115 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Feb. 3, 1910
from the Mathews Journal
Everything is going on smoothly and quietly at Mobjack, where the sun shines brighter in winter, and the breezes blow cooler in summer, than in any other place in Old Virginia.
Miss Adelle Bibb, Mobjack’s popular and efficient teacher, returned from Norfolk, where she has been in a hospital for the past three weeks with a severe case of la grippe, and resumed teaching last Tuesday to the delight (?) of all the children.
100 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Feb. 5, 1925
from the Mathews Journal
Around Cobbs Creek, we hope the Ground Hog did not see his shadow and that Spring will soon be with us.
Mr. H.E. Knotts is having a special sale this week. He expects to go out of business soon.
Rev. C.W. Diebert preached a fine sermon at Spring Hill Baptist Church last Sunday afternoon and will continue to preach there every first Sunday afternoon until they obtain a regular preacher.
The fishermen are getting ready for the spring fishing.
90 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Feb. 7, 1935
from the Gloucester Gazette
Gloucester emergency relief plans are marking time pending the passage in Congress of President Roosevelt’s new work relief program and action by the Virginia Emergency Relief office on the local relief setup.
Mrs. C.W. Page, recommended by the Gloucester board of supervisors for the post of senior visitor for this county, is at work, however, and confirmation by the state emergency relief authorities of her appointment is expected. Should, by any chance, this fail to materialize, the county will have to assume the expense of the work she is doing.
from the Mathews Journal
Mrs. Charles Robert Diggs, assistant to the division superintendent of schools in the relief educational program in this county, said today that several classes are nearly ready to start. These include a class in basketry, rug-weaving and other domestic arts; a class in home nursing to be taught by Mrs. Earl Foster; a class in home management to be taught by Mrs. Mabel Mason, a class in Bible history and singing under Stanley Armistead and a class in elementary subjects including reading, writing and arithmetic under Lavenia Hudgins.
Mrs. Diggs urges all who are interested in these classes to communicate with her through the local relief office. Classes are free to all and are not limited to relief cases.
80 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Feb. 8, 1945
from the Gazette-Journal
War continues the demand for many essential materials, including waste paper. It has been said that military supplies of all kinds could not possibly keep pace with our advancing armies were it not for paper cartons to carry them.
Gloucester citizens are asked to increase their effort to salvage and send in waste paper regularly to Botetourt High School. Mrs. Charles G. Hinkle, chairman of the Woman’s Club Salvage Committee, announced that paper sent to the school is shipped to Richmond in frequent intervals and is again processed thereby making it available for essential war use.
70 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Feb. 3, 1955
from the Gazette-Journal
A State Literary fund loan, first made for aiding in the construction of the earliest Lee-Jackson School in 1921 and which pyramided over a period of almost 20 years with unpaid principal and interest piling up annually, was discharged in full yesterday by the Mathews County School Board when it ordered payment of $1,923.81 to the Treasurer of Virginia. According to local school officials this action marks the end of school loans made on a district basis and will eliminate the additional 10¢ levy the Westville District taxpayers have had on their bills for a number of years.
60 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Feb. 4, 1965
from the Gazette-Journal
New long-distance rates were placed in effect Feb. 1, according to William L. Smith, local manager of Tidewater Telephone Co.
Station-to-station calls made to any point within Virginia between 8:00 p.m. and 4:30 a.m. and all-day Sunday will cost telephone customers no more than 50¢ for three minutes, Smith said. A station-to-station call made during the same period to points outside of Virginia, but within the continental United State carries a maximum charge of $1 for three minutes.
50 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Feb. 6, 1975
from the Gazette-Journal
Virginia Electric and Power Company has announced plans to begin billing all of its residential customers based on monthly meter readings. Beginning in November, according to W.W. Berry, Vepco vice president, residential customers in the Gloucester District, which includes Mathews, will be billed in this manner.
Vepco now bills most residential customers based on meter readings taken every two months. For alternate months, bills are estimated which customers may pay at their option. The new system of monthly bills based on monthly meter readings will require monthly payments.
40 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Feb. 7, 1985
from the Gazette-Journal
The Mathews County Planning Commission will meet at 7:30 tonight, for the third Thursday in a row, as it continues to map districts for a proposed zoning ordinance.
Last Thursday night, the commission approved 15 maps, and has now considered two-thirds of the approximately 115 maps which delineate county property lines.
Zoning districts were designated Thursday in the Garden Creek, Beaverlett, Port Haywood, Winter Harbor and Horn Harbor areas.
Remaining for consideration are portions of Lilley’s Neck, North River and White’s Neck, East River, Cardinal, Put-In Creek, Motorun, Bavon and New Point.
30 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Feb. 9, 1995
from the Gazette-Journal
Local dignitaries and high school students will compete against each other, and the stubborn will of a very unpredictable animal, when they play Donkey Basketball on Tuesday night in the Mathews High School gymnasium. The game, which begins at 7, is a fundraiser for the MHS Band Boosters.
Money raised at the game will be used to send the band to Myrtle Beach, S.C., to compete in marching band, concert band and flag corps competition. Tickets are $3 in advance or $4 at the door.
County supervisor Robert Wayne Thomas, Superintendent of Schools Harry M. Ward, Commissioner of the Revenue Raymond A. Hunley, pharmacist Bill Walker, contractor John Whalen Sr. and teachers John Lee Callis and John Whalen Jr. are several of the adults scheduled to participate.
The donkeys are being provided by the Circle ‘A’ Donkey Ranch of Henry, Tenn.
20 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Feb.3, 2005
from the Gazette-Journal
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has approved a $1.9 million project to elevate eight houses and to acquire and demolish 19 others in Gloucester County, U.S. Senator George Allen and Representative Jo Ann Davis of Gloucester announced recently.
Jay Scudder, Gloucester’s planning director, said last week he had not yet seen a copy of the announcement, but knew the application covered some properties in several sections of the county, including the Jenkins Neck area of Guinea, Glass, Naxera, and Ware Neck. Those were hit hard by tidal flooding during Hurricane Isabel on Sept. 18, 2003. Scudder said more specifics would be released later.
10 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015
from the Gazette-Journal
The Gloucester United Emergency Shelter Team (GUEST) program recently opened a day shelter for residents trying to get themselves in a better place.
The shelter, which is housed in a building that is being provided free of charge by the Gloucester Moose Lodge, sits adjacent to that organization’s facility just south of Gloucester Court House. According to day shelter committee chairman Zach Smith, the shelter is open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. each day through April 1.