26-year-old Judson Matthews was born in Port Tobacco, Maryland and owned by Robert Diggs until he was about 10 years old. He was apparently then sold to Richard Throckmorton in Fairfax County, Virginia, where he worked for about 8 years until Throckmorton died. Matthews was then sent back to the Port Tobacco area where he was rented out to a succession of people, including John Lang, Harris Stonestreet, George Diggs, Frank Hamilton, Charles Pye, Thomas Welch, Henry Mitchell, and William Saunders.

After Judson Matthews enlisted, Richard Throckmorton's wife Mary claimed ownership of Matthews in her application to the Government for $300 compensation. There is no record that her application was approved. Most such applications were disapproved because the applicant was considered disloyal during the Civil War.

Before the war, in 1857, Judson Matthews and Martha Kelley were married at St. Thomas Manor by Jesuit Father Barber.

Matthews enlisted on January 5, 1864 and mustered into the 19th Regiment as a Sergeant on January 10, 1864 at Camp Stanton. While the regiment was stationed in Texas, Sergeant Matthews was sick most of the time in the post hospital at Brownsville, Texas, suffering from pains in his stomach, legs, feet, and head. The common diagnosis for this illness at the time was bone fever. He was still sick when he mustered out of the Army on January 15, 1867 at Brownsville.

After receiving his final pay and discharge papers at Baltimore, Matthews and his wife Martha settled in their own home on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., where they raised their three children, Ernest, James, and Susie. The family attended Catholic churches on Capitol Hill. Matthews never fully regained his health during the rest of his life. His wife Martha died on December 18, 1908. Judson died on December 11, 1919 at the National Soldiers Home in Hampton, Virginia. He is buried at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Washington, D.C.