This daybook (166 pages) contains information about Samuel Livingston Mather's financial affairs in Cleveland, Ohio, between July 1843 and June 1848. The accounts pertain to real property in Ohio, mining company stock, banking, and Mather's personal finances.
The daybook entries are comprised of notes about individual transactions and agreements, and many refer to additional financial records or letters, recorded in other volumes (not present). The volume represents Mather's personal and business interests; several individuals appear frequently throughout the volume, including William N. Sill (later, his estate) and Nathan Starr. Mather often conducted business with residents of New York State. Some entries pertain to real property in northeastern Ohio, and a manuscript map of lots near a street corner, titled "Western Starr," is laid into the volume (pp. 135-136). Other records concern tax payments, the Merchants Bank, and stock in mining companies such as the Isle Royale & Ohio Mining Company.
Samuel Livingston Mather was born in Middletown, Connecticut, on July 1, 1817, the son of Samuel Mather and Catherine Livingston. After graduating from Wesleyan University in 1835, he went into business with his father in New York City. In 1843, Mather moved to Cleveland, Ohio, to represent the Connecticut Land Company, which purchased and re-sold lands in the former Western Reserve. Shortly after his arrival in Ohio, Mather began to invest in mine development in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. He was a founder of the Cleveland Iron Mining Company, and served the company's president from 1860-1890; he also held leadership positions for other mining companies and for the Merchants National Bank (later the Mercantile National Bank). On September 24, 1850, he married his first wife, Georgiana Pomeroy Woolson (d. 1853). They had two children: Samuel (1851-1931) and Katherine. Mather married his second wife, Elizabeth Gwinn, on June 11, 1856; they had one son, William Gwinn (1857-1951). Samuel Livingston Mather died in Cleveland on October 8, 1890.
