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In an earlier blog we looked at Deacon Mather’s efforts to secure his Revolutionary War pension.  It was not until 1902 that the Bureau of Pensions confirmed his service, noting that Sarah, the Deacon’s wife, was pensioned as his widow.   In that letter we learn that Deacon Mather served nearly two years (23 months) between 1775 and 1781 and that he was engaged in the successful six-week siege of Fort St. John on the Richelieu River in Canada.   As part of a program marking the 250th Anniversary of the founding of the United States, The Sons of the American Revolution have established an initiative to plant 250 Liberty Trees across the nation.  These trees are symbolic of the original Liberty Tree elm which was a rallying point for early revolutionaries in Boston.   With a tentative date of this coming May 17th one of those trees will be planted at the Mather Homestead with a plaque reading:    LIBERTY TREE                         Planted by the Roger Sherman Branch                             of the CTSSAR in honor of                           DEACON JOSEPH MATHER                                Commissioned officer in the                               War of the Revolution                                 1775-1781                           Engaged in the Siege of                                      Fort St. John                                   Dedicated May 17, 2025

In the midst of shaking the Mather family tree for Civil War participants, we were confronted with a most unexpected, offbeat, somewhat whimsical, and apparently, Wikipedia-worthy individual.   William Street Hutchings was the son of Jane Street and John Hutchings, and the grandson of Clara Mather and Samuel Street.   William was born in Manhattan in 1832.   This from Wikipedia…   William Street Hutchings , (January 7, 1832 - August 25, 1911) also known as  Professor Hutchings  and the  Lightning Calculator , was a 19th-century  math   prodigy  and  mental calculator  who  P. T. Barnum  first billed as the "Boy Lightning Calculator". He later worked as a  sideshow   barker  and wrote a book called  The Lightning Calculator…”   As the Brooklyn Eagle reported with William’s obituary in 1911… “Professor William Street Hutchings, "the lightning calculator," for fifty years famous in the show world of the United States, died yesterday, at his home, 8 Bulfinch Street, Boston, aged 80 years. He was born on Forsyth Street, Manhattan, January 7, 1832, his father being a grocer. He first practiced law, then became an actor and afterward a farmer. In 1860 he went into Barnum's Museum as a lightning calculator, remaining until the museum burned down the second time. He then went on the road and in 1872 gave a private entertainment to President Grant, in the White House. In 1883, he went with Austin & Stone's museum in Boston, and was with them at his death. He claimed to have given 30,000 lectures to 80,000,000 people.”

We have recently found two more great-grandsons of Deacon Joseph Mather who served in Union Regiments.   Assistant Surgeon Nathan Selleck Roberts was the son of Nathan Roberts and Sally Richards and the grandson of Sarah Mather and Noyes Richards.  Nathan enlisted August 21, 1861 in Co. D of the 7th Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry.   From the National Cyclopedia, we learn that “…in the summer of 1863 he was examined by a Board of Army Surgeons, commisioned assistant surgeon, and in that capacity participated in the military operations in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, notably the capture of Hilton Head…and the capture of Fort Pulaski.  He was the first medical officer to enter the city of Charleston …was made post surgeon…and organized a large general hospital…   …At the close of the war he completed his lecture course and was graduated from the N.Y. College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1867.  He soon thereafter commenced practice as a specialist in diseases of the ear, nose, and throat.” Dr. Roberts died in 1926 and is buried in Fairview Cemetery, Westfield, NJ.     Private George Dingee was the son of John Dingee and Charlotte Richards and also the grandson of Sarah Mather and Noyes Richards.  George served with Co C of the 28th Regt Conn. Vols. The 28th Regt. was at Port Hudson, Louisiana until August 7th, 1863 and they mustered out on August 28th, 1863.  George died 27 days later at the age of 22 years 6 months and 17 days. He is buried beside his parents in the Rowayton Union Cemetery.

We are all familiar with the Mathers’ commitment to America’s fight for independence during the Revolutionary War.  But, recently, the question was raised about Deacon Joseph Mather’s descendants’ participation in the Civil War.   Focused on Deacon Mather’s eldest son, Moses, we find that he was grandfather to seven men who served the Union cause.   Moses and his wife, Sally Bishop, had twelve children.  Among the children of eldest four, were those seven soldiers.   First Sergeant George Messenger Mather.  The son of George Mather and Mary Whitney, George enlisted September 9, 1862 in Co. C 28th Regiment, Connecticut Volunteer Infantry.  Nov. 6th was appointed Sergeant and discharged at New Haven, August 28, 1863 having assisted in the siege and reduction of Port Hudson.   First Lieutenant Joseph E. Morehouse.  The son of Lydia Mather and Henry Morehouse, Joseph enlisted July 18, 1862 in the 17th Regiment Conn. Vol. Inf.  He was promoted from Sergeant, Co. B to 2nd Lt., Oct. 26, 1863; promoted to 1st Lt., Co. F Mar. 5,1864; to Captain June 29, 1865 (not mustered.)   Private Alfred Morehouse.  The son of Lydia Mather and Henry Morehouse, Alfred enlisted July 26, 1862 in Co. B, 17th Regiment Connecticut Vol. Infantry.  Alfred mustered out July 1865 having participated in battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg.   First Lieutenant William Marcus Whitney.  The son of Rosanna Mather and C.E. Whitney, William enlisted September 6, 1862.  He was commissioned an officer in Company C, Connecticut 28th Infantry Regiment on 15 Nov 1862 and mustered out on 28 Aug 1863 at New Haven, CT.   Corporal George Albert Whitney.  The son of Rosanna Mather and C.E. Whitney, George was a Corporal, Co. B, 17th Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry.  Enlisted from Darien, July 26, 1862, Mustered in as Private. Promoted to Corporal. Feb. 28, 1865. Mustered out July 19, 1865. Participated in Battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg.     First Lieutenant Horace Whitney.  The son of Rosanna Mather and C.E. Whitney, Horace enlisted August 12, 1862 as a Corporal in 17th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, Co. H.   He was promoted May 15, 1863 to Sergeant.  Horace was captured July 2, 1863, Battle of Gettysburg, PA and paroled August 25, 1863.  He was promoted August 28, 1864 to 1st Sergeant and promoted July 15, 1865 to 1st Lieutenant (not mustered)  Horace was mustered out: July 19, 1865 Hilton Head, S.C.  He  also served with 3rd Connecticut Volunteers before 17th Connecticut.

Among Stephen Mather correspondence at the Bancroft Library is a note from Edna Pinkley at the Casa Grande Ruins wishing Stephen better health.   Who was Edna Pinkley?  According to the National Park Service’s Women Who Were There feature, “Edna Townsley Pinkley moved to the Casa Grande ruins when she married Frank “Boss” Pinkley in 1906... As his partner, she… contributed to the running of the monument without pay…She took on a formal role when she was appointed custodian in 1914.  In 1927, Mrs. Pinkley wrote  Casa Grande: The Greatest Valley Pueblo in Arizona.  She also wrote poems about life at the ruins…She died of a cerebral hemorrhage at their home in the monument on November 13, 1929, aged 48. Her passing was noted in several newspapers, one of which called her the ‘poet of the ruins.’”   Recently, upon finding an NPS entry for a “Jean McWhirt Pinkley,” it was easy to assume that she was Frank and Edna’s daughter, but no.  She was their daughter-in-law.   Again, according to NPS historians…”Jean McWhirt Pinkley was an archeologist and interpreter who worked for the National Park Service her entire career. She steered Mesa Verde National Park to implement a rich and complex interpretive program before leading critical archeological and stabilization work at Pecos National Monument. Jean married Addison Pinkley, the son of Frank "Boss" Pinkley of the Southwestern National Monuments, in 1942. In 1943, Addison was killed when Japanese forces destroyed his submarine. Returning to Mesa Verde, where she worked for the next 26 years, Jean was selected over a number of men to become Chief of the Interpretive Division. Her responsibilities covered all aspects of park interpretation, including advising the Superintendent, supervising research about the park, operating museums, creating exhibits and visitor programs, and excavation and stabilization of Mesa Verde's ruins… In recognition of her outstanding career and her success as a woman in the Federal Service, the First Lady, Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson, invited Jean to lunch at the White House on March 22, 1966. She was the only Federal career woman present, and was honored along with about a dozen other women from other professions in the U.S. and foreign countries. In October, 1967, Jean was given the Department of the Interior's Meritorious Award "in recognition of outstanding professional archaeological services and contributions to interpretive programs of the National Park Service."

Alphabetically, the first item in the Bancroft collection is a Western Union Holiday Greeting from Franklin Pierce Adams.  Fittingly, almost as the final item, is an identical Western Union Holiday Greeting, this from Christian Brevoort Zabriskie. [Both telegrams shown below]   In a letter sent to Stephen later in 1929, Zabriskie writes… Dear Stephen: You are always doing some graceful or lovely act.  Your telegram to me that you had flowers from both of us placed on the car which was conveying our dear old friend Governor Spry, back to Salt Lake, was greatly appreciated by me…You cannot imagine how pleased I was at your action and your kind thoughtfulness in including me…”  [William Spry was the third governor of the state of Utah.]   Who was Christian Zabriskie?  Like Stephen, he was a borax man.  As the National Park Service site explains ”…in 1885…F.M. Smith hired him [Zabriskie] to supervise several hundred Chinese workers at the Columbus Marsh area of the Pacific Coast Borax Company near Candelaria…He ultimately became vice president and general manager of the company and served in that capacity for thirty-six years until his retirement in 1933. During this time the Pacific Coast Borax Company had phased out most of its borax operations in the Candelaria vicinity and had moved further production into the Death Valley area…All this occurred long before 1933, when the area became Death Valley National Monument, but  Zabriskie Point  remains to honor a man who devoted many years of service to the Pacific Coast Borax Company.”   If Zabriskie Point sounds familiar, you are either an exceptional geo- grapher or a devoted fan of obscure movies of the 1960s and 1970s.   In 1970, Michelangelo Antonioni directed Zabriskie Point which was widely jeered by audiences, failed at the box office, but interestingly, included Harrison Ford in an uncredited role as an arrested student demonstrator.

We have documented Stephen Mather’s support of fellow Chicagoans’ artistic talents in his selection of Walter Burley Griffin to design the Homestead’s formal gardens.   A life member of the Art Institute of Chicago, Stephen tapped an Institute-educated artist for his portrait that is displayed in the Keeping Room.   Frank Conrade Bensing (1893-1963) was an acclaimed illustrator whose work appeared in Redbook, McCall’s, and Saturday Evening Post.  Additionally, he did advertising illustrations for Coke, General Electric, Karo Syrup and others.   A remembrance from his grandson recalls that Bensing was blind in one eye due to a childhood case of scarlet fever and among his other portrait subjects was Joseph P. Kennedy.   Bensing is buried in Woodstock Cemetery, Woodstock NY, with his wife Flavia Olson Bensing. Goodyear Ad Karo Ad featuring the Dionne Quintuplets McCall’s Illustration

An earlier blog (“Meet the Press…”) looked at letters from leading magazine and newspaper editors.  Among them was George Lorimer, Editor of The Saturday Evening Post who declared that he, Lorimer, had…”always been a Mather man and a great admirer of your devoted work…”   Seven years earlier, in 1922, when the Gibson Girl was the iconic image         of the American woman, The Saturday Evening Post published a glowing    article about Stephen in its “Who’s Who—And Why” section sharing that     an interviewer had recently referred to Stephen as a “Gibson Man.”     The article goes on to recall Stephen’s college summer job when he acted “as a book agent up and down the Pacific Coast” and that “…Wherever he went he made great numbers of friends, especially among elderly ladies…”   On a more serious note, the article delves into the “two schools of thought on the subject of travel in the national parks.”  One side felt that roads should be built to the “topmost peaks” for automobile-borne visitors, while the other wanted maintain pristine parks devoid of cars and buses altogether.   The article reveals, “Mather holds a middle course.  He insists that the people be enabled to enjoy their parks; but since the parks belong to the people, he argues that there ought to be at least a few bridle trails in them where a peace-loving man can find surcease from the cares that infest the day without having his nerves shattered by the hoarse hoot of a seven-dollar horn.”   And finally, the article looks back at the Mather family tree where one branch led to farmer Timothy and Deacon Joseph and the other to Cotton and Increase.  And concludes: “If debating societies…ever get to debating over the question as to which of the two Mather boys, Cotton or Steve, has exercised the greater amount of influence on the people of America, Cotton won’t have a…chance with the judges.” The Saturday Evening Post December 30, 1922, page 26

As another Inauguration approaches, here’s a quick look the U.S. Presidents with whom Stephen Mather worked to assure the growth and permanence of the National Park system.   Stephen Mather’s dealings with Congress were often contentious as he urged it to loosen the purse strings to increase Park funding.   But, by all appearances, his relationship with the Executive branch reflected a shared vision for expanding and protecting the National Parks.   Woodrow Wilson.  As Robert Shankland points out in Steve Mather of the National Parks, in 1916 ” For the Presidency, Mather, though a Republican, was backing Wilson over Charles Evans Hughes—for one thing, as far as the parks were concerned, he did not have to speculate about the intentions of a Wilson administration.”      In August 1916 Wilson signed the act establishing the National Park Service.   The act, in part, states that the service’s “ purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”   Warren G. Harding.  Although Harding’s presidency was tinged with scandal, and shortened by his death on August 2, 1923, his interest in the National Parks was noted by Stephen Mather in his Annual Report to the Secretary of the Interior in that year…   The itinerary of President Harding’s trip through the West, and to Alaska, which ended so tragically with his death in San Francisco, included visits to Zion, Yellowstone, and Yosemite National Parks…While the phenomena and wild life of the park [Yellowstone] were especially interesting to President Harding, the thing that seemed to impress him the most was the manner in which the park was being used by people from all parts of the United States…”             Calvin Coolidge.  In the 1927 Annual Report, Stephen Mather notes that: “The prolonged attempt to enlarge the boundaries of the Sequoia National Park by the inclusion of certain mountainous back country came to a partial successful conclusion on July 3, when President Coolidge signed the act adding Mount Whitney and the Kern River country to the park.”   In all, Coolidge created thirteen National Monuments as well as the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Mount Rushmore National Memorial Act.      Herbert Hoover.  Stephen Mather shared more than a love of the outdoors with Hoover. They shared a birthday—July 4th.   Interestingly too, the Hoover Institution notes that “ In 1924, Hoover also became president of the National Park Association (NPA), an organization established in 1919 by a generous donation given by Stephen Mather, the first director of the National Park Service.”   Hoover’s administration increased appropriations for the national parks by more than 50%.  The administration formally opened Grand Teton and Carlsbad Cavern National Parks. Hoover proclaimed Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, a merger of two adjacent Rocky Mountain parks on each side of the U.S.-Canada border.   Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  Roosevelt did not become President until after Stephen Mather’s death but one of his most famous quotes was …”There is nothing so American as our national parks…The fundamental idea behind the parks…is that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us.”   Although President Roosevelt sent his regrets at not being able to attend the dedication of the Mather plaque at Bear Mountain, his wife, Eleanor did attend.   President Wilson President Harding, left; Stephen Mather, third from left, Yellowstone July 1923 Horace Albright and President Hoover Horace Albright and President Coolidge at Yellowstone 1927 Roosevelt at Bear Mountain President Roosevelt at Yosemite NP

Among the Stephen Mather materials in the Bancroft Library collection are three pieces that reflect Stephen’s rooting interest in University of California football.  The first two are in anticipation of the 1928 Cal-Stanford Big Game…   The first is a November 23, 1928 telegram that reads in full…THE FOLLOWING EIGHTY SEVEN MEN AT THE ANNUAL FOOTBALL DINNER SEND YOU THEIR WARMEST PERSONAL REGARDS EXPRESS THEIR GREAT PLEASURE AT THE GOOD NEWS OF THE IMPROVEMENT IN YOUR CONDITION AND THEIR BEST WISHES FOR YOUR SPEEDY RECOVERY YOUR CHEERS TOMORROW WILL HELP WIN THE GAME…   And in a November 22, 1928 letter, Francis Farquhar, a future president of the Sierra Club, writes in part: “… Speaking of cheering, we shall hear plenty of it day after tomorrow.  California has a splendid team this year and we are looking for a fine game.”   Did Cal win?  No, but they didn’t lose either.  Final score: 13-13.    We’ll save the loss for what happened next…   California made to the January 1929 Rose Bowl and faced Georgia Tech.   A letter from Charles Townsend, recaps the event’s unforgettable and now legendary moment:  “ Nan, Barbara, and I took two of the fraternity boys and drove down to Pasadena, only to see Cal lose, when she should have won, due to our Center, Riegels, running 70 yards in the wrong direction and resulting in a safety  (2 points) to Georgia…”

In February 1929, Stephen Mather received a letter from Charles L. Ellis, District Superin-tendent, Department of the Interior, Office of the Five Civilized Tribes. The term "Five Civilized Tribes" came into use during the mid-nineteenth century to refer to the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole nations.  The term indicated the adoption of horticulture and other European cultural patterns and institutions…and was also used to distinguish these five nations from other so-called "wild" Indians who continued to rely on hunting for survival.   Among those “wild” Indians would have been the Blackfeet.  Between 1915-1917, Ellis was the Superintendent of the Blackfeet Indian Agency at Glacier National Park.  Despite the famous photograph of Stephen Mather meeting Blackfeet chiefs, NPS interests came into conflict with the Blackfeet’s granted rights to hunt within Glacier and to preserve reservation lands.    In The American Wilderness Ideal and Blackfeet Exclusion from Glacier National Park, we learn “Under the secretary's [Franklin Lane] orders, the commissioner of Indian affairs then directed the Blackfeet agent to post notices throughout the reservation with the threat that "any Indians who persist in killing [Glacier National Park] animals will be prosecuted.”   And in his book, Steve Mather of the National Parks , Robert Shankland acknowledges Stephen Mather’s “hopes for Glacier, where he wanted to take over enough land from the Blackfoot Indian Reservation to make the east-side road system part of the park.”    The National Parks Conservation Association, of which Stephen Mather’s grandson was a former chairman, points out, “All national parks exist on traditional Indigenous lands.” But hopefully further adds, “In 2021, Chuck Sams became the National Park Service’s first Indigenous leader in the agency’s 105-year history, and Deb Haaland became the first Native American Cabinet Secretary in U.S. history when she began leading the Department of the Interior. As of 2024, 250+ co-stewardship agreements exist between the National Park Service and Tribal Nations.”

Each first floor room of the Homestead is graced by an antique clock imbued with history and the patina of timeless craftsmanship.    In the Keeping Room is a Tall Case Clock made by Samuel Sturgeon who worked in Shippensburg PA from 1815-1825.  It has an eight-day striking clock movement and stands 88-1/4” high.  We know Martha McNair of Shippensburg married a Samuel Sturgeon “a clock and watchmaker.” The provenance of the clock is from the McPherson Family.   In the dining room is a shelf clock made by Eli Terry (1772-1852) of Plymouth CT.  The clock is mahogany and is 31” h. x 19” w.  Eli Terry is known as the father of the American mass-produced clock industry.  Today a section of Plymouth remains known as Terryville.   In the parlor is the clock that draws the most attention.  This clock has been in the Homestead from its earliest days.  By family record, it is said to have been made in Darien by John Bell.   The Bell Clocks, a monograph produced in 1988, includes a revealing a anecdote provided by Bertha Mather McPherson: “Many years ago, a decorator wanted to change the placement of the clock which was set at an angle in a corner of the West room.  She wanted to place it flat against the wall.  Mrs. McPherson’s father, Stephen Tyng Mather, was adamantly against this.  He said ‘That clock had been in the same place forever, some decorators is not going to come in and change it now.’” “As a young boy, Stephen had seen the placement of the clock some-time in the 1870’s.  He was visiting Deacon Joseph’s two maiden daughters, Rana and Phebe…He remembered when he visited them that the clock was on an angle in the corner of the West room.”   And so it is today.  Face of Sturgeon Clock   Eli Terry Shelf Clock The Bell Clock in its rightful corner