Reverend Charles R. Matheny married a
daughter of Captain Joseph Ogesby and settled in the county of St. Clair.
He turned his attention to law and politics, but retained his ministerial and
Christian profession; was appointed clerk of the county of Sangamon; settled in
Springfield.
Reverend Charles R. Matheny was a member of
Captain James B. Moore's company of "rangers" during the months of July and
August, 1812. he was afterward a member of the territorial legislature,
representing St. Clair County in the lower house of the third and last
assemblies, in 1816 - 1818; and was also a member from the same county in the
second general assembly in 1820-1822. "In 1817, the territory of Illinois
was divided into three circuits; and in the first circuit, including the
counties of St. Clair and Randolf, presided over by Jesse B. Thomas as Judge,
Charles R. Matheny was prosecuting attorney. In this capacity he attended
the first circuit court held in Monroe County, at Harrisonville, July 21, 1817.
Hew was succeeded by Daniel Pope Cook, beginning at the fall term, 1819; the
latter being the first prosecuting attorney under the new State organization."
Removing to Sangamon County on its
organization, in 1821, he became its first County Clerk, a position he held
uninterruptedly until his death, October 10, 1839. He was also Circuit
clerk until 1835. His wife survived him many years, dying at a ripe old
age in 1858. Mr. Matheny was succeeded in the county clerk's office by his
second son, Noah W., who held the position continuously for thirty four years,
retiring in 1873 to accept the presidency of the First National Bank of
Springfield, Illinois a position he held until his death, April 30, 1877. His
eldest son, Dr. L. D. Matheny, a physician of bright promise, died before his
father, in 1837. The third son, Honorable James H. Matheny, at the time of
this writing is a county Judge of Sangamon County, having been elected for three
successive terms, by an almost unanimous vote. Judge Matheny was a member
of the constitutional convention of 1847, and a colleague of Ninian W. Edwards
and Stephen T. Logan; he was also a Lt. Colonel of the 130th Illinois Infantry
during the war of the Rebellion. The fourth son, Charles W. Matheny, was
engaged in mercantile business for many years in Springfield, and was also
president of the First National Bank of Springfield at the time of his death,
April 16, 1879. The youngest son, E. Cook Matheny, is connected with the
U.S. revenue department as a gauger, a position he acceptably filled for many
years. The family in its numerous descendants from Mr. Matheny's five sons
and three married daughters, is one which has maintained the reputation of their
lamented progenitor, socially and morally as well as politically.
Excerpted from Pioneer History of Illinois
by John Reynolds Published 1887 |