In tours of the Homestead, guides unfailingly tell visitors about the March 1781
raid on the Homestead when a party of Tories descended upon the house and found valuables that the Mathers as well as neighbors had hidden in the well. The telling usually suggests that family silver was the most hidden valuable.
But, there was more than silver. In 1777, Deacon Mather’s older sister, Hannah, married Jesse Raymond. In a filing with the General Assembly of the State of Connecticut in May 1781, Jesse states that he “conveyed to and lodged in the Dwelling House of Joseph Mather in Middlesex parish to Secrete from the Enemy 3 Trunks with goods and effects…among which were three State Notes of ten pounds.”
In his filing Jesse goes on to state the interest rates for each note but cannot recollect the numbers of the notes. He goes on to ask for a total of thirty-five pounds, three shillings inclusive of the interest due.
He adds that “said lawful money all which by a Party of the Enemy from Long Island under the command of Cap’t. McAlpine were by force and arms violently taken among many other valuable effects and carried off…”
After his filing, the state treasurer, I. Lawrence, certified “that two Notes of ten pounds Each were by me as Treasurer issued in the Name of Capt. Jesse Raymond…All Notes of £10 which were given out for the bounty of Soldiers had no name specified therein—but payable to the bearer.”
It would appear that Jesse was out £10 pounds—plus interest—on one note. But, again the Mather archives have enriched us with another interest-filled bit of Colonial history and Homestead lore.
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