soldiers and two or three citizens ran across Henry sound asleep near San Jacinto Canyon, 25 miles from town and killed him after he made some resistance wounding one man
Secrest; William B.; ''California Badmen: Mean Men with Guns'', Quill Driver Books, Sanger, CA., 2007
pp.144–146 Mathews had led the posse out on election day but lost to his successor George T. Fulgham (1865-1869). Mathews was liked and considered to be very brave and honest. Mathews was married twice: first to Temperance Weeks Mathews, and second to Mahala Ann Mathews. Between the two he had 13 children between 1840 and 1885. Mathews died in an accident on August 18, 1888, in Devil Canyon.

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Picture of Benjamin Franklin Mathews
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathews, Benjamin Franklin Lawmen of the American Old West California sheriffs 1819 births 1888 deaths Mormon pioneers Latter Day Saints from California

Sheriff of San Bernardino County

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