In 1851, he lived in Trehafod, Llanwonno Parish, Glamorgan, with his parents. In September of that year the family immigrated to America.

In 1860, he lived with the family of John Oliver in Dyberry Township, Wayne County, Pennsylvania. Apparently the family was very poor or had recently moved into a house with not much room as none of the children are listed in the census with the parents. Instead they lived with other families in the township, even Thomas J., then an infant.

William served in the U. S. Army, 107th Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry, Company H, from 3 September 1864 to 6 June 1865, and was in Washington Territory at Cape Disappointment, now called Ft. Canby, at the mouth of the Columbia River. In the 1870 census he lived in a boarding house in Astoria, Oregon and was a bartender after being discharged by General Order. (He is mis-indexed as Wm. J. Mathews, film M554 roll 76)

His grandson Bob Skelding tells the story he heard from his mother, William's daughter Letitia, of when William returned to Pennsylvania and was hitch-hiking from Moscow to Springbrook, that his father drove by in a wagon and picked him, up but did not recognize his own son.

In 1880, he lived in Olyphant, Pennsylvania and was a miner.

In 1900, he lived in Blakely on Seventh Street, and was a coal miner.

William was keeping a small store in Dickson when he died of a "heart or vascular ailment" - according to daughter Hannah. He was also an elder of the Olyphant Presbyterian Church.

He was married to Margaret Richards, who was born on 19 August 1858 in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Wales, and died on 6 March 1934 in Peckville, Pennsylvania. She was a sister of Letitia, who married William's brother John.

He died 7 September 1903, in Dickson, Pennsylvania, and is buried in Union Cemetery, Peckville, Pennsylvania.

1. Edward R. Matthews, b. 1881, PA., d. 1926, PA.
2. David L. Matthews, b. 1883, PA., d. 1939, PA.
3. Arthur Washington Matthews, b. 1888, PA., d. 1970, FL.
4. Catherine Matthews, b. 1890, PA., d. 1980, NY.
5. Harriet Matthews, b. 1893, PA., d. 1918, PA.
6. Hannah Matthews, b. 1895, PA., d. 1981, PA.
7. Mary Elizabeth Matthews, b. 1898, PA., d. 1984, FL.
8. Letitia Matthews, b. 1902, PA., d. 1979, VA.