115 YEARS AGO
Thursday, May 19, 1910
from the Mathews Journal
Mr. L.A. Drake, the Tidewater Telephone Company’s manager at Mathews, has recently purchased a fine Ford automobile.
Miss Delle Powell returned to her home at Crickett Hill Saturday last, after spending several months with friends and relatives in Norfolk.
100 YEARS AGO
Thursday, May 21, 1925
from the Gloucester Gazette
Mrs. J.H. Waddell, Jr., has returned home after a visit to her parents in Kinsale.
Mr. Bob Farinholt has sold and delivered to Mr. John T. DuVal a new Essex coach.
A contribution of $5.00 to the Crippled Children’s Hospital Fund was received this week from the Point Pleasant Poultry Farm, making the fund to date total $831.35.
from the Mathews Journal
Mr. Frank Sadler of Diggs captured a large sturgeon last Monday. This makes the second one he has caught in a week.
Miss Delsa Sadler spent Sunday last with Miss Josie Mae Ward at Tabernacle.
90 YEARS AGO
Thursday, May 23, 1935
from the Gloucester Gazette
Four prisoners in the county jail, convicted in this term of court of felonies, were taken to the Richmond penitentiary Wednesday to serve the terms to which they were sentenced, ranging from 1½ years to five years. They were transported to Richmond in the “Black Maria,” escorted by penitentiary guards. With their departure the county jail is empty,
80 YEARS AGO
Thursday, May 24, 1945
from the Gazette-Journal
An Army P-47 airplane crashed and exploded in a heavily wooded section on Indian Road about three miles from Gloucester last Thursday afternoon. The pilot, Second Lieutenant James Bowen, who escaped by parachute, said he was blinded by a sudden electrical storm. The plane and pilot were from Seymour Army Air Field, Goldsboro, N.C. Persons who saw the wreckage said a basket would have held the largest piece left after the plane blew up.
70 YEARS AGO
Thursday, May 21, 1955
from the Gazette-Journal
There will be a baseball game at the Mathews Ball Park on Sunday afternoon, May 24 at 2:30 p.m. when the Mathews Locals will play Gloucester in the beginning of the season’s league games. The League consists of Tappahannock, Gloucester, West Point, King and Queen, Mathews, and Deltaville.
There will be a Rummage Sale on May 21, including clothing and many useful articles such as China, glassware, glass jars, etc., at the store formerly occupied by R.C. Anderton, near Miles. This sale is sponsored by the WSCS of Grace-Providence Church and will begin at 9 a.m.
60 YEARS AGO
Thursday, May 20, 1965
from the Gazette-Journal
A junior dance will be held for the young people of the Mathews Yacht Club on June 8 beginning at 7:30 p.m., Mrs. Norman Merritt, chairman of the teen-age activities of the club, announced this week.
Plans to appoint a five-member teen-age consultant board have been announced. The board will work with the senior advisors in making plans and recommendations for successful teen-age activities at the club through the coming season.
50 YEARS AGO
Thursday, May 22, 1975
from the Gazette-Journal
It certainly did rain on the firemen’s parade Saturday, but the convertibles were out, bands were marching and crepe paper running while spectators lined Mathews streets seeking shelter under umbrellas and awnings. Part of the 22nd Annual Convention of the Rappahannock Volunteer Firemen’s Association, the parade followed a mostly dry morning of firefighting exercises.
Fire departments participating in the convention which included the games, parade, dinner and a dance were those from Gloucester, Mathews, Middlesex, King William, King and Queen, Essex, Westmoreland, Lancaster, Northumberland and Richmond Counties.
40 YEARS AGO
Thursday, May 23, 1985
from the Gazette-Journal
Commonwealth’s Attorney William H. Shaw III wants a larger office. The Gloucester County Board of Supervisors is not quite sure it wants him to have one.
Shaw told the board Tuesday night he needs more room for his work than the county-provided quarters on Court Circle provides. With the arrival of a new assistant, Shaw said, things have gotten crowded.
Several supervisors questioned the validity of the county furnishing the office space for Shaw and now an assistant since both also spend part of their work weeks in private law practice. It might be better, the supervisors suggested, for Shaw and his assistant, Scott J. Varland, to maintain certain office space solely for their county prosecution work and separate offices for private practice.
30 YEARS AGO
Thursday, May 25, 1995
from the Gazette-Journal
Mathews school board members slashed salary raises, health insurance benefits, computers, band instruments, a music teacher position at Lee-Jackson Primary School and several other items in order to meet the $7,175,150 budget set by the county board of supervisors. To reach that figure, the Mathews County School Board held a special meeting Tuesday night in the Thomas Hunter School library to cut $234,492 from the draft budget it presented to supervisors last month. Despite cuts, the school board did retain a new maintenance worker position and two school buses.
20 YEARS AGO
Thursday, May 19, 2005
from the Gazette-Journal
A public dedication and opening of Brown Park, the newest park in Gloucester, is set for 10 a.m. Saturday. The park is located on over 19 acres off Foster Road (Rt. 691) across Route 14 from Little Sue at Crab Thicket Road, and is named for the late Eugene Brown of Gloucester.
The park property was donated to the county by the Middle Peninsula Relief Society. So far, it has been developed with parking, landscaping and a hockey field. An exhibition field hockey game will follow the dedication.
10 YEARS AGO
Thursday, May 21, 2015
from the Gazette-Journal
Near-perfect weather on Saturday provided the perfect backdrop for this year’s 17th annual Tour de Chesapeake cycling tour through Mathews County.
A total of 421 bicyclists registered for the tour, according to event director Lynda Smith Greve, considerably more than last year’s 304 riders. It was “a wonderful day to show off Mathews County,” Greve said.