placed with those of Hidalgo and Morelos in the cathedral of Mexico, and his name has been given to two towns and to districts in several states.
MATERNA, Amalie, German singer, b. in St.
Georgen, Austria, 10 July, 1847. Her first appearance
was made in the Thalia theatre, in Gratz, about
1864, and she afterward married Karl Friedrich, an
actor, and was engaged with him in suburban theatres
near Vienna, where she sang in operettas. In
1869 she appeared in the Imperial opera-house,
Vienna, as Selika in “L'Africaine” with signal
success, and in 1876 earned a world-wide reputation
by her impersonation of Brunhilde in the
Niebelungen trilogy at the Wagner festival in
Beireuth. She sang at the Wagner concerts of
England in 1877, and came to the United States in
1882 to sing in the New York music festival of
that year. Since that time she has sung in
Wagner's operas in this country for several seasons with
great acceptability.
MATHER, Fred, pisciculturist, b. in Albany,
N. Y., in August, 1833. In 1854 he became interested
in the lead-mines of Potosi, Wis., and afterward
hunted and trapped in the Bad Axe country
in that state. Here he learned enough of the Chippewa
language to become interpreter to the
government survey in northern Minnesota. During
the political troubles in Kansas he served under
Gen. James Lane, and was one of Jennison's
“Jayhawkers.” He enlisted in the 113th New York
regiment in 1862, and became 1st lieutenant two
years later. At the close of the civil war he took
a clerkship in the live-stock yards near Albany. In
1868 he bought a farm at Honeoye Falls, N. Y.,
and began to hatch fish of various kinds. When
the U. S. fish commission was formed in 1872 he
was sent for by Prof. Spencer F. Baird to hatch
shad for the Potomac river. In 1875 he established
hatcheries at Lexington and Blacksburg for the
state of Virginia. A year earlier he had hatched
the first sea-bass and graylings. After several vain
attempts to transport salmon-eggs to Europe, he
devised a refrigerator-box, and in 1875 succeeded
in carrying the eggs to Germany. He also, at the
same time, invented a conical hatching apparatus,
by which, through the admission of water at the
bottom, shad and other eggs were hatched in bulk
instead of in layers upon trays or floating boxes.
In 1884 he hatched the adhesive eggs of the smelt,
although all previous attempts had been failures.
He has been sent abroad several times by the
U. S. government in connection with fish-culture,
and he has medals and testimonials from many
scientific societies of Europe. In 1877 he became
fishery editor of “The Field” in Chicago, and since
1880 he has held a like position with “Forest and
Stream” in New York city. In 1882 he was sent
by Prof. Baird to Roslyn, Long Island, to hatch
salmon for the Hudson river. In 1883 he was
appointed superintendent of the New York fish
commission station at Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island.
Here the hatching of lobsters, codfish, and other
marine forms was begun. He has published
“Ichthyology of the Adirondacks” (1885), which
describes several fishes heretofore unknown.
MATHER, Frederic Gregory, journalist, b. in
Cleveland, Ohio, 11 Aug., 1844. He was graduated
at Dartmouth in 1867, and studied law in Cleveland,
but did not practise, having chosen commercial
and literary pursuits. In 1874 he became
managing editor of the “Times” at Binghamton,
N. Y., and in 1875 editor-in-chief of the “Republican”
in the same city, but resigned the place in
1879. He wrote editorials for the Albany “Evening
Journal” in 1880, and then became the resident
Albany correspondent of several newspapers. He
has frequently contributed to periodicals, chiefly
on historical, economic, and scientific subjects.
MATHER, Moses, clergyman, b. in Lyme, Conn.,
23 Feb., 1719; d. in Darien, Conn., 21 Sept., 1806.
He was graduated at Yale in 1739, and ordained
over the Congregational church in Darien in 1744,
which post he held till his death. During the
Revolution he was several times imprisoned as a
patriot. Princeton gave him the degree of D. D. in
1791. He was noted as a controversialist. He
published “Infant Baptism Defended” (1759), and
“Election Sermons” (1781).
MATHER, Richard, clergyman, b. in Lowton,
Lancashire, England, in 1596; d. in Dorchester,
Mass., 22 April, 1669. He was the progenitor of
the Mather family in New England. His father
was Thomas Mather, and his grandfather was
John Mather, of the chapelry of Lowton, in the
parish of Winwick, Lancashire. In the early days
of the 17th century, during the reign of James I.,
a band of Puritans cleared away the heavy forests
at the south of the city of Liverpool, and settled
what was known as Toxteth Park. They looked
upon the burning of John Bradford, at Smithfield,
as a martyrdom, and they erected a stone chapel
in which they might hear the doctrines of the
Reformation. The chapel is still in existence. It is
plain and square, with no steeple or belfry of any
description. The exterior is covered with ivy.
Among the tablets upon the interior wall is one
bearing this inscription: “Near this walk rest the
remains of several generations of an ancient family
of yeomanry named Mather, who were settled in
Toxteth Park as early as the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
They were distinguished by many virtues
and by strong religious feeling, and were among
the fairest specimens of those who, in former
times, were called Puritans.” Richard Mather was
called at a very early age to act as instructor to
the youth of this church. While filling this post
he resolved to prepare for the ministry, and to this
end he entered Brasenose college, Oxford. In
1619 he was ordained by the bishop of Chester and
was settled over the church in Toxteth, where he
remained until 1635, when he removed to this
country. This step was taken because he had been
suspended twice for non-conformity, and because
he foresaw the troubles under Charles I. and
Archbishop Laud. He took the ship “Bristol” on 16
April and landed in Boston, in disguise, on 17
Aug. His manuscript journal for 1635 is among
the collections of the Dorchester antiquarian and
historical society. It was printed in Boston in
1850. In regard to the immigration of those days
Daniel Neal wrote that he had a list of seventy-seven
divines, ordained in the Church of England,
that became pastors of churches in this country
before 1640, and that Richard Mather was one of
the number. On his arrival in Boston, Mr. Mather
found the church of Dorchester deserted by its
minister, who had become a colonist at Windsor,
Conn., with a part of his flock. He was called to
the vacant church and served it from 1636 till his
death. His preaching was direct and without the
use of quotations from the Latin. Thomas Hooker
said of him: “My brother Mather is a mighty
man.” In his time the religious discussion was not
so much upon the doctrines as upon the forms of
worship and the status of church government. In
such discussions he took an active part, and
answered for the ministers of the colony the thirty-two
questions relating to church government that
were propounded by the general court in 1639.
He was a member of the synod of 1648, and drew
