James McFarlane Mathews was an American clergyman prominent in New York City. Born in Salem, New York on 18 March 1785, he died in New York City on 28 January 1870. He was graduated from Union College in 1803, and at the theological seminary of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in 1807, and was associate professor of biblical literature in John M. Mason's theological seminary in 1812. He founded the South Dutch Reformed church in Garden Street, in which charge he continued till 1840. In 1835 he built the Washington Square church, a branch of the South Dutch church.