Path to Mississippi

Source: Google Maps.

From yesterday's post, my 5th-great-grandparents Wiley Mathews and Sarah Freeze Mathews moved from Warren County to Coffee County, Tennessee to Tishomingo County, Mississippi, sometime before 1850. Wiley's brother, Kinchen Mathews, likely arrived first around 1839. Kinchen was named a constable in the county in 1840 (see History of Old Tishomingo County, Mississippi Territory on FamilySearch) and he appears in the 1840 US Census in the county. He also appears in early county land records with Joseph Warren Matthews (Mississippi's first governor) and Joseph's brother James E. Matthews. My Mathews line does not appear to be immediately related to this Matthews family.

In 1856, northern Mississippi looked like the map below. Tishomingo County was originally larger, in the northeast corner of the state, bordering Alabama and Tennessee. By 1874, the county had been split into three, Alcorn, Prentiss and Tishomingo.

Source: DavidRumsey.com. Northern Mississippi, 1856.

Source: DavidRumsey.com. Northern Mississippi, 1874.

I need to look further at available records to see if there is more information on Wiley Mathews. For now, I am going to pause on Wiley and go back another generation to Wiley's father, my 6th-great-grandfather, Claborne Mathews.