Loretta Mathews, 88, a resident of Council Bluffs all her life, died at 7 a.m. Thursday at the home of her son, W. D. Mathews, Lake Manawa. She had been ill for four weeks. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Nelson, came by wagon team in 1848 from Illinois with the Mormons and settled in a log cabin on what today is East Broadway near Frank Street. Mr. Nelson was a farmer.

Mrs. Mathews was born February 12, 1850 in a log cabin. Council Bluffs was then known as Kanesville. The Indians roamed about freely and steamboats operated on the Missouri River.

As a young girl Mrs. Mathews witnessed the trial and conviction of a horse thief and his hanging in what was then known as "Hangman's Hollow," which is now Glen Avenue.

She told of seeing land staked off into lots and the owners pitch horse shoes for each other's property. He father once served as head of the vigilantes, organized to maintain law and order in this vicinity. Mrs. Mathews was a member of the Christian Church.

Survivors are: a daughter, Mrs. M. S. Ellis of Omaha; four grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.