Bertha, the only child of Stephen Tyng Mather and Jane Thacker Floy, was born in Chicago, IL on August 10, 1906 but spent summers at her family homestead in Darien, Connecticut. 

She graduated in 1928 from Vassar College and went on to the Cambridge School of Landscape and Domestic Architecture, a program operated by Smith College, earning a master's degree in 1933. Bertha became one of the first female architects in Connecticut and designed the house across the street (Brookside Road) for a relative. It was recognized in House Beautiful with an honorable mention. The house is currently owned by a Mather descendant.

Bertha became a champion for preservation. She was a charter member of the Darien Historical Society. In that role, she helped to move the Bates-Scofield house to its current location and identified historic homes in Darien, publicizing them through the local Darien News Review. 

Recognizing the important role of her father as first Director of the National Park Service, and the ~200 year history of the Mather Homestead, she successfully advocated for the Mather Homestead to become a National Historic Landmark in 1964. 

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Also inspired by her father's conservation efforts, Bertha was long associated with the Student Conservation Association, a nonprofit educational organization that places student volunteers with national parks, forests and wildlife refuges.

 

Bertha inherited the Mather Homestead from her father when he passed in 1930. She married Edward Reynolds McPherson in 1932 and raised their children, Anne McPherson Tracy, Stephen Mather McPherson and Jane McPherson Nickerson in the Mather Homestead where she lived until her death in 1993.  Edward McPherson lived in the home until his death in 2002.

 

Bertha lovingly cared for the home and gardens from 1930 to 1993, keeping its historical character and adding many 18th century antiques and artifacts which still rest in the home. Today, it stands as she left it - a ~250 year home filled with stories of a six generation family that made its mark on American history.