The Cleveland Connection... Three notes to Stephen Mather from two of his fifth cousins

On the Homestead site, under the “Mather Family Tree,” you will find that Stephen’s lineage traces back to Timothy, the “Farmer Mather,” and to his son, Richard, a farmer in Lyme, Connecticut.   Interestingly, two Mather half-brothers living in Cleveland share that lineage.

Among recently scanned documents we have a handwritten note from Samuel Mather expressing regrets for not being able to attend a dinner on November 19, 1926. And we have a typewritten note of regret from his half-brother, William, for the same dinner. 

In January 1929, William again wrote to Stephen, saying in part…

“…Dr. Smith also told me…that you had resigned your position…I feel that this is a distinct loss to the parks in particular and to the country in general.  Your service has been so sympathetic with the work in your charge, and so intelligent and constructive, that everybody who has been in contact with it and with you has felt that at least this department of the government was competently and disinterestedly managed…”

Samuel Mather 1851-1931

 American industrialist and philanthropist from Cleveland, Ohio. He co-founded a shipping and iron mining company which dominated these two Great Lakes industries from 1900 to 1960. For many years Mather was that city's richest citizen and a major philanthropist, contributing more than US$7 million to community-based organizations in the city.

William Gwinn Mather 1857-1951

 Civic, cultural, and philanthropic leader. Known as Cleveland's "first citizen,” Mather headed Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co., was the first president of the Cleveland Stock Exchange, and president of the Cleveland Museum of Art from 1933-1949. Mather entered the family business, the Cleveland Iron Mining Co., as a clerk and worked his way up to vice-president in 1885. He succeeded his father as president in 1890.