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- Ebenezer Leith Mathes occupied a position of prominence in his community. According to Dr. Dobson's Sketch he was an elder in Salem Church for 40 years, a Trustee of Washington College for 46 years and secretary most of that time, served as a civil magistrate of Washington Co. for 36 years. Before the Civil War he freed his slaves as they reached 21, sent them to Liberia and maintained them for the first year, and during the war he was an uncompromising "Union Man". He had no children and at his death he left one-half his estate to the church and college, and interest to be used as he directed. A memorial was placed in Salem Church to his memory, with the inscription, "The Lord Loveth A Cheerful Giver". Another quotation states: "During the Civil War most of the descendants of the Mathes family were on the Union side. There was an Ebenezer Mathes, a very wealthy man for that country, who 'set his Negroes free' before the war by sending some of them to Liberia and some to the free soil states to the North'. At his death since the war he left all his property to charitable causes, excepting some small legacies to relatives. It is believed his contributions to colonization purposes was for colonization of Negroes to Liberia, Africa.
He was listed in tax list of 1814 and 1819 and 1850 census of Washington Co., TN. Researched by: Waltman and Leath.
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=mathews-mathes&id=I0465
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