Frederick Ellsworth Mather

Frederick Ellsworth Mather (May 23, 1809 – November 9, 1900) was an American military officer, lawyer and philanthropist Early life The son of Ellsworth and Laura (Wolcott) Mather, he was born in Windsor, Connecticut. He was a lineal descendant of the nonconformist, Rev. Richard Mather, who came from England to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1635, and on his father's side he was the grandson of the sister of Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth. His father died when he was five years of age, and he was reared as a farmer's boy by his grandfather, Colonel Oliver Mather. At the age of eleven years he rescued a man and boy from drowning in a freshet. Education After the death of his grandfather in 1829, he spent a few months in the office of Judge Miller, of Ellington, Connecticut, but desiring a college training he soon commenced a preparatory course, and was admitted to Yale in the second term of Sophomore year. He was a founding member of the Skull and Bones Society.