My Genealogy Hound

ISAAC MATHER. It is but seldom that a community is privileged to enjoy the neighborship with one who has witnessed nearly a century of life, and who is yet spared and in full possession of his faculties. Yet such a remarkable instance of longevity is seen in the person of the venerable Isaac Mather, of Cheltenham township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, who now (in 1904) is approaching the beginning of his ninety-ninth year, and who during all his remarkably long career has enjoyed the esteem and affection of all about him for his nobility of life and usefulness.

The history of the family from which he comes is full of interest. The Mathers of the present day, among whom is Isaac Mather, trace their lineage through a long line of worthy ancestors, all of them trained in the belief of the Society of Friends, and practicing its teachings in their daily lives. The American ancestor was Joseph Mather, who came from the town of Bolton, in Lancashire, England, as one of the servants of Phineas Pemberton, who settled in Falls township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, Eleventh- mo., 1682. He married Elizabeth, daughter of John Russell, of Cheltenham, Sixth-mo. 8, 1697, the marriage taking place at the house of Richard Wall, in Cheltenham. Among those present who signed as witnesses were John Russell, Samuel Richardson, Henry Baker, Phineas Pemberton, Richard Wall, William Gabitas, Evan Morris, John Goodson, John Jones, Isaac Norris, Samuel Carte and Everard Bolton, and others. In 1720 Joseph Mather went on a visit to England, when the meeting furnished him with a very favorable certificate. He died in Cheltenham in 1724, and his widow administered upon his estate. She was a minister at Abington, and died Ninth-mo., 1730.

By the death of John Russell, father-in-law of Joseph Mather, in 1698, his tract of three hundred acres came into the Mather family. Richard, son of Joseph, still held it in 1734, and he with others built the first grist mill at Shoemakertown, in 1747. Isaac Mather erected the mill at what is now Chelten Hills Station in 1769, and about the same time Richard and Bartholomew Mather built a grist and saw mill on the stream crossing Washington Lane. Of the original tract, Richard Mather held 123 acres in 1776, and Bartholomew Mather ninety-three acres. For several years past the neighborhood in which the Mathers settled has been building up rapidly, and is adorned with handsome residences. The Ogontz Seminary for Young Ladies, the Cheltenham Academy for Boys, as well as many private holdings including the John Wanamaker tract and others, are a part of the original Mather homestead, as is also the homestead property of the present Isaac Mather.

The present Isaac Mather was born in Whitemarsh township, October 27, 1806, the eldest son of John and Martha (Potts) Mather. He acquired his education in the common schools of that day, and subsequently attended a private school at Gwynedd which was taught by Joseph Foulke, and was known as Gwynedd Friends’ Boarding School, which was attended by many outside of the Society of Friends, drawn to it on account of its wide reputation for thoroughness and the enforcement of discipline. When Isaac Mather had completed his school studies he learned the trade of a miller with his uncle, Charles Mather, at what was known as Mather’s Mill, near where the borough of Ambler is now located. He continued in that business until 1841, conducting successfully for many years a milling business on Washington Lane, in the township of Cheltenham. Since 1841 he has devoted his attention entirely to agricultural pursuits, residing on the old homestead near Jenkintown.

Isaac Mather married, May 13, 1830, Ann L. Hallowell, who was born in the same year with himself (1806) on September 23. She was a daughter of Israel and Mary (Jarrett) Hallowell. Three children were born of this union:
1. Martha, born First-mo. 31, 1833. 2. Israel H., born Fifth-mo. 9, 1834, who married Sarah C. Lloyd, daughter of John and Sidnea Lloyd, and to them were born two children: (a) Annie M., who married Charles Jarrett, and to them were born five children-Samuel M., Martha M., Caroline, Charles, and Isaac M.; (b) Howard, who married Caroline Yerkes, and to them were born three children-Sarah C., Franklin H., and Emily T. Sarah C. (Lloyd) Mather died Fourth-mo. 22, 1867, and Israel H. Mather married (second) Hannah Larzelere, daughter of Nicholas and Esther Larzelere, and to them was born one child, Esther L.; she married Franklin Shelby, and to them were born two children-Franklin and Hannah L. 3. Isaac P. Mather, born Ninth-mo. 14, 1848.

The parents of this family, Isaac and Ann L. (Hallowell) Mather, lived together in affectionate companionship for more than a half century. It was given them to have their lives extended over the most remarkable period in the world’s history. They witnessed the beginning and development of much that now enters into modern life. In their young married life there was no cooking stove or sewing machine, and in many homes the spinning wheel was still used. In the field was no reaper, and grain was cut with the cradle, and threshed with the flail. For travel there was only the horse, for there was no railroad. The newspaper and the magazine were only seen in the cities, and the family library comprised a few books. In 1804 the Jenkintown library was started. Mr. Mather bought a share in 1827, and is still a member. He was always a great reader, and very much interested in the library, being president a considerable portion of the time.

Mr. Mather suffered a sad bereavement in the death of his estimable wife, who peacefully passed away on July 4, 1882, in her seventy-sixth year. She was a perfect type of the Christian wife and mother, and her life was in all things an example of true womanhood. She was a modest, sincere and consistent member and elder of the Abington Friends’ Meeting, in which her husband has been during all his life an active member, and for the greater part of the time an elder. His life, now prolonged far past the scriptural limit, notwithstanding his sorrows, has been blessed. He has enjoyed to the present time good health, retaining his mental faculties to a remarkable degree. Ever held in affection and reverence by a large circle of friends, his cheeriness of spirit has never forsaken him, and now, in the far-spent evening of life, he looks forward with unfaltering faith to “The day that hath no evening, The health that hath no sore; The light that hath no ending, But lasteth evermore.”