What we learn from the last wishes of Deacon Mather’s grandfather. Timothy Mather, the father of Moses Mather, died in Lyme Connecticut...

On tours we often tell visitors that Deacon Mather built the house on land that was inherited by his mother, Hannah Bell. Until now...

If you look at the Darien map from 1867, you will see in the upper area the home of the “Misses Mather.” In 1840, Deacon Mather left...

In tours of the Homestead, guides unfailingly tell visitors about the March 1781 raid on the Homestead when a party of Tories descended...

In a pocket of an accordion folder found in the Mather Homestead safe, we discovered Stephen Mather’s business cards from his time at the...

In the Homestead attic, a large manila envelope contains “Material Relative to Stephen Tyng Mather High School…” Among the materials...

In a large trunk in the recesses of the Homestead attic is an envelope marked: “Letters Concerning Wedding and Wedding Trip of S.T.M &...

And not just Treasure Island, but of course that’s there. In the book-case on the second floor of the Mather Homestead are six hardcover books illustrated by N.C. Wyeth, who is considered one of America’s greatest illustrators. According to Wikipedia, Treasure Island was one of his masterpieces and the proceeds paid for his studio. From inscriptions on the flyleaves, we know that three of the books were given as Christmas gifts to John and Edward McPherson by a Mr. Robert

Edward Walker was a prosperous bookbinder in New York City (See “The Tie That Binds” blog). Edward was the father of Stephen’s mother,...

Stephen Mather’s mother-in-law, Sarah Hoole Floy was widowed in 1895. In 1916, Henry, one of her two sons, died. When she wrote her will in 1919, she had a son, Frederic, and two daughters, Grace, and Jane, Stephen’s wife. In the will Sarah left “all my wearing apparel and jewelry” to be divided equally between Grace and Jane. The balance of the estate was divided in thirds—Grace, Jane, and Frederic. However, Frederic’s third was to be held in trust by Grace and profits pa

A recent blog looked at a letter mailed from Paris in 1869. Recently discovered is a letter mailed from Bristol England on August 27,...

In blogs we’ve often featured items discovered in the chests and trunks found throughout the three rooms of the Mather Homestead attic. ...

Recently we opened a safe in the Homestead basement. Its contents will fuel several blogs. We begin with added information on the...

A note on Bertha McPherson’s yellow legal pad begins, “A large piece of the plaster ceiling of the parlor fell at dinner time on the...

”More about Joseph Mather Jr., Stephen Mather’s grandfather The title of this blog comes from an obituary for Joseph Mather, Jr. as it...

In the Homestead attic was an alphabet-tabbed accordion file containing invoices paid by Joseph Wakeman Mather (Stephen Tyng Mather’s...

On June 7, 1832, Congress enacted pension legislation extending benefits more universally than under any previous legislation. Men who...

We recently found a little booklet titled “Baby Days.” The printed heading of one of the first pages is the title of this blog. Bertha Mather could have been ‘Grace,’ her mother’s suggestion. Grace, her aunt-to-be, suggested ‘Sarah Jane’ and ‘Deborah’ was proposed by her uncle-to-be, Harry Floy. ‘Bertha’ was the choice of her maternal grandmother, and of her father, Stephen Mather, and ‘Bertha’ it was. Like so many baby books, entries trail off after the first lock of hair an

From Chicago to Connecticut to Canberra…An appreciation of Walter Burley Griffin, landscape architect for Stephen T. Mather Looking to...

How did these documents make their way to the Homestead attic—and why were they saved and sequestered for so long? It is unlikely that...