10/18/2026
It is remarkable how some documents seem to show up out of nowhere. One example is the collection of letters to and from Dr. Increase Mathews that Debbie Mandelbaum found in her New York City apartment and sent to us. This past week we were given a book in which Dr. Mathews had written his name.
Isaac Watts is best remembered today as the composer of hymns such as "When I Survey the Wonderous Cross", "I Sing the Mighty Power of God" and "O God, Our Help in Ages Past," but he also wrote books on religion and logic. His book on logic was first printed in England in 1724, and Dr. Mathews had a copy of the second American edition printed in 1796. Watts was a non-conformist Congregational minister which would have appealed to Mathews who was also a Congregationalist.
Dr. Mathews wrote the date of January 9, 1798, on the flyleaf of his book. To put some context on the date, Mathews was 25 years old and still living in Massachusetts, and his mother had passed away the preceding month. On June 14, 1798, Mathews began a journey to Ohio to see his sister Susannah at Belpre and his brother John and uncle Rufus Putnam at Marietta. In September he returned to Massachusetts but in 1800 he came to Ohio again, this time to stay, first in Marietta and then in 1801 moving to Zanesville until he purchased the land that would become the village of Putnam.
