Rev. Samuel MATHER

Notes:

Name:
Samuel graduated at Harvard in 1671, married Hannah, daughter of Governor Treat of Connecticut, and died in 1727 at the age of seventy-seven years. In 1682, when thirty-two years old, he settled inWindsor, Conn., where he remained as the pastor of its church until his death. He was a clergyman of considerable celebrity, able and faithful; and when Yale College was founded in 1700, he was one of the principal ministers chosen to be founders by the general consent of the Connecticut clergy. He is the head of the Windsor branch of the Mather family.

Rev. Samuel Mather graduated at H.C. in 1671, and prepared himself for the ministry. He then preached in Deerfield, Mass., until the destruction of that town by the Indians, in 1675; from there he went to Hatfield, and later to Milford and Branford, Conn., and from the latter place he was called to settle in Windsor, Conn., in 1682, where he remained until his death. It was said of him, "that in every respect e was a fit successor to the venerable John Warham." Descended from a highly respectable and gifted ancestry, he was one, and by no means the least, of a circle of noble men, whose varied talents and pious lives have rendered the name of Mather distinguished among the families of New England, even to the present day. His father, Timothy Mather of Dorchester, was a son of Rev. Richard, third minister of that town, and his mother a daughter of the excellent Maj. Gen. Humphrey Atherton. Thus highly connected, his earlier years were spent in the enjoyment of all the advantages which the best society of tat day could afford. The powers of his mind, the amiability of his character, and his piety, speedily won the esteem and love of his people, and composed the difficulties which existed among them. he was then in the prime of his life, grave and dignified in person, faithful and consistent in his daily life, and benignant and winning in manner. His connection b marriage with the daughter of the Hon. Robert treat, afterwards governor of the Colony of Connecticut, was in itself happy, and served to increase the influence which his gifts of mind and heart had already secured for him in the public estimation. Thus, happy in his public and domestic relations, his life was quietly passed in the faithful discharge of his pastoral duties to his now happy flock. And it is pleasant to record that during the whole period of his ministry, not one shadow of complaint seems to have darkened his or their pathway. On the contrary there is abundant evidence that he was the constant recipient of many marks of public and private respect and care....

Family/Spouse: Hannah TREAT. Hannah (daughter of Gov. Robert TREAT and Jane TAPP) was born on 1 Jan 1660/1 in Milford, New Haven Co., Connecticut; died on 3 Mar 1707/8 in Windsor, Hartford Co., Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Dr. Samuel MATHER was born in 1677 in Branford, Connecticut; died on 6 Feb 1745/6.
2. Rev. Nathaniel MATHER was born on 30 May 1695; died on 20 May 1748.

Notes:

Name:
Timothy Mather, second son of Rev. Richard Mather and his wife Catharine Holt, was born in Liverpool in 1628 and came to Boston with his father in 1635 when he was but seven years of age. He was not educated at Harvard as all his brothers were, nor did he like them become a preacher, but for some reason he took a bent contrary to the rest of the family and gave himself up to the care of his father's large landed estate. Hence, and as if to emphasize this contrary bent, he became known as the "Mather Farmer." Apparently he was the business head of the family and kept things going while his brothers were fitting themselves to become preachers and his father was struggling with the versification of the "Bay Psalm Book". In his will his father very thoughtfully and considerately provides: - "And concerning my son Timothy, inasmuch as he hath not had so much cost bestowed upon him in his education as his brothers have had, therefore I think it meet that I should otherwise bestow upon him and his a greater portion of my outward estate," and then proceeds to give Timothy a life interest in the bulk of his real estate, remainder over to his children, and to make him also his residuary legatee.

Timothy married Catharine ATHERTON. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: Daughter of Major General Humphrey Atherton of Dorchester