In the Homestead attic, in the middle drawer of a wooden chest, wrapped in newspaper and tied with string, is a plain blue, checked dress with buttons down the front.
A handwritten note tucked beneath the string simply reads, “Ella Maria Mather’s dress.”
Stephen T. Mather’s father, Joseph Wakeman Mather, first married Maria Mahan (b. 4 Feb 1833) on 25 December 1856.
Their daughter, Ella Maria, was born 29 September 1857.
A year-and-a-half later, Joseph was widowed when Maria died on 16 March 1859.
Less than two years later, Ella Maria died, on 16 December 1861. Ella Maria Mather is buried in the Mather cemetery with her parents and her two half-brothers.
Many things have been put into the Mather attic for safekeeping. Everything from spinning wheels to steamer trunks. But most of all, remembrances…remembrances of other times and other places…and still, one-hundred and fifty years later, of a little girl in a blue dress.
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