Timothy Mather
Farmer of Dorchester, Massachusetts, the second son of Rev. Richard Mather and the only one who grew up and was not a preacher. Born at Liverpool in 1628, he crossed in the James in 1635, married probably Elizabeth Atherton, daughter of Maj.-Gen. Humphrey Atherton, and had his father's Dorchester homestead; he was a selectman and died after a fall in his barn. Father of Richard Mather of Lyme.
Life
- 1628BornLiverpool (Toxteth Park), Lancashire, England
"Born in Liverpool, England, 1628" (Mather, 1890); his father was then the minister at Toxteth Park.
- 1678Married Elizabeth Weekes20 Mar 1678/9
"Mr. Timothy Mather & Elizabeth Weekes were Married by the Worshipfull Mr. Bradstreet March 20th. 78." (Dorchester records, p. 24), that is 1678/9, after his first wife's death in May 1678.
documentedproven - 1684Died14 Jan 1684, Dorchester, Massachusetts
"Mr Timothy Mather died the fourteenth day of January: 84" (Dorchester records, p. 120), Old Style, so January 1683/4 or 1684/5. Mather (1890) has 14 Jan 1684, "at the age of 56 years."
Family
- Father
- Richard Mather
His father's will of 1661 names "my beloved Sonn Timothy Mather" and leaves him the Dorchester house and lands.
documentedproven - Mother
- Katherine Holt
"Richard, wife Katherine, and children Samuel, Timothy, Nathaniel, and Joseph" sailed in the James in 1635; all Richard's sons were by his first wife.
compiledprobable - Spouse 1
- Elizabeth Atherton
Married by 1651, when their first child was born. The Mather genealogy calls her Catharine; see her page.
1 child
- Spouse 2
- Elizabeth Weekes
Widow of William Weeks (Torrey, as cited on WikiTree); Mather (1890) calls her a daughter of Amiel Weeks. She died a widow in 1710.
Pedigree
Notes
Timothy Mather of Dorchester, “the Mather farmer,” second son of Rev. Richard Mather and Katherine Holt. Born at Liverpool while his father was preacher at Toxteth Park, he crossed with his parents and brothers in the James in 1635, through the great hurricane off the Isles of Shoals. “Timothy Mather was the only son of the emigrant that grew up to manhood who was not a preacher and is called the ‘Mather farmer’ of the early time, and settled in the town with his father” (source); he was a selectman of Dorchester in 1667-69 and 1675-76 (source). His father’s will of 1661 explained that “in as much as he hath [not] had soe much Cost bestowed vpon him in his Education as his brethren haue had,” Timothy should have the larger share of the estate: the house, barn and lands in Dorchester for his life, and then to his children, a double portion to the eldest son; he was one of the executors.
He married, by 1651, Elizabeth Atherton, a daughter of Maj.-Gen. Humphrey Atherton, and with his brothers-in-law James Trowbridge and Obadiah Swift and her brother Jonathan administered Atherton’s estate after his death in 1661 (source). Their children, born at Dorchester: Samuel (1651), minister of Windsor and one of the founders of Yale; Richard (1653), who went to Lyme; Catherine (1656/7); Nathaniel (1658); Joseph (1661); and Atherton (1668), founder of the Suffield branch. Every Mather of the New England family, the 1890 genealogy says, descends from him; the name died out in his brothers’ lines. Elizabeth died on 15 May 1678, and on 20 March 1678/9 he married Elizabeth Weekes (source).
“Timothy had a fall in his barn, which resulted in his death at the age of 56 years.” He is buried at Upham’s Corner, Dorchester, with his father and his father-in-law (source).
Research: research/hatten/Hatten_Philbrick_Marvin.md.
Connections
- In his ancestry
- 3 notable connections →
Every notable ancestor and famous relative that Timothy's own ancestors lead to, with the lines drawn down to him.