March 3, 1737

1737 March 3 (Thursday).  Mr. Mather[1] Lectured on [blank] against Covetousness.  Dined at Brother Samuel’s.[2]  P.M. visited Mrs. Pierpont,[3] Mrs. Hannah being at Marlborough.  Mr. Pierpont also had taken a Journey to New Haven.  Towards night I rode over to Roxbury.  N.B. Mrs. Sumner ill.[4]  I proceeded to Capt. Sharp’s.[5]  By Capt. Sharp’s strong Solicitation I tarried all night.  N.B. Mrs. Susan not very willing to think of going so far in the Country as Westborough, etc., etc., etc.

[1]Forbes: Probably Rev. Samuel Mather, son of Cotton Mather.  He was the fourth pastor of the dynasty of the Mathers over the Old North Church.  In 1765, he was living in Moon St., and Gov. Hutchinson took refuge in his house when his own elegant mansion was sacked by a mob.

He died June 27, 1785, aged seventy-six, and is buried on Copp’s Hill, in the Mather Tomb with Increase and Cotton.

Walett: Reverend Samuel Mather of the Old North Church, Boston.

[2]Walett: Samuel Parkman of Boston.

[3]Walett: Mary, the widow of Reverend James Pierpont (Harvard 1681) of New Haven.  She was the daughter of Reverend Samuel Hooker of Farmington, Conn., and the granddaughter of Reverend Thomas Hooker, the first minister of Hartford.  Parkman was very fond of Mrs. Pierpont and she appears in the diary numerous times.  After her death, Nov. 1, 1740, Parkman wrote a long eulogy which he intended to publish but did not.  The manuscript is in the library of the American Antiquarian Society.  See Sibley, III, 222-230.  Note: Walett is mistaken.  This was Sarah Pierpont, wife of James Pierpont, Jr.

[4]Walett: Mrs. Increase Sumner.

[5]Walett: In Brookline.