Samuel Mathews (1816-1891) was the son of Dr. John Henry Mathews (1785-1862) and Martha Huntington Mathews, daughter of the third Governor of Ohio. Samuel was one of the first white children born in Painesville, Ohio. In 1844 he married Hulda O. Ford (d. 1857), daughter of Darius Ford, one of the first settlers of East Cleveland. In 1849 Mathews traveled to California with his partners in the Painesville Mining Company. He returned home in 1852. The collection consists of a constitution and treasurer's account book of the Painesville Mining Association, newspaper articles relating Mathews' California experiences, a diary of the overland journey to California, an annotated transcript of the diary, family correspondence, obituaries, and miscellaneous printed items.
