Description:
The Bible is 11 ¼" x 9 ¼" x 3 ½" thick and weighs six pounds, seven ounces. A number of pages front and back
are somewhat mangled and torn. There is a mangled title page stuck loosely in the back and a complete title
page for the New Testament. The cover is well worn. It was published in Hartford in 1836 by R. White and Hutchinson
and Dwier.
The Bible was purchased in 1836 by Mayhew Daggett Mott in Rome, New York from Peter White at a cost of four dollars and
twenty-five cents. Mayhew then wrote in the flyleaf, "Mayhew D. Mott Book May 30, 1839" which is likely
the when he began writing on the Family Record sheets shortly before or after his mother died in 1840. See the image lower down on this page.
Provenance:
The Bible passed to his son Wesley Mott (1835-1918), then to his son, Mayhew Mott (1874-1960), then to his
daughter, Marion (Mott) Wauda (1913-2006), then to her son, Charles Jeffery Wauda (1950- ), then to her nephew, Stephen Spicer (1945- ) who has possession currently. (2020).
Click on the images for a closer look and use the magnifier.
Handwriting:
The handwriting in the main lineage page is by one hand. Lacking a separate example of Mayhew's handwriting
it is not known whether it is his or not. I do have examples of his son Wesley's and it would seem from that
it could be his handwriting. I would consider that it is of little difference in that the names and dates of Mayhew's parents and
siblings would have been known to him primarily and at the least he would have dictated those to his son Wesley who was born
the year before the Bible was purchased. It is very unlikely that Wesley would have known the dates of his Aunt Bulah who
was born in 1800 and died three years later, nor the dates of other Aunts and Uncles who died
when he was very young; Mayhew would have been the only one who knew those dates.
* John inherited a step-son, The Rev. William Mann, D.D. (1785-1867) from this marriage to the widow Bulah Mann. Several letters in my possession witness
to a degree of closeness to his step-brother Mayhew Daggett Mott despite the distance. One letter mentions that he was in touch
with his step-sister Theodocia. Her death date is not recorded in the Bible and I do not know when she died or where, but likely New York State. She was married twice, to
Torry Hitchcock with whom she had three children. After his death she married John S. Martin, a widower.
On June 11, 1865, John’s step-son William Mann, wrote Mayhew in Wisconsin,
“Brother, you say you are 70. I am 79. Time. Time! O what an eventful story could you and I tell of the past!”
The Rev. William Mann would return to Mount Holly, New Jersey, where John Mott was from originally,
opening an Academy in Mount Holly in 1819 teaching Hebrew, Greek and Latin, Natural Philosophy among other subjects.
He received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Dickinson College in 1861. His sons became eminent Philadelphians.
One of them, Civil War Colonel William Benson Mann, would become the
District Attorney as well as a representative from the 3rd District of Philadelphia to the 1860
Republican National Convention. For documentation and details of that please email me.