Notes |
- The biography of William N. Mateer's son in the "History of Morrow County,
Ohio", 1911, by A. J. Baughman and Robert F. Bartlett says that Ross's mother
was Elizabeth Porter and that he had a half brother Joseph McMullin. This
reasonable interpretation from this statement is that Elizabeth was married
first to a McMullin and that William Mateer was therefore her second husband.
William N. Mateer was a schoolteacher in Adams County, Pennsylvania, before
moving west in 1830; in that year William and his brother John were listed in
the census of Mansfield, Ohio; William was aged 20-30 years, his wife was
30-40; there were two boys in the household, one 10-15 (probably William's
step-son) and another under five years.
Shortly after this census the Mateers moved on to Morrow County. William first
settled in the new town of Whetstone (also called Youngstown) which had been
laid out in 1824 in the NE 1/2 of Sec. 2 (in the south part of the present town
of Mt. Gilead). He was the first chairmaker in the new community and also its
schoolmaster.
On 2 March 1831 William N. and Elizabeth Mateer along with John and Jane Mateer
were listed as members of the "Presbyterian Church of Morrow" (now the
Presbyterian Church of Mt. Gilead). William N.'s son Ross N. Mateer was
baptized at the first such sacrament held in this church; his father was Sunday
School Superintendent there at the time.
After a few years William N. and family left the town proper and moved to a
farm some 2 1/2 miles east of Mt. Gilead, possibly on the land described in the
following conveyance: On 3 April 1837 William N. Mateer of Marion County,
Ohio, bought for $650 from Benjamin Hart and wife Mary of Knox County, Ohio, 80
acres previously patented to Hart in the W 1/2 SE 1/4 Sec. 7, T 17, R 20 of
lands sold at Wooster, Ohio. Morrow County was formed in 1848 from parts of
Marion, Knox, Delaware and Richland Counties, and the modern location of this
section would be in eastern Gilead Township or on the west edge of Franklin
Township in Morrow County near the present Mateer Road.
In the 1850 census of Franklin Township, Morrow County, Elizabeth Mateer aged
55 years was head of a household including John Mateer aged 20, farmer, Ross
Mateer aged 18, carpenter, and Matilda J. Mateer aged 16. Each of the three
children was credited with real property worth $400; so the inference is that
William had died intestate leaving his children as joint owners of the farm.
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Reference:
McTeer - Mateer Families of Cumberland County Pennsylvania, Frances Davis
McTeer, 1975, p 70-71.
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