The “Mattox’s” of the Newark and Plainfield, NJ areas have over a 200 year documented history with a strong family tradition of Native American descent. The author was determined to sort natural family exaggerations from the truth of this prolific family and made unexpected discoveries.The Mattox’s showed a strong strain of mechanical aptitudes, which were called “artificers” in the 18th Century. In 1792, President George Washington provided perpetual financial incentive to draw these skills out of these original Lenni-Lenape peoples. Such incentivisation is the very thrust of modern STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) programs toward under-represented ethnic groups.The Native American Mattox’s had these very skills and aptitudes and were attracted to the “modern” ways of the Europeans who came to the greater NYC region. They quickly assimilated and were drawn into being contributors and mechanics of that day, and for at least four generations, out-represented the general population in these skills.Their history came especially alive, in the person of one “Mattox” the grandson of Native-Americans, with strong attractions to both military involvement and the craft of Production Managing early theaters. William Robert Mattox became a force in Plainfield, NJ after his wounding and service in the Civil War, and his entry into the police work as of one of Plainfield’s first constables. That work gave him the time to develop his other passion, in Plainfield’s first theater and eventually be its producer. Supported by his wife Sarah, who was deeply involved in the patriotic organizations of the day, they would establish a reputation that would justify him being called “Mr. Plainfield,” by the beginning of the 20th Century.William Robert Mattox and his wife Sarah would become beloved in the community and the subject of constant newspaper coverage. His wife Sarah would outlive him and establish her own reputation as a leader of the patriotic organizations they both served and be one of the first suffragettes in Plainfield. So beloved was wife Sarah, that when her husband died, the city decreed that she get a pension from the city.The generations were close-nit and community involved. Some were inventors, some deep-sea divers, and most machinists. They seemed to have fulfilled Pres. Washington’s dreams for these original people, yet without ever having any consciousness of it.The stories are filled with pathos and humor, especially through the turn of the 20th Century. This was all the more special to his author because I never knew any thing about these men and women. Famous and humble, they didn’t self-promote; but published history spoke for them and in a loud voice.This is a book for anyone with a Mattox connection to the Newark/Plainfield area. The story is bigger than any of us descendants imagined. I have tried to capture the lives of these men and women in the history of their times.