Notes:
Data source is Susan Kingrey Boxberger. E-mail hgb001@aol.com
Documents: Photocopies of obituaries, copies of death certificate
His gravestone lists the year of Mat Myers' birth as 1848. Both his death certificate and personal information from Sarah Ivah Kingrey indicate that he was born in 1854.
From a newspaper clipping obtained from Donna Olinger Fourman, 1994: (The date of the article is January 1, probably of 1940):
BRADFORD.-- Bradford's oldest citizen probably is the village's most active one. Now 85, M.U. Myers, better known as "Mat," walks 25 miles several days each week working for various stores in the section. Whenever anyone wants someone to do a job "right," Mat is called on and he always delivers the goods.
Bradford was only a "large woods" when Mat moved to a farm north of here in 1855 with his parents from Lancaster, Pa., where he was born.
Mat remembers the assassination of President Lincoln, since he was serving in the Union ranks at that time. A member of the state militia, he was among the troops send to Cincinnati to settle a riot during which the courthouse was burned.
One of the biggest faults with present day educational methods is the lack of training in mental arithmetic given boys and girls, he believes. Mat says he can "stump" many professors of math to this day with mental arithmetic.
Clean, Christian living has kept him in good health, Mat explains.
Mr. and Mrs. Myers have five children: Edward of Dayton, George of Troy, Mrs. Iva Kingery of Bradford, Mrs. Floyd Ollinger of Bradford and William of Columbus.
Another clippling from Donna Fourman, dated May 1945:
M.U. MYERS DIES
Bradford has lost another of her oldest citizens in the passing of M. U. (Mat) Myers, 90, who died Sunday evening in the home of his daughter, Mrs. LeRoy Kingrey, residing north of Bradford, with whom he had made his home since the death of his wife. Mr. Myers was a life-long resident of this vicinity and a retired farmer, former president of the old No. 2, the Little Red School House. He was a devout member of the Methodist Church.
Services under the direction of Chester Stocker are being conducted this afternoon (Wednesday) at 2 p.m. in the Methodist Church, with Rev. E. A. Leeson officiating. Burial in Harris Creek cemetery.
Surviving are, two daughters, Mrs. Ivah Kingrey of Bradford and Mrs. Christina Ollinger of Dayton; 3 sons, Edward, George of Dayton and William of Columbus; two sisters, Miss Mary Myers of Nebraska and Mrs. Elizabeth Divine of Gettysburg and one brother, Henry of Nebraska.