James Newton Matthews (May 27, 1852 – March 7, 1910) was a physician and amateur poet. In 1887,
James Whitcomb Riley wrote to Matthews: It is a natural law that men shall love women, but I love you, and no knife shall cut our love in two! Queer Places:
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 901 West Illinois St, Urbana-Champaign, IL 61801
Mason Union Cemetery, Public St, Mason, IL 62443
James Newton Matthews (May 27, 1852 – March 7, 1910) was a physician and amateur poet. In 1887,
James Whitcomb Riley wrote to Matthews: It is a natural law that men shall love women, but I love you, and no knife shall cut our love in two!
At sixteen, Matthews was the very first student to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign when it opened in 1868. Matthews studied literature and medicine before graduating with honors in 1872.
Matthews worked as a country doctor and published multiple volumes of poetry for which he became known as the Poet of the Prairie. In 1910, Matthews died of a heart attack after walking more than five miles through a snowstorm to treat a patient. He is buried at Mason Union Cemetery.
Today there is a scholarship in his name at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
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