Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/318

 MATHER

MATHEWS

D.D. from Bowdoin college in 1879. He edited several Greek text-books for use in colleges, in- cluding : Herodotus {IS72) ; selections from Thu- cy dides, the Electra of Sophocles ( 1882) ; Abstract of Lectures upon Sculpture (1882) ; and the Prometheus Bound of ^schylus (1883). He died in Amherst, Mass., April 16, 1890.

MATHER, Roland, philanthropist, was born at Westfield, Conn., May 31, 1809 ; son of John and Sophia (Taylor) Mather, and a descendant of the Rev. Richard Mather, the immigrant (1635). He attended the district schools and worked on his father's farm until 1825, when he engaged in the dry-goods business in Boston. He removed to Hartford, Conn., in 1828, and in 1836 estab- lished the firm of Howe, Mather & Co. He re- tired in 1851 and devoted his time to the care of his estates. He was a trustee and president of the Society for Savings and endowed the Hart- ford Public Library with $35,000 and the Congre- gational Educational society with more than $500,000. He bequeathed to the Congregational Home Missionary Society of New York and tlie American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions each $15,000, and to the American Mis- sionary Society and Hampton Normal and Indus- trial institute each $10,000. He died at Hart- ford, Conn., May 10, 1897.

MATHER, William Williams, educator, was born in Brooklyn, Conn., May 24, 1804 ; son of Eleazer and Fanny (Williams) Mather and a descendant fiom the Rev. Richard Mather, Pur- itan. He was graduated from the U.S. Military

academy in 1828 and assigned to the 7th infantry. While at the academy he led his class for two years in chemistry and mineralogy and had submitted to him for revision the proof- sheets of " Webster's Chemistry," then be- ing published. He was acting assistant instructor in artil- lery at the academy during the annual encampment ; was stationed at Jtafferson barracks, 1828-29, at Fort Jesup, La., in 1829 ; was assistant professor of chemistry, mineralogy and geology at the U.S. Military academy. 1829-35, acting professor of chemistry, geology and mineralogy at Wesleyan university, Middletown, Conn., 1833-34 ; was promoted 1st lieutenant, Dec. 4, 1834, and was on topographical duty on geological explorations of the northwest in 1835 and was at Fort Gibson

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and Camp Desire, Ind. Ter., 1835-36. He re- signed his commission in the U.S. army, Aug. 31, 1836 ; was professor of chemistry at the Univer- sity of Louisiana the same year ; state geologist of the first geological district of New York, 1836- 44 ; geologist of the state of Ohio, 1837-40, and of the state of Kentucky, 1838-39. He was professor of natural science in the University of Ohio, 1842-45 ; served as vice-president and acting president of the university in 1845 ; was professor of geology, chemistry and mineralogj- at Marietta college, Ohio, in 1846 ; geological surveyor and mining engineer on Lake Superior, 1845-47 ; agricultural chemist and corresponding secretary of the Ohio state board of agriculture, 1850-54 ; editor of the Western Agriculturist, 1851-52 ; geological engineer on railroad construction, 1850-55 ; and engaged in erecting iron furnaces for the Coal Grove company in Lawrence county, Ohio, 1855-59. He was twice married : first, in 1830, to Emily Maria Baker, who died in 1850, and secondly, to Mrs. Mary (Harris) Curtis in 1851. The honorary degree of A.M. was conferred on him by Wesleyan university, Conn., in 1834, and that of LL.D. by Brown in 1856. He was a visitor at the U.S. Military academy, 1855 ; a member of numerous scientific, historical and literary associations ; a trustee of Granville col- lege, Ohio, for fifteen years, and collector and owner of a cabinet of minerals numbering 22.000' specimens. He is the author of : Geology and Mineralogy of New London and Windham Coun- ties, Conn. (1834) ; Geological Survey of the State of Ohio (1838) ; Geology of New York (part I., 1843) J and scientific papers on agriculture, mineralogy, chemistry, geology and metallurgy (1828-59), and elaborate reports on the agriculture^ geology and mineral resources of Kentucky, Michigan and the Western territories (1836-59). He died in Columbus, Ohio, Feb. 26, 1859.

MATHEWS, Albert, author, was born in New York city, Sept. 8, 1820 ; son of Oliver and Mary (Field) Mathews, and a descendant of William Mathews, who emigrated from England in the seventeenth century and settled on Long Island and later in Westchester county, N.Y., and of Robert Field, a Quaker, who emigrated from England to Massachusetts in 1645 and settled soon afterward at Flushing, L.I. Albert Mathews attended the private school kept by the Rev. Hiram Doane at Greenwicli, Conn,, and later at New Rochelle, N.Y. ; was graduated from Yale, A.B., 1842, A.M., 1845; studied at Harvard Law school, 1842-43 ; was admitted an attorney at law in 1845 and counsellor in 1848 and practised for more tlian forty years in New York city. He was vice-president of the Yale Alumni associa- tion of New York ; was elected a member of the Century association in 1848 ; was a founder of