He died in the city of Philadelphia on the 16th of September, 1839, in the eightieth year of his age, universally respected, and his death was mourned as a public loss. His remains were followed to the grave by thousands of his fellow citizens. A venerable and distinguished journalist, who had known him long and well, announced his death in the following terms: “The friend of mankind is no more. Long and sincerely will he be lamented, not in high places only, amid the pomp and circumstance of grief, but in the solitary corner of the poor and the friendless. Upon his grave honest tears will be shed. The orphan and the widow will wander there, and, in the heart’s deepest accents, implore the blessings of Heaven upon his departed soul.”
He was buried in St. Mary’s churchyard, Fourth Street, above Spruce, Philadelphia. Mr. and Mrs. Carey had nine children, three of whom died young. The remaining six were:
Maria, who died unmarried.
Henry Charles, who married, but died without issue.
Eliza Catharine, who married Thomas James Baird, a graduate of West Point, who was lieutenant of artillery in the War of 1812.
Susan M., who died unmarried.
Frances A., who married Isaac Lea.
Edward L., who died unmarried.
Mathew Carey’s will mentions his sister, Margaret Burke, and his deceased brother, John Carey. In Father Finotti’s work on Catholic American Bibliography is given a list, somewhat incomplete, of Mathew Carey’s works.