Tacy Elizabeth Matthews

Tacy Elizabeth Matthews is Chuck’s maternal three-times-great-grandmother through the Davis-Way line. She is the figure labeled #7 “Tacy Matthews (great-grandmother)” in the family identification legend for the Belle Way and Howard Wickens 1901 wedding portrait.

She was born 4 November 1848 in Washington County, Ohio. On 11 April 1872 at Noble County, Ohio, age 23, she married Edward E. Way (1851-1924) — the English-immigrant Way family’s second-generation Ohio son. She was three years older than Edward. The Matthews and Way families both had their lives anchored in southeastern Ohio across the late nineteenth century.

The ten children

The marriage produced ten Way children in the GEDCOM record. The eldest, Victoria Anna Way (b. 27 January 1874), is Chuck’s direct ancestor on the Davis line through her son Homer Edward Davis. Tacy lived to see Victoria marry William Armstrong Davis, to see grandson Homer born (8 February 1900), and to attend her daughter Belle’s wedding to Howard Wickens on 25 September 1901.

In the wedding portrait that survives in the family papers, Tacy stands at upper-center with the standing adults — figure #7, labeled in the family’s identification legend as “Tacy Matthews (great-grandmother)” from Dorothy Davis Wildermuth’s perspective. The photograph is one of the last documented images of her.

Death four months after the wedding

Tacy died 29 January 1902 at Noble County, Ohio, age 53 — four months and four days after her daughter Belle’s 25 September 1901 wedding. She was buried at Crooked Tree Cemetery, Noble County, Ohio, beside her parents-in-law and the Way family plot where her own daughters Victoria (d. 1903), Belle (d. 1912), Emma (d. 1917) and Nora Angie (d. 1939) would later be buried.

Her husband Edward E. Way survived her by twenty-two years, dying in November 1924.

Page is a stub. Tacy’s parents and the Matthews-line origins in Washington County, Ohio are open research items.

Sources: Eesley/Wildermuth GEDCOM tree (June 2026 trace) — FamilySearch tree ID L4LR-9Q3 confirms birth 4 Nov 1848 Washington County Ohio, marriage to Edward E. Way 11 Apr 1872 Noble County, death 29 Jan 1902, burial 1902 Crooked Tree Cemetery Noble County. The 1901 wedding portrait identification legend (Chuck’s keeping) labels her as #7 “great-grandmother.”