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THE 
AMERICAN GEOLOGIST. 
Vol. XIX. JANUARY, 1897. No. 1 
SKETCH OF W. W. MATHER. 
By C. H. Hitchcock, LL. D., Hanover, N. H. 
[Portrait, Plate I.] 
William Williams Mather was born in Brooklyn, Connecti- 
cut, May 24, 1804. The first of his ancestors to arrive in this 
countr}'- was the Rev. Richard Mather, who had emigrated 
from England in 1635 and settled in Massachusetts. The 
distinguished president of Harvard College, Increase, and his 
son Cotton, the eminent divine and author, belonged to the 
same stock. The maternal grandfather, Nathan Williams, 
was a soldier in the war of the Revolution. 
Young William became an adept in chemistry, and gradu- 
ated at the West Point Military Academy in 1828. In 1826 
he corrected and amended the proofsheets of a treatise on 
chemistry prepared by J. W. Webster, who was afterwards 
executed upon the gallows for the murder of Dr. Farknian. 
Webster failed to acknowledge his indebtedness to Mr. Mather 
in his preface, thus showing his lack of courtesy. After 
graduation Mather remained for eight years in the army, 
partly on regular duty, partly acting as professor of mineral- 
ogy, geology and chemistr}^ at West Point and Weslej'an 
University, and lastly as assistant geologist to G. W. Feather- 
stonhaugh in the exploration of Wisconsin Territory. 
