The Mathewson Farm

Situated in the Belknap along Greenville Avenue at Atwood Avenue is the Mathewson farm, which has been in that family since 1793.

In that year, Rufus Sprague sold the 16-acre property with its house to William Mathewson. The sale marked the beginning of 192 years of continuous occupation of the site by the Mathewsons. The present owner, William Henry Mathewson, is a great-great-great grandson of William, the original purchaser of the farm and a ninth-generation descendant of James Mathewson, the first family member in Rhode Island.

James appears in the Providence records by 1658, and when he died in 1682 he left substantial amounts of land of his heirs, including land beyond the Seven Mile Line, which today forms the west border of Johnston. With his wife, Hannah Field, James had five sons: James, John, Thomas, Zachariah and Daniel.

William Mathewson, the first of his family to occupy the Greenville Avenue farm, was a great-grandson of James. He married Marcy Sheldon of Johnston and is believed to have been a cooper in addition to running his farm. He died in 1796, leaving at least eight sons and daughters, but appears to have passed the farm on to one son, William.

Nothing is known of William, his son, except that he died by 1813, passing on the farm to his brothers and sisters. One of the brothers, Philip, bought the shares of the other heirs and she and his wife, Mary Winsor, made the farm their home.

Philip was also a cooper and in later years he added a small store to his cooper shop. For a number of years he appears on the muster roll of the Johnston Rangers, a local militia unit. By 1808 he was a captain in that outfit. His son, Paris, bought the farm in 1845 but Philip lived there until his death in 1853.

Paris was born on the family farm in 1804 and worked there with his father until his marriage, when he moved to a nearby farm. After his father died he returned to the home farm with his wife, Phoebe Tripp Olney, and Paris was a farmer and teamster in his early years, later becoming a building contractor and a horse salesman. He also took an active part in politics, serving for a number of years on the Town Council and in the state General Assembly.

In 1855, the farm was sold by Paris to his son, William Henry Mathewson, the grandfather of the present owner. William, born about 1824, married Mary Westcott and resided on the farm, keeping horses, farming and running a cider mill. He passed the arm on to his son, William Henry. This second William Henry Mathewson was born in 1867, married Nellie V. Merchant and died in 1939.

He farmed, kept dairy cows, ran the cider mill and was involved in local politics. The farm in 1953 became the property of the third William Henry Mathewson, the present owner. He had worked the farm, though, since 1931, selling vegetables to Weybosset Pure Food Markets in Providence during the 1930s and 1940s. In addition he ran a local tractor business for 30 years.

The house, itself, appears to date to at least 1740 although Mr. Mathewson has reason to believe it may be even older. It is a two-story, wooden building with five bays and a central chimney. It sets back about 75 feet from the road. The main doorway is centered on the front with pilasters on either side of the door.

The fan (now boarded over) is above the door. A one-story porch with six simple columns extends along the front of the house and was added about 1925. A brick path leads to the front porch and stone paths lead from the back door to the driveway and the barn. The stones, about 2 feet by 4 feet, were laid by William Henry, father of Mr. Mathewson.

In 1913, William Henry Mathewson II built the 1½-story barn and the first silo. The other two silos were added by his son, moving them here from other farms. The barn is topped by a central cupola and is freshly shingled. An extension to the south housed about 48 dairy cattle. The Mathewsons started selling milk to the Hood Company in 1917. William, the present owner, had cows here from 1931 until 1947. An ell to the west of the barn was used for storing ice, which was cut on the pond to the south of the farm house.

Numerous other buildings, now all gone, were owned by the Mathewsons on both sides of Greenville Avenue. A building directly across the road on the north housed a general store on the first floor and a dance hall on the second floor. It burned in 1898.

The cider mill lay just to the east of the store. On the south side of Greenville Avenue and just to the east of the house was a blacksmith shop, which was torn down about 1915 by Mr. Mathewson when he was just a young man.

The Mathewsons hired blacksmiths to work the shop. A cooper shop lay just to the west of the house. A building that remains houses the Mathewson Equipment Company. It was built in the early 1950s on the north side of Greenville Avenue and Gibson William Mathewson sells farm equipment there, having taken over the business from his father.

To the southwest of the house, in back of the barn, lies the family cemetery. It is well maintained. The earliest headstone dates to 1812.

The Mathewson property is a beautifully kept farm, one that is important to the town both because of its beauty and because of the history connected with it. Farms are rapidly disappearing in this area and well cared for examples such as this one are quite rare.

Editor’s note: William Henry Mathewson passed away many years ago. His grandchildren now own the farm. William’s son Gibb and stepdaughter Elaine have both passed, and the Mathewson Tractor property across the street was sold out of the family. The family has set things up so the farm can never be developed.