I'm writing a series of blogs based on predictions from the 1893 World's Fair at The World According To Blake. I try to include details on the backstory of each predictor to add insight to the prediction, but Matthews is somewhat of a mystery. I was wondering if anyone had any further insight on him? It would be really appreciated.
Try this: http://books.google.com/books?id=EupKAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false A bio of Matthews is on p. 532 and a portrait on p. 533. Googlebooks really is a marvelous tool for searching for obscure-ish 19th-century individuals.