History

Samuel Mather Jr., along with Daniel Lathrop Coit, was part of a syndicate of 58 who invested in the Connecticut Land Company sight unseen in 1795. The land was initially known as New Connecticut became known as the Western Reserve.

In 1798, Samuel, a member of the board of directors of the land company, traveled on horseback to the Western Reserve. Upon his return to the East, Samuel increased his property investments as evidence of his faith in the new territory.

Samuel Mather Jr. owned four townships and jointly owned four more. Not many of the proprietors settled on the new lands but instead sent agents or family to do the pioneering.

His son, Samuel Livingston Mather Sr. came to Cleveland in 1843 to represent his father and care for his Western Reserve holdings.

Samuel Mather Jr. was born on January 4, 1771. He married on April 10, 1807, to Catherine Livingston, who was born on October 10, 1787. They had five children: Catharine born on January 19, 1813, and died at age 4, Jane Ann (Mather) born on December 16, 1814, Samuel Livingston Sr. born on July 1, 1817, Katherine (Burnham) born on May 8, 1822, and Mary Cornelia born July 25, 1827, and died at age 1.

Samuel died on April 6, 1854. Catherine died on February 1, 1855, and buried alongside Samuel in Mortimer Cemetery, Middletown, Connecticut.