The prosperity and substantial welfare of a community are in a large measure due to the enterprise and wise foresight of its business men. It is the progressive, wide-awake men of affairs that make the real history of a community, and their influence in shaping and directing its varied interests is difficult to estimate. The well known gentleman of whom the biographer writes in this connection has long ranked among the leading business men of Monroe county, and it is to such enterprising spirits as he that the locality is indebted for its recent substantial growth and for the high position it occupies as a center of industrial activity and progress.
Fred Matthews is a native son of the old Hoosier state, having been born at Stinesville, Monroe county, Indiana, on March 25, 1859. He is the son of John and Mary Ann (Drake) Matthews, both of whom were natives of England, the mother having been a descendant of the family of which the noted Sir Francis Drake was a representative. John Matthews came to Monroe county early in the fifties and became connected with the stone business and superintendent of mills in the Big Creek quarry district west of Stinesville. This was the first limestone quarry in the famous oolitic limestone field in Indiana and with this enterprise he was connected for about five years. In 1862 John Matthews started in business on his own account, going to Elliottsville, Indiana, and opening a quarry there, which he operated for a time, but which is now exhausted, though the mills there have been rebuilt and still in operation. This was the second quarry of this kind of stone which was located on the Monon railroad. The first quarry which had railroad communication was at Salem, Indiana, but the subject’s father was not connected with this. John Matthews died in 1883, having lived a life of eminent respectability and honor in the community.
The subject of this sketch received a good practical education in the public schools of Monroe county, and at an early age entered the stone business, associating himself with two of his brothers, Peter T. and William N., who took over their father’s business under the name of Matthews Brothers. Peter T. and William N. Matthews both died shortly after the organization of the company and Fred Matthews was thus left in entire charge of the business, which he subsequently reorganized and incorporated under the name of Matthews Brothers Company. In addition to his own holdings in that company, Mr. Matthews is a stockholder and president of the Crescent Stone Company, and also a stockholder and president of the Empire Stone Company, located in the Clear Creek district. In the business of stone quarrying Mr. Matthews is numbered among the most experienced and best qualified in the oolitic district, having long ago demonstrated his fitness for the work to which he is devoting himself. He is also a large stockholder in the Indiana Gold Dredging and Mining Company, a corporation which is engaged in dredging in California, and which is meeting with fair success.
Politically, Mr. Matthews has been a life-long Democrat and in 1896 he was elected auditor of Monroe county, being the only Democrat elected to a county office that year. He proved a faithful and efficient official and retired from the office with the commendation of all who were familiar with his work. He has also rendered appreciative service as a member of the Bloomington school board. Fraternally, Mr. Matthews is affiliated with the Masonic order, belonging to the council, chapter and comrnandery in the York Rite, while in the Scottish Rite he has received distinctive preferment, having been honored with the thirty-third and last degree, the honors of that degree being conferred upon him at Detroit, Michigan, in 1910. Religiously, he is a member of the Baptist church, to which he gives liberally and in the prosperity of which he is deeply interested. He has a pleasant and attractive residence at No. 419 North Walnut street, Bloomington, and here he finds his greatest pleasure and enjoyment, where, surrounded by his family, he casts aside the cares of business life and enjoys himself to the utmost.
In 1879 Mr. Matthews was married to Nettie B. Moore, the daughter of Harrison and Margaret (May) Moore, old settlers of this county, where the father was for many years a successful farmer. He is now deceased, but his widow is still living at the advanced age of ninety-one years. To Mr. and Mrs. Matthews have been born three children, namely: Bertha A., the wife of W. E. Showers; Edith K, the wife of Gladstone H. Barrett, and Janette M., who remains at home with her parents. Industry and probity have been the chief factors in Mr. Matthews' steady advance in business affairs and his position in the world of Commerce is such as to reflect the highest credit upon himself and to add to the reputation of Bloomington as an important business center. Manifesting an abiding interest in the material advancement of the city, he has given his influence and assistance to all enterprises with this object in view, and he also takes an active part in promoting all worthy means and measures for the welfare of his fellow men. All in all he is a worthy representative of the steady, intelligent and progressive class that gives stability to the body politic arid character to the community, being broad minded, with wide views of men and affairs and a true type of the enterprising American citizen of today. [History of Lawrence and Monroe Counties, Indiana : their people, industries and institutions.]
