The Mather House

The Mather House in August 2021.

Historical Overview

Standing at 142 South Mill Road is a member of West Windsor's "100 Club" and a familiar sight in the historic community of Dutch Neck. This is the Mather house.

Township tax records put the home's construction at around 1907 - a claim corroborated by the house's "American Foursquare" style.[1] We do not currently know who the home's original owner was (research is ongoing). The earliest known owners were Margaret Coleman and her husband, Alfred Perrine, in 1928. Alfred was a West Windsor Township "Overseer of the Highways" from 1907-1918.[2] He was also President of the West Windsor Board of Education for some time.[3] In 1928, Margaret and Alfred sold the property to Harry Herbert Mather and his wife, Elizabeth Schenck.[4]

Harry was one of West Windsor's longest-ever-tenured Tax Collectors, from 1935 to his death in 1964. He was also the town's first recorded Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds from 1940-1953.[5] 

The Mather House under construction, early 1900s. In the back is the Groendyke-Hann-Mihan House at 142 South Mill Road.

It is presumed that the Mathers raised at least some of their children in this house. Tragically, disaster struck one of their kids in 1952. That August 3, their son Norman (36 years old and employed at Western Union) and Richard A. Walton (18 years old and a freshman at Rutgers University), were flying a two-seater "Piper Cub" plane to spray the farm area with DDT. Norman had borrowed the plane from the estate of Albert Perrine, who had died two months prior. At 4:15 PM, the plane, flying over the Mather house and the adjacent Walton house (146 South Mill Road), made a sudden nosedive from an altitude of 100 feet (possibly due to an engine malfunction). Family and friends saw the crash and raced to the scene, but sadly both Norman and Richard died upon impact. This remains one of Dutch Neck's most depressing incidents.[6]

​Elizabeth died in 1958 and Harry in 1964,[7] whereupon the house was owned by Hazel and William Reed for two years[8] before being sold to William Flock Jr. and Ruth Flock (daughter of Elizabeth and Harry) in 1966.[9] William, a deacon at the nearby Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church, was also at one time the President of the New Jersey Tomato Grover's Association.[10] Ruth, for her part, was West Windsor's Tax Collector from 1965-74.[11] In 1978, the house was sold to new owners,[12] who have long maintained this piece of Dutch Neck history.

Photo of the plane crash wreckage.

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Bibliography

1. "West Windsor Tax Assessor Address List, 2019.” West Windsor, 2019. List of all residences in West Windsor with dates of construction, according to tax assessor. Sent to the Historical Society by Lorraine Jones and Dawn Moretti.
2. ​​​​“West Windsor Township Meeting Minutes, 1797-2012.,” n.d. Original Township Committee meeting minute database located in the Municipal Center.
3. “Alfred Perrine is Dead at 51." Trenton Evening Times, April 25, 1952. 
4. Mather, Elizabeth Schenck, Mather, Herbert H., Perrine, Alfred R., Perrine, Margaret C. “Deed.” West Windsor, 1928. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 643 Page 386.
5. ​​​​“West Windsor Township Meeting Minutes, 1797-2012.,” n.d. Original Township Committee meeting minute database located in the Municipal Center.
6. ​“Plane Tragedy Shocks Village of Dutch Neck." Newspaper Unknown, April 4, 1952. Newspaper clipping found in the Historical Society of West Windsor's archives at the West Windsor History Museum.
7. ​Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church. (n.d.). Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church graveyard. West Windsor. Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church graveyard gravestones, which often list birth dates, death dates, and ages of those buried there - including those of many of West Windsor's oldest families.
8. Flock, Ruth M., Flock, William E., Reed, Hazel Mather, Reed, William. “Deed.” West Windsor, 1966. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 1752 Page 766.
9. Ibid.
10. “Obituary - William E. Flock, Jr." West Windsor and Plainsboro News, March 2, 2007. 
11. ​​​​“West Windsor Township Meeting Minutes, 1797-2012.,” n.d. Original Township Committee meeting minute database located in the Municipal Center.
12. Flock, Ruth M., Flock, William E., Glover Richard Et. Ux. “Deed.” West Windsor, 1978. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 2078 Page 830.