Genealogy

Elisha Alpheus Matney

Elisha Alpheus Matney was born 1827 in Haywood Co, TN, and died 1902 
Montague Co, TX. He married Mary Polly Mayo 1852 Randolpn Co, MO.
She d/o Valentine & Margaret (McCully) Mayo. They had 5 children: 
Sarah who died young, Catherine Iantha who married Charles G Berry, 
William P married Sarah Elizabeth Boone, Ida J who married J E Walthall, 
and John Thomas who married 1st Etta P Nabours, married 2nd Edna 
(Miller) Crawhorn. 
 
Elisha grew up on the farm in Macon Co, Missouri. 1847 he enlisted in 
the army to go to the Mexican War. He and brother James were in the 
quartermaster's department attached to the wagon train. After the war 
he was a "forty-niner" and went to California in search of gold. He ended 
up crossing the plains going west  6 times according to his biography 
in History of North and South Texas. 
 
1864 Elisha took his father and Mayben niece and nephew to Oregon by 
wagons in a wagon train. He farmed in Shasta County, California for about
4 years, then returned east to live near relatives in Arkansas.  By 1877 he
bought 1297 acres of farm land in Montague County, Texas where he lived
for 30 years until his death at age 65 there.   
 
His biography states he was a man who lived by the golden rule, and 
went by "ust plain Matney, as he often said". It said he had an active 
logical mind, along with a sympathetic heart that won him many friends.

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