Charles  X.  Mathews


          Charles X. Mathews, editor of the Shelby Republican, is a native of the Old Dominion State, having been born in Wythe County, Va., December 26, 185 1. His father was  Alexander S. Mathews,  who was at one time a noted writer on agricultural subjects and one of the leading importers and breeders of live stock in Virginia, to which State he was the first to introduce the famous breed of Shorthorn cattle. His grandfather,  Gen. Alexander Smythe,  was an eminent lawyer in his time, a general in the War of 181 2, and for many years a member of Congress from the Old Staunton district in Virginia.  The ancestors of Mr. Mathews were people of more than ordinary ability, and were among the first in a State that contained many families of prominence.  He attended school for several years at Georgetown College in the District of Columbia and afterward graduated at the University of Virginia.  Not long after his graduation he came to Shelby County and at once began his career as a successful newspaper man and editorial writer.  In June, 1878, at the founding of the Shelby Democrat, he was editorially connected with that paper, a position he occupied for more than two years.  On severing his connection with the  Democrat  he became the Indianapolis correspondent of the  Cincinnati Enquirer,  a place that is of more than ordinary importance, owing to the large circulation of that paper throughout Indiana.  In February, 1882, Mr. Mathews returned to Shelbyville and took charge of the  Volunteer,  a paper that had been revived.  In politics it was an independent Democratic sheet and opposed the ticket nominated by the regular Democratic organization for the county offices.  The course of the paper, which was maintained with much ability and vigor, created a bitter factional fight in the Democratic ranks and caused the overwhelming defeat of that party in the county.  Through the columns of the Volunteer he advocated temperance legislation, reform of the civil service and independent political action as the method of remedying abuses of the old parties.  In June, 1884, a stock company purchased the  Shelby Republican, refitted the office and offered editorial control of the paper to Mr. Mathews. He accepted the offer and has since become one of the principal stockholders.  Under his management the  Republican  has been placed among the leading and most ably edited papers in Indiana. His fearlessness of expression and his scholarly attainments have contributed very much toward this end.
History of Shelby County, Indiana, Brant & Fuller, 1887, "Shelbyville Sketches,"  page 510-11.
Contributed by Phyllis Miller Fleming

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