William G. Mather is pictured. (Photo courtesy of the Negaunee Historical Society)

NEGAUNEE — The name Mather is synonymous with iron ore mining in Marquette County, notably the Mather “B” mine in Negaunee and the Mather “A” in Ishpeming.

The Mather family moved to Cleveland from Connecticut in 1843. In 1844, the presence of iron ore was discovered in Negaunee which became the Jackson mine.

In 1850, Samuel Mather, John Outhwaite, Morgan Hewitt, S. Chamberlain, Isaac Hewitt, Harry Brayton and E.M. Clark formed the Cleveland Iron Mining Company, which became the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company.

William Gwinn Mather, the son of Samuel Mather, carried on the industry which made possible thousands of factories manned by millions of workers, constituting the world’s largest manufacturing region which furnished machines for peace and weapons and material for war.

William was educated at Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut and went to work for father’s company in 1878, as a clerk, earning $100.00 a month. He learned the nature and structure of the mining business and was always ready to accept new responsibilities.

He devoted his time to study new methods and contributed to the pioneering of mining. He served as president of the company for 43 years and during that time changes were made in mining, mines and miners.

His company was the first to ship ore through the Sault Ste Marie canal in 1855. The company built a railroad to Marquetee in 1854. Miners began coming from Cornwall, England and Sweden. The newest methods were being used and charcoal kilns and furnaces were being built.

There was a fleet of steamers and a lumber department was added, with thousands of acres of timber land, sawmills and lumber camps. Then came a paper company, a woodenware company and a chemical company.

All of these were closely tied to the iron ore mines and contributed to the economic and financial operation of the company. William Gwinn Mather also turned to the human side of mining, he knew this was the decent thing to do.

He knew that contented families are an asset to any company. Towns were built and direction was given to the building of schools and public buildings. Prizes were given for yards and homes and gardens. Clubhouses were constructed, hospitals were built.

Homes were built to sell at cost to employees. Safety engineers pioneered in making the towns and the mines safer for work, play and living. Visiting nurses cared for the ill and pensions came into being at an early date.

Every manner of building better citizens has been done by William Gwinn Mather. The result was that in 51 years there were no labor problems. This man saw a growth of this company from one mine and 1,449 tons of ore a year to a total of 8,239,000,000 tons in his time. W.G.Mather was civic minded, he served on the board of three colleges and served as president of the Museum of Art.

On April 18, 1933, Mather was awarded the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce medal for distinguished public service. Mather noted that every possible effort should be made for war veterans to fit into civilian life when they return, believing that their experience on the battlefield be regarded as if they had attended college in the school of experience.

On the walls of W.G. Mather’s office is one picture, that of his father. The Mather family is one of the most famous of those who pioneered in America, dating back to Richard Mather who arrived in America in 1635.

Samuel Mather was a stockholder in the Connecticut Land Company and founded the city of Cleveland. His grandson, Samuel Mather arrived in Cleveland in 1843 to dispose of family holdings.

Samuel Mather was married twice. From his first marriage a son Samuel was born who was the founder of Pickands Mather and Company. William Gwinn Mather was the son of his marriage to Elizabeth Lucy Gwinn.

The town of Gwinn was named for his mother’s family. On August 1, 1941, the Directors of the Negaunee Mine Company formally named The Section 2 Development the Mather Mine.

William Gwinn Mather died in 1951.