110 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Nov. 20, 1913
from the Mathews Journal

If there is a favored spot in dear old Mathews, it must be the country around Soles, for our barns are crammed, our corn cribs are full and our hogs are fat.

The ladies of Locust Grove Methodist Church are planning to hold a bazaar at Capt. Alex Soles’s home sometime in December.

The farmers around here have been very busy the past week shredding corn.

100 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Nov. 22, 1923
from the Gloucester Gazette

Master James Tyler, son of Mr. and Mrs. Lambert West, had the misfortune to be badly burned Thursday at his home near Glass. He is getting along nicely.

Mr. Johnnie West came home from James River Thursday, bringing a fine load of oysters.

The Sadlers Neck school has ordered a new basketball.

Around Laban, people have begun to kill hogs in the neighborhood. Mr. E.T. Minter being the first to start his harvest.

Messrs. Aubrey and Reid Diggs came home Saturday. They have been employed on the fishing steamer Joseph Wharton for several months.

Miss Mary Stuart has a new pet cat.

90 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Nov. 23, 1933
from the Gloucester Gazette

Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Robins of Perrin announce the marriage of their daughter, Miss Estelle Robins, to Linwood Heywood, son of Mrs. Ada Heywood of Severn. The ceremony was performed Saturday, Nov. 11, with the Rev. C.W. Diebert officiating. Mr. and Mrs. Heywood will make their home in Gloucester.

Moses Thrift, son of Mr. and Mrs. Willie Thrift of Pampa, and Miss Grace Pearl South, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J.H. South, of Pampa were married Saturday, Nov. 18 at the parsonage of Shackelfords church by Rev. Ira Astin, the pastor. They will make their home in the county.

80 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Nov. 25, 1943
from the Gazette-Journal

There will be a Rummage Sale with a White Elephant table and a table of Sweets, held in the Walter Reed Inn on Saturday, Dec. 4 for the benefit of the Woman’s Auxiliary of Abingdon Church, beginning at 10 a.m.

A bridge party for the benefit of the welfare work of the Mathews Woman’s Club will be held in the Memorial Library, Friday evening, Dec. 3 at 8 o’clock.

70 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Nov. 26, 1953
from the Gazette-Journal

The Gloucester County School offices were moved Monday from the “old Gazette-Journal office” to Botetourt School building.
Since high school students have moved into the new building at White Marsh, classrooms that are no longer used are being used to house the offices.

60 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Nov. 20, 1963
from the Gazette-Journal

Speed limits on the recently completed dual lane portion of Route 17 in Gloucester have been increased to 60 miles for automobiles and 50 for trucks, according to the new signs erected by the Virginia Department of Highways last week. Clyde Royals, Inc., was awarded a contract for an extension of the dual laning from Short Lane north on a low bid of $455,000.

50 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Nov. 22, 1973
from the Gazette-Journal

A $24,500 local funds budget for 1974-75 was approved last week by the Rappahannock Community College Local Board. Thirteen participating counties including Gloucester and Mathews will contribute funds for the budget on the basis of population.

Gloucester County’s share of the local fund budget is $3,536 and $1,732 for Mathews.

40 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Nov. 24, 1983
from the Gazette-Journal

Carolyn Elizabeth Brown, 16-year-old junior at Mathews High School, was chosen Miss Mathews Friday night in a contest sponsored by the Mathews Junior Woman’s Club and held at Donk’s Theater.

Nicole Marie Michaux, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel F. Michaux of Gwynn, was first runner-up. Other finalists were Teresa Louise Ewell, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John W. Ashberry of Mathews, second runner-up; Sherry Denise Dawes, daughter of Mrs. Ann G. Dawes of Mathews, third runner-up; and Vonda Kaye Dixon, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. E. Lewis Dixon of Port Haywood, fourth runner-up.

Thirty girls participated in the contest.

30 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Nov. 25, 1993
from the Gazette-Journal

Volunteers turned out Nov. 13 to begin assembling the new log cabin at the Girl Scouts’ Camp Sheldon on Burkes Mill Pond. The new 24 by 36 foot meeting house replaces a previous cabin that was razed. The new structure was made possible by a contribution from the Treakle Foundation to the Girl Scout Council of the Colonial Coast. The Council still needs to raise an additional $15,000 to fund the building at the site, which hosts approximately 809 scouts annually.

20 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Nov. 20, 2003
from the Gazette-Journal

Due to the VHSL extension of the football season as a result of Hurricane Isabel, two major events are scheduled at Mathews High School this Friday night.

The first round of the football Region A, Division I playoffs will be at the school at 7:30 p.m. with the Blue Devils facing off against Surry High School. And, at 8 p.m., the Court House Players will present their fall production of “The Sound of Music” in the Harry M. Ward Auditorium.

10 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013
from the Gazette-Journal

David Foster, president of the Virginia Board of Education, came to Mathews County on a listening tour last Thursday night. And he certainly got an earful. Much of the two-hour long meeting focused on complaints about the state’s Standards of Learning and what is seen by many of those present as an overly demanding emphasis on increasingly rigorous standardized testing.

“I beg of you—stop the insanity of SOL testing,” urged Judy Rowe of Gwynn, a retired educator and self-described student advocate. “I am not against standards and testing,” she said, “but I am vehemently against what Virginia has done with these two essential components. Sir, you have put them on steroids. We are testing kids to death.”