Henry Matthews was born around March 1837 in Much Marcle, England, to John and Caroline Matthews. His father was a farmer who owned $7,500 of real estate and $1,575 of personal property by 1860. He was baptized on March 23, 1837. The family immigrated to America around 1844 and settled in Mahoning, Pennsylvania. They moved to Pymatuming, Pennsylvania, in the 1850s, and he worked as a farmer there.
He married Loransa Clark around 1868, and they had at least five children: Carrie, born around 1869; Fred, born around 1871; William, born around 1874; Mable, born around 1877; and Helen, born around 1884. They lived in Pymatuming until the late 1800s, when they moved to Greenfield, Iowa. By 1910, they were living in Hartford, Ohio, and he died in Trumbull County, Ohio, on December 31, 1915.