In past blogs we’ve looked at Stephen T. Mather’ wife’s family (Roots and Seeds). We looked at Joseph Wakeman Mather’s wife’s family (The Tie That Binds) and Joseph Mather’s wife’s family (The Lineage of Happy Osborn Wakeman Mather.) But what of Sarah Scott, the wife of Deacon Mather, the first Mather to call the Homestead home?
Most Homestead tours note that Sarah gave birth to eleven children and that she served supper to the Tories who raided the Homestead.
But is there more to learn? Yes.
In a letter, to be found in the Homestead attic, Charles Selleck, grandson of the Deacon recalls…
“I sat by the fire with my grandfather in the West room and engaged in a long conversation with him, on various subjects, and among these was the history of my great grandmother Scott, his mother-in-law, then not far from 96 years of age…”
Hannah Smith Scott, the Deacon’s mother-in-law, did not live to 96. She died two months after her ninety-fifth birthday. (29 September 1734-21 December 1829.) She is buried in Titicus Cemetery in Ridgefield, as is her husband, Lt. David Scott—who actually has two memorials, the second being for his Revolutionary War service.
Hannah’s great-great-grandfather, John Smith is buried in the Milford Cemetery. An article in The New England Historical and Genealogical Record reports that “it is probable he came direct from England to New Haven in one of the three ships that sailed in 1639.” John Smith (1619-1684) was one of the early settlers of Milford.
Hannah’s great-great-grandfather on her mother’s side, was Thomas Benedict (1617-1690). It is written that “Thomas Benedict, from Nottingham, England, came to New England in 1638, and not long afterwards to Southold, L.I….He crossed the Sound and acquired citizenship in Norwalk, Conn…” Thomas and his son John are both buried in East Norwalk Historical Cemetery.
Interestingly, not only are Hannah and David Scott buried in Titicus Cemetery, but both of Hannah’s parents, and all four of her grand-parents are buried there as well. How and why they all came to Ridgefield is unknown.
Within four years of Richard Mather’s arrival in New England, both Thomas Benedict and John Smith had come to the New World as well. Woven within the history of the Homestead are the lives of many whose names were not Mather, but whose fortitude adds dimension to all that has been bequeathed to us
Images below:
1. Hannah Smith Scott, Titicus Cemetery, Ridgefield
2. David Scott, Titicus Cemetery, 29 Aug 1727-21 May 1809
3. Sarah Benedict Smith, Hannah Smith Scott’s mother, 23 May 1710 – 3 Oct 1791
4. James Benedict and Sarah Hyatt Benedict, Hannah Smith Scott’s Grandparents
Here lies interred/ the body of/ James Benedict/ Deacon of the first Church of Christ in this town;/ Together with / Sarah, His Wife/ Who, after having served their generation/ According to the will of God,/ fell asleep and were gathered to their fathers,/ the first on Nov. 25, 1762/
in the 77th year of his age; the other, February/ ye 9th, 1767, in the 81st year of her age.
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