Sallie Reynolds Matthews (1861–1938) was a Texas pioneer and author known for chronicling her family’s history on the Texas frontier. Born as Sarah Anne Reynolds on May 23, 1861, at the Cantrell Ranch in Buchanan County (now Stephens County), Texas, she married John Alexander Matthews on December 25, 1876. Together, they had nine children.
Sallie came from a family of cattle ranchers, and her life on the Texas frontier was deeply intertwined with the Matthews and Reynolds families, both of whom were prominent in West Texas. Living in an era when settlers led semi-nomadic lives due to the challenges of building permanent homes, Sallie moved frequently throughout her childhood and later as a rancher’s wife. Her education was sporadic, as the isolated nature of ranch life made formal schooling difficult.
Later in life, Sallie wrote Interwoven: A Pioneer Chronicle, a book documenting her family’s history and their lives as pioneers. Though initially intended for her children, the book became an important historical account of Texas’s early ranching culture and the families that helped shape it. The book focused on the lives of the Reynolds and Matthews families, their marriages, and their contributions to the development of the Lambshead Ranch and the surrounding community.
Sallie Matthews passed away on September 14, 1938, in Albany, Texas, where she was buried. She was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in 1982 and the Hall of Great Westerners in 1981, cementing her legacy as a chronicler of Texas frontier history.
