The Dictionary of Virginia Biography is published online through a partnership with Encyclopedia Virginia. Biographies that do not also appear in the three print volumes (surnames Aaroe�Daniels) link to lists of sources consulted.
Sources consulted for the biography of:John Walter Boyd Matthews (1840–1879)
Family and Biographical Information
- Petersburg Hustings Court Register of Free Negroes and Mulattoes (1839–1850), no. 3284 (with full name and age "about six" on Dec. 2, 1845).
- Family history and records and full name in Matthews v. Matthews Executor et al., Petersburg Chancery Cause 1854-038, Library of Virginia.
- Marriage in Petersburg Hustings Court Marriage Register (1854–1890) and reported in Richmond Daily State Journal, May 30, 1873 (with wife's first name erroneously written as Tanner).
- Petersburg Hustings Court Deed Books, 36:80, 38:572, 39:489–490, 628–629.
- Brief biography with age thirty-five in Richmond Daily Dispatch, Aug. 20, 1875 (reprinted in Petersburg Index and Appeal, Aug. 21, 1875).
- Family and death date documented in Thomas Scott and T. L. Bond v. Administrator of John W. Matthews et al., Petersburg Chancery Cause 1881-023, Library of Virginia.
- Family background in Luther Porter Jackson, Free Negro Labor and Property Holding in Virginia, 1830–1860 (1942), 223–225.
- Brief biography with 1840 year of birth and incorrect post-Civil War relocation to Massachusetts in Luther Porter Jackson, Negro Office-Holders in Virginia, 1865–1895 (1945), 26, 28.
Political Career
- Election Record no. 4 (1871), Secretary of the Commonwealth, Election Records, 1776–1941, Accession 26041, Record Group 13, State Government Records Collection, Library of Virginia.
- Journal of the House of Delegates of the State of Virginia (1871–1872 sess.), 32, 49, 90, 195, 389–390, 410–411.
- Journal of the House of Delegates of the State of Virginia (1872–1873 sess.), 35, 111.
Newspapers
- Petersburg Index, May 17, 1870.
- Petersburg Daily Progress, Oct. 26, 1871.
- Richmond Daily Dispatch, Nov. 8, 1871; Nov. 9, 1871; Jan. 6 1872; March 7, 1872; April 3, 1872; April 19, 1872; Jan. 11, 1873; Jan. 17, 1873; Feb. 20, 1873; March 7, 1873; Oct. 8. 1873.
- Richmond Daily State Journal, Dec. 16, 1871; Jan. 17, 1872; Jan. 18, 1872; Jan. 26, 1872; July 6, 1872; Aug. 2, 1872; Sept. 2, 1872; Feb. 3, 1873; Feb. 14, 1873; Feb. 25, 1873; March 18, 1873; March 21, 1873.
- Alexandria Gazette, Feb. 27, 1873.
Obituary
- Death date in Petersburg Index-Appeal, July 12, 1879.
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