Josiah and Lucy Martin Mathews Cabin

Josiah and Lucy Martin Mathews Cabin. . This cabin was built in the 1830s by Josiah Mathews. It is an example of a two-room log cabin. This type of cabin was commonly built by early 1800s settlers who came from the Carolinas and Georgia on the Federal Road to Clarke County. The cabin features a dogtrot or breezeway in the center, which captures breezes that help people stay cool in the hot summer months., In 1821 Josiah Allen Matthews (b. 1803) married Lucy Martin (b. 1805) in South Carolina. They came to Clarke County around 1830. Their fifteen children were Joshua Lewis Mathews, David Mathews, Martin Mathews, Nancy Ann Celia Mathews Hicks, Elizabeth Mathews Harrison, Lucy Mathews Summers, Josiah (Joe) Matthews, Jr., Emaline Eleanor Mathews Green, Frances Posey Mathews, Mary Mathews Morgan, Axeth (Axel) Mathews, Elizah (Lige) Mathews, Marion E. Mathews, Amanda Mathews Green and John Mathews., In 1859, Josiah died of heart failure. David's oldest daughter, Ellenor (Ellen) Elizabeth Mathews, married Monroe Hallford on August 14, 1873. The new couple took up residence in the "old home place." By then the house had been moved from its original location east of the Mathews Cemetery, about one-half mile west along Mathews Cemetery Road., By 1865, five men who fought in the Confederate Army (mostly in the 32nd and 24th Alabama Regiments) had grown up in the Josiah and Lucy Mathews cabin. These were Josiah and Lucy's sons, David, Elijah, Marion, Josiah (Joe), and young John, who was in his early teens., Like many families left impoverished by the war, both Elijah's and David's families were among the indigents receiving rations of corn and salt. In January 1865, Lucy was listed as a dependent of Elijah., According to Lucy Oliver Dortch and her son Bill, the Halfords had four daughters: Daisy Hallford Allen, Linnie Hallford Odum, Zillah Hallford Oliver, and Minnie Halford, who never married. Zillah's daughter, Lucy, was reared by Minnie when Zillah died. Lucy, only 26 days old at the time of her mother's death, lived in the house thereafter. She is responsible for this cabin surviving over 170 years., The structure was donated to the Clarke County Historical Society in 2005 and moved to its present location. Extensive restoration began in 2008 and was completed the same year., Captions , Lower Left: Sketch of a dog-trot style log house on the Federal Road, by Basil Hall, March 28, 1828. (Courtesy of The Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana). , Upper Center: The Matthews cabin during its move to Grove Hill in 2005. , Upper Right: Elijah Mathews, Grandson of Josiah and Lucy Mathews.