Charles W. Mathers, a Nicholas County native who lived from 1856 to 1937, served as county judge, as state representative in 1888 and 1890, and as state senator in 1908. He was a medical doctor, extensive landowner, agriculturist, president of Farmers Bank of Carlisle, and a director of Exchange Bank of Millersburg. He is buried in the Carlisle Cemetery. A philanthropist, Mathers anonymously paid the tuition of orphan girls at Midway Orphan School and sent food and fuel to poor widows at Christmas. His trusts include the Mathers perpetual educational fund for needy children, a Nicholas County hospital fund, a school fund for Pike, Letcher, and Breathitt County children, and the Midway Female Orphans School Trust Fund.