Editing Robert Jay Mathews (section)

== Early life ==
Mathews was born in Marfa, Texas on January 16, 1953, the youngest of three boys born to Johnny and Una Mathews. His father, of Scottish descent, was mayor of the town, and the President of the Chamber of Commerce, as well as a businessman and leader for the local Methodist church. His mother was the town's Cub Scout den mother.

The family moved to Phoenix, Arizona. Though he was an average student in grade school, history and politics interested him. At age 11, he joined the [[John Birch Society]], a radical right-wing advocacy group supporting anti-communism and limited government. Matthews was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a high schooler.

Mathews formed the "Sons of Liberty," an anti-communist militia mostly made up of Mormon survivalists. At its peak, it had approximately 30 members. After filling out his employer's W-4 Form claiming ten dependents, reportedly as an act of tax resistance, he was arrested for tax fraud, tried, and placed on probation for six months. After a falling out between the Mormon and non-Mormon members of the Sons of Liberty, the organization stagnated and Mathews withdrew from it.

After his probation ended in 1974, he moved to Metaline Falls, Washington, where Mathews and his father purchased sixty wooded acres for their new home.

Mathews and Debbie McGarity were married in 1976. He raised Scottish Galloway cattle. He and Debbie McGarity adopted a son in 1981. Mathews later had a biological daughter with his mistress, Zillah Craig.