Stephen Anson Matthews was born around 1839 in Colden, New York, to Elias Matthews and Sarah Perry. His father was a farmer who owned $1,500 of real estate and $700 of personal property in 1860. Matthews attended school in Colden before beginning work as a shoe maker. He enlisted in the Union army on August 20, 1862, and mustered in as a private in Company D of the 116th New York Infantry on September 3, 1862. According to his service records, he was 6 feet tall, with light hair and blue eyes. He mustered out in Washington, D.C., on June 8, 1865.
Matthews returned to Colden after the war, and he married Marietta Burr there on July 11, 1865. They had at least eight children: Ray, born around 1867; Guy, born around 1869; Levi, born around 1871; Claude, born around 1872; Jay, born around 1875; Alice, born around 1878; Phillip, born around 1881; and Clyde, born around 1884. The family moved to Illinois around 1867 and then settled in Berlin, Michigan, around 1869. By 1870, Mathews was working as a farmer, and he owned $2,000 of real estate and $450 of personal property. The family was living in Beatrice, Nebraska, by 1880, and Matthews was working as a carpenter. By 1910, the family was living in Fresno County, California, and Matthews was working as a contractor. A decade later, he was working as a carpenter in Boise, Idaho. He died there on September 26, 1921.