Matchett

The subject of this sketch was born in Essex County, England, on the 3d of December, 1840, and continued to reside there till his fourteenth year, when his parents immigrated to America, bringing him with them. They landed in New York, but soon went to Cornwall, Canada. The father took a contract of track-laying on the Grand Trunk Railroad, in Canada, and Benjamin was his time-keeper. From there the latter went to Indiana, where he finished his education in a select school under John Loyd. In August, 1861, he enlisted, for national preservation, in Company C, of the Twenty-ninth Indiana … Read more

Benjamin Matchett was born in Stickney, England, May 24, 1812. He grew up and was educated in his native country, and began life as a railroad contractor, and assisted in building several roads in England. In 1855 he left the country of his birth and came to America, landing in New York. From there he went to Cornwall, Canada West, where he took a contract for laying track on the Grand Trunk Railway. In July, 1856, he went to LaPorte, Indiana, where he began farming, continuing there till the spring of 1868, and then coming to Missouri. He settled in … Read more