JOSHUA EMERY MATHER FAMILY

Joshua Emery Mather was born November 24, 1810 in Rockingham, Vermont and married Mariah Frisbie June 10, 1834. He came to Wheatland Township, Will County, Illinois in 1861. He was a grandson of Increase Mather, a brother of Cotton Mather, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

Of the marriage of Joshua Emery and Mariah Mather, ten children were born, nine boys and one girl. They were all born and raised in either DuPage Township or Wheatland Township, Will County, and married into families with early settler names such as Royce, Ballou, Mason, Holbrook, Frost, Havens, Sprague, George, Scarritt and Davis.

The principal occupation of the family was farming although Joshua Emery Mather Jr. at one time operated the creamery at the corner of 111th Street and Plainfield-Naperville Road. Cheese and butter were made at the creamery and the whey was used by the farmers for their pigs.

The stone homestead still stands on Naperville Plainfield road, five miles south of Naperville. The stone was quarried by hand and hauled by team and wagon.

On August 13, 1939 a Mather family reunion was held in Essex County, N.Y. Honoring four octogenarians. The sons of Joshua Emery Mather: George P., Joshua Emery Jr., Jonathan, Samuel, Asa F., James, and Edward all lived long and fruitful lives. Now their descendants are scattered over many states but there are some great-great grandchildren still located in the area.

Joshua Emery Mather died January 28, 1880 and Mariah Mather died February 4, 1892.