top of page
FRESH OFF THE PRESS!
Docent Donn Smith has been busy poking around the attic of the Mather Homestead and he's found treasures abound! Check out his blogs which document his findings including artifacts from 250 years of American life - a bible from 1743, a girl's dress from the 1860's, Stephen Mather's camera, a love letter written by Stephen Mather to his wife ❤️ and more. Oh the stories they tell!
The Treasurer, the Mayflower, and a horse and cow. The dazzling distaff genealogy of Stephen Tyng M
From Reverend Richard Mather (1596-1669) to Stephen Mather, the “Mather” line spans nine generations. But that, quite literally, is...
Donn Smith
Feb 8, 20232 min read
10 views
0 comments
“She rests at last beneath the starry skies…”. The Mather Cemetery and the children of Deacon Mather
A visit to the Homestead should include a walk or drive by The Mather Cemetery (private, not part of the Mather Homestead property),...
Donn Smith
Feb 6, 20232 min read
34 views
0 comments
A Tree Grows in Darien. Does it still?
Nine months after Stephen T. Mather’s death, the National Life Conservation Society organized a Tree Planting at the Mather Homestead in...
Donn Smith
Feb 5, 20231 min read
5 views
0 comments
To debut or not debut, that was the question.
On a bookshelf at the far end of the Keeping Room is a hardcover copy of Gift From The Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, a Darien...
Donn Smith
Feb 5, 20232 min read
6 views
0 comments
Party like it’s 1778…175th Anniversary Celebration at the Mather Homestead September 12, 1953
In the Mather attic is a scrapbook simply titled “175 Reunion Data.” Within the scrapbook, a wealth of materials offer us a glimpse at...
Donn Smith
Feb 5, 20231 min read
6 views
0 comments
A rare book and the legacy of Moses Mather
The bookshelf at the end of the Keeping Room holds a small hardbound book, “A Systematic View of Divinity; or The Ruin and Recovery of...
Donn Smith
Feb 5, 20231 min read
12 views
0 comments
The lineage of Hannah Smith Scott, Mother of Sarah Scott, wife of Deacon Joseph Mather
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...
Donn Smith
Feb 5, 20232 min read
18 views
0 comments
The Rockefeller Letters. Correspondence from John D. Rockefeller Jr.
John D. Rockefeller Jr. was a champion and great benefactor of the National Parks and was an advocate for parks in the Eastern United...
Donn Smith
Feb 5, 20232 min read
5 views
0 comments
And all before frequent flyer miles…Stephen T. Mather and the Pan Pacific Conference
In April 1927, the First Pan Pacific Conference on Education, Rehabilitation, Reclamation, and Recreation was held in Honolulu, Hawaii. ...
Donn Smith
Feb 5, 20231 min read
3 views
0 comments
Party like it’s 1778…The Sequel. 200th Anniversary Celebration at the Mather Homestead June 17, 1978
Having found the materials relating to the 175th Anniversary in the Homestead attic, it seemed impossible to think that there was not a...
Donn Smith
Feb 5, 20231 min read
8 views
0 comments
Another one for “the books”. An appreciation of John Roberts Hoole
An earlier blog (The Tie That Binds) looked at the life of Edward Walker, Stephen Mather’s maternal grandfather. Edward Walker emigrated...
Donn Smith
Feb 5, 20232 min read
11 views
0 comments
A book of flowers…an artist and her cousin Shirley Amy Turner and Stephen T. Mather
On the top shelf of a bookcase at the end of the Keeping Room is a small book with a label: “S.T.M. from S. Turner Sigma Chi Kamp July 4,...
Donn Smith
Feb 5, 20232 min read
7 views
0 comments
The Sutcliffe Letters “You are in a far and distant land…”
In a cardboard box in the Homestead attic, there is an envelope upon which is simply written “Sutcliffe Letters.” Within are eight...
Donn Smith
Feb 5, 20233 min read
4 views
0 comments
“…What slave should be held any longer…? Deacon Joseph Mather and The Abolitionist Debate.
In a small metal box in an oriental chest in the Mather attic are eight handwritten pages setting forth an argument to be delivered at a...
Donn Smith
Feb 5, 20231 min read
47 views
0 comments
“…born 16 September 1811 at half past nine in the morning…”The revelations of three family Bibles i
By far, the most famous Bible at the Homestead is the 1793 Bible of Deacon Joseph Mather. But it is not the only Bible. In the attic...
Donn Smith
Feb 5, 20232 min read
3 views
0 comments
“Mystery Books?” Perhaps not.7 strangers in the second floor bookcase.
On the second floor landing near the bedroom with the Delft tiles is a plain 6-shelf wooden bookcase. It holds approximately 120 books,...
Donn Smith
Feb 5, 20233 min read
4 views
0 comments
The Under-glass Menagerie. The Height of Fashion: Victorian Parlor Domes
As a matter of taste, perhaps the two Victorian Parlor Domes in the Homestead attic should stay in the attic. However, as curiosities and...
Donn Smith
Feb 5, 20231 min read
35 views
0 comments
The Last Woman Standing. An Appreciation of Betsey Mather Bell Lockwood
Deacon Joseph Mather, who built the Homestead in 1778, had, with his wife Sarah Scott, eleven children. One died in infancy, the other...
Donn Smith
Feb 5, 20231 min read
10 views
0 comments
The Getty…the Whitney…and the Mather Attic. Herbert W. Gleason, American photographer
In 2017 The Huntington Library acquired a unique 10-volume edition of “The Life and Writings of John Muir” that incorporates 260 original...
Donn Smith
Feb 5, 20231 min read
7 views
0 comments
The Mather “Mother” Matter
Southeast of the Homestead, across Brookside Avenue, is the Mather Cemetery. Stephen Mather’s father, Joseph Wakeman Mather is buried...
Donn Smith
Feb 5, 20232 min read
8 views
0 comments
bottom of page