Mathews, David

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: R. J. Morgan, “MATHEWS, DAVID,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 4, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/mathews_david_4E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Office-holder; b. in New York City, son of Vincent Mathews and his second wife Catalina Abeel; m. Sarah Seymour, and they had at least two sons and two daughters; d. July 1800 at Amelia Point, Cape Breton Island.
    • After holding some minor offices in the administration of New York City, he was appointed mayor in February 1776. Soon afterwards, he was accused of “treasonable practices against the States of America” in connection with his alleged involvement in the “Hickey Plot” to assassinate George Washington. He escaped, however, and returned to New York; in 1779 his property, which included 26,000 acres and two houses, was confiscated by the New York Congress. Mathews continued as mayor of New York until shortly before the evacuation of the city by British troops in November 1783. 
    • Mathews travelled, like many other loyalists, to Nova Scotia, where he applied unsuccessfully for the position of attorney general; it is not known whether he had ever received any formal legal training. In 1785 he was persuaded by Abraham Cuyler, a former mayor of Albany and now registrar of the new colony of Cape Breton, to move to Sydney, its capital. In July he was appointed attorney general and a member of the Executive Council.
  • Listed as Loyalist in Loyalist Directory – https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=10787
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