Matthias Brickell was a resident of Hertford County, North Carolina. The local sheriff and a member of the North Carolina Colonial Assembly, Brickell served on the freeholders court which heard cases involving enslaved people. Brickell later served in the North Carolina Provincial Congress during the American Revolution and also served in the Hertford County Regiment of the NC Militia, eventually attaining the rank of colonel before resigning in 1780. He died in Hertford County on October 17, 1788.