David Mathews

David Mathews
43rd Mayor of New York City
In office 1776–1783
Preceded by	Whitehead Hicks
Succeeded by	James Duane
Personal details
Born	c. 1739 New York
Died	July 28, 1800 (aged 61-60) Sydney, Nova Scotia
Spouse(s)	Sarah Seymour
Alma mater	College of New Jersey

David Mathews (c. 1739 – July 28, 1800) was a lawyer and politician from New York City. He was a Loyalist during the American Revolutionary War and was the 43rd and last Colonial Mayor of New York City from 1776 until 1783. As New York City was the center of British control of the Colonies during the war, he was one of the highest ranking civilian authorities in the Colonies during this period. He was accused of supporting a plan led by Thomas Hickey to kill the Revolutionary General George Washington. He resettled in Nova Scotia after the war, and became a leading political figure in the Cape Breton colony that was created in 1786.

Mathews was born in New York to Vincent Mathews and Catalina Abeel, the daughter of Johannes Abeel, the second Mayor of Albany, and Catherine Schuyler. He earned an A.M. degree from the College of New Jersey (Princeton University) in 1754. He married Sarah Seymour on November 6, 1758 in New York. He was admitted to practice law in Orange County, New York in 1760.

Mathews was in 1770 one of the founders of the Moot Club, a forum for legal discussion, whose members consisted of William Livingston, James Duane, Gouverneur Morris, Stephen DeLancey, John Jay, Egbert Benson, and Robert R. Livingston. John Jay would later be one of the signatories of Mathews' arrest warrant in 1776.

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