The Mott Family Bible of Mayhew Daggett Mott (1795-1869)
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.
Main Family Record lineage sheet:
Transcription:
- John Mott Born July 15th, 1746 | Died April 7th, 1823
Sarah Mott first wife deceased. See revision below. - Bulah Mott second wife deceased
- Naomi Mott third wife born June 15th 1769 | died July 11th 1840
Children by first wife
No five
- Vashti Mott born Feby 25th 1771
- Sarah Mott born Feby 20th 1773
- Vashti Mott born Feby 8 1775
- Ebenezer Mott born May 10th 1777
- Patience Mott born Jan 31th 1779
Children by second wife
No three
- Bulah Mott born March 11th 1788
- Elizabeth Mott born April 12th 1790
- John Mott born June 7th 1792 | died August 24th 1837
Children by his third
wife No eight
- Mayhew D Mott born May 27 1795 | died September 24 1869
- Ruth E Mott born April 28th 1797 | died July about the 15th 1832
- Bulah Mott born Feby 4th 1800 | died April 17 1803
- Lemuel C Mott do April 17th 1801 | died December about 11th 1840
- Benjamin Mott do July 2nd 1803 | died September 1840
- William M Mott do Dec 22 1805 | died Sept 6th 1853
- Theodocia B Mott do Aug 7th 1808
- Mary A Mott do Feby 13th 1813 | died Sept 26 at Clinton, Wis 1870
Revision to first wife:
Why the Bible has Sarah Mott as the first wife of John Mott will remain a mystery forever, but the marriage records coupled with land records and the Quaker meeting minutes clearly indicate that she was Patience AUSTIN, the daughter of Amos Austin, a Quaker of Evesham. His, her, lineage is in one printed work, the Haines genealogy where in the third generation we find Esther Haines, the daughter of Caleb, a Quaker farmer of Burlington who married Amos Austin and had seven children, Caleb, Vashti, Mary, Seth, Patience, Esther, and Amos. Patience is recorded in that genealogy as having married John Mott by license September 15, 1771. The New Jersey Archives Marriage Bonds and Licenses contains the license.
The Austin Family Association of America uses the same information in its database. Further, and more conclusive, are the land records showing “John Mott (Husband of Patience Mott); Patience Mott (Wife of John Mott)” mortgaging 6.13 acres to John Comfort in March of 1774, the lands adjoining Ebenezer Mott, his brother, James Atkinson, and Samuel Gaskill, Jr.,
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.
Additional Family Record sheets
Three other pages provide additional detail about the family of Mayhew Daggett Mott:
Additional pages are the inside cover on which is written the purchase date and place. Also here are the title pages of the Bible.
Footnotes