
The Teacher
Toxteth Park, now a suburb of Liverpool, had been the property of the Crown from the time of King John. But in the 1604, Richard Molyneux purchased the land. Prior to this time, Toxteth Park was described as a "wasteland without inhabitants." Eventually, many people settled on the land and began its cultivation. Among the new settlers was Edward Aspinwall, whom Richard lived with, when, at the age of 15, he was called to take charge of the school there. During this time, Richard converted to Puritanism. There seems to have been some conflict between his beliefs and that of his host family, as reflected in Richard’s own words, stating that there was "a difference between his own walk and the most exact, faithful and prayerful conversation of some in the family of the learned and pios [sic] Mr. Edward Aspinwall of Toxteth Park...."
The Nonconforming Preacher
After three years of teaching at Toxteth Park, Richard began studying at Oxford, but he dropped out to take a position as a preacher back at Toxteth. (He was ordained a minister in 1620 when he was 24.) Desiring not to engage in the "sin of conformity," he refused to wear the "Surplice," a papal robe. For 15 years he preached the Puritan ethic before he was "silenced" in 1633 for "nonconformity" by the ecclesiastical authorities of the Church of England. He was briefly reinstated, then silenced again in 1634. It was also the year that his fourth son, Joseph, died shortly after his birth. During this difficult time in his life, Rev. Richard decided to leave England and bring his wife, Catherine Holt, and their three sons, Samuel, Timothy, and Nathaniel to New England where later two more sons, Eleazer and Increase, would be born.
Journey to New England
Rev. Richard Mather and his family left England in 1635 to begin a new life in Massachusetts. His agonizing decision to leave England and join the masses of people who were migrating to New England is reflected in the journal he kept. The journey took a total of six weeks, three of which were spent at sea. In his journal, Rev. Richard describes the hardships and storms at sea.
Life in Massachusetts

Meanwhile, Rev. Richard Mather’s influence spread beyond his own congregation. He was a leading figure in all the disagreements that shook the churches of early Massachusetts and was a principal translator and editor of the Bay Psalm Book, the Whole Booke of Psalms, the first book printed in this country. (1700 copies were printed, of which 11 today survive).
Richard died in his home in Boston on April 22, 1669 after suffering for days from uremic poisoning because of a kidney stone. He is buried in the Dorchester North Burying Ground a/k/a First Burying Ground in Dorchester.