laude Matthews was born in Bethel, Bath County, Kentucky, December 14, 1845. His father, Thomas A. Matthews, was a farmer, and also for a time a commission merchant at Maysville. His paternal grandfather, Captain George Matthews, commanded a company of soldiers at the battle of the River Thames, in the war of 1812. Through his mother, Eliza (Fletcher) Matthews, Mr. Matthews traces his origin to one of the most worthy manes in the commonwealth, and his maternal grandfather, Jefferson Fletcher, represented the Bath district in the national house of representatives in the days of Henry Clay. Young Matthews attended such schools as the county of his nativity afforded until his fifteenth year, then removed to mason County, Kentucky, his father having purchased a farm near Maysville. Here the schools were of a better class, and he availed himself of their advantages by riding six miles each was daily. In 1863, he entered Center College, Danville, Kentucky, where he graduated in June 1867. January 1, 1868, he married Miss Martha Renick Whitcomb, only daughter of James Whitcomb, one of the honored governors of this state, from 1843 to 1849. The marriage took place in Ross County, Ohio, where Mrs. Matthews is connected on her mother's side with the Renicks, well known for their wealth and public spirit. The young people moved to Vermillion County, Indiana, in 1869, where Mr. Matthews settled down to the occupation he had chosen for his life work, the useful and honest calling of farming. His capacity for public affairs, and the evidence he gave of sensible ideas as to public needs, led to his selection by the Democrats of Vermillion County, in 1877, as their candidate for representative in the legislature. That he was well appreciated by his neighbors was shown by some five hundred Republicans of his county voting for him, and he had the honor of being the first democrat elected from that county of heavy adverse majorities. His record in the legislature was a fine one, and in 1880, he has a strong following for lieutenant governor. In 1882, Mr. Matthews was a candidate for state senator in his district, and cut down the Republican majority of 900 to 300. In August 1890, he was nominated by the Democrats for secretary of the state and triumphantly elected at the ensuing election, his plurality reaching the astonishing and almost unparalleled figure of 20,000, in round numbers. His conduct of the office of Secretary of State was so satisfactory to the people that he was called upon to head the Democratic state ticket in 1892. Although being a candidate before the state convention for re-nomination as secretary of state, he was nominated candidate of governor, and in the following November, elected to that office by a plurality of nearly 7,000, leading the state ticket by several hundred votes, and higher than the average upon the electoral vote. He was inaugurated governor January 9, 1893, and is now, with the same earnestness and conscientious regard of public duty, performing the work of that office. Governor Matthews, while faithfully attending to his duties as a state officer, still keeps up his interest in farming and the class of workers to which he belongs. He has done much in the way of improving the breeds of cattle and domestic animals by importing valuable specimens, and was the founder of the Short Horn Breeders' Association of Indiana, the first association of the kind ever organized in the United States. He was also originator of the American Short Horn Association of the United States and Canada. While his business is that of farming, he is nevertheless, a fluent speaker, and withal a man of fine address and genial manners. Mr. Matthews has three children; the eldest, Mary, is the wife of Senator Cortez Ewing, of Greensburg; Renick Seymour Matthews, who, after a course in the Rose Polytechnic Institute, is fitting himself in Electrical Engineering, and Miss Helen, a schoolgirl, aged fifteen. Mr. Matthews is a man of positive character and strong intellect, and no man is more loyal in his citizenship, more faithful in his friendship, more devoted in his home life, or more worthy the regard of his fellow men.