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Relatives: Husband of Margaret Maxwell. Father of Matthew Maxwell Mather Stone Condition: Sound Material: Sandstone Height: 2.9 Breadth: 2.7 Depth: 0.54 Inscription Condition: Clear but worn Inscription Technique: Incised Mason: W. Arneil Pre 1855 no. N/A ( What's this? )

Monument Inscription

IN
MEMORY
OF
JAMES MATHER
WATERFOOT,
WHO DIED 6th JANUARY 1857
AGED 64 YEARS.
AND OF HIS WIFE
MARGARET MAXWELL
WHO DIED 10th NOVEMBER 1858
AGED 59 YEARS.
ALSO THEIR SON
MATTHEW MAXWELL.
WHO DIED 19th FEBRUARY 1856
AGED 18 YEARS.
AND OF JAMES MATHER
THEIR GRAND-SON BORN 20th SEPR 1868
AND DIED 9th MARCH 1872
AND OF MARGARET MAXWELL MATHER
THEIR GRAND-DAUGHTER BORN 1st MAY 1878
AND DIED 10th MARCH 1888
AND OF MATTHEW MAXWELL MATHER
THEIR GRAND-SON BORN 29th DECR 1872
AND DIED 16th JULY 1899
AND OF THOMAS MAXWELL MATHER
THEIR GRAND-SON BORN 11th DECR 1881
AND DIED 9th JANUARY 1912

Family History

James Mather, born in the parish of Mearns in 1793, was by 1841 occupying the farm of Waterfoot on the Eaglesham Road. Having married Margaret Maxwell in Glasgow in 1833, this couple were, unusually for the times, to produce only two children during their marriage. These children, both boys, they named William and Matthew.

The farm at Waterfoot was of a smaller size than usual for the district, being only twenty-eight acres in extent and for the greater part on hilly terrain susceptible to flooding in parts from the River Cart which bordered its policies. Despite its small size it was able to support a ploughman, a dairymaid and two agricultural labourers.

Tragically, they lost their younger son Matthew at the age of eighteen years in 1856. Within a year of his son’s death James Mather was to join him in the churchyard at Mearns aged sixty-four years. Another year and half passed before his wife Margaret Maxwell also passed away. The cause of death was given as bronchitis and acute asthma.
This left only son William, aged twenty-five years, to take over the running of the farm.

The remainder of the persons listed on this stone, all children of son William and his wife Annabella Boyd were laid to rest alongside their grandparents in what was then the family grave. Taking into account the numbers of persons buried in this plot, the adjoining plot (Monument Z32) had to be utilised for the remainder of William’s family when their time came.