John Aked Mather

Early oil region photographer. Known for his photography of early Pennsylvania oil region boom towns, he immigrated to the United States in 1856, becoming interested in photography while visiting his brother in Pennsylvania. After Colonel Edwin L. Drake struck oil near Titusville, PA in August, 1859, he settled in Titusville in October of 1860 and became one of the primary oil region photographers. Many of his photographs are considered to be the primary ones now known of some oil boom towns that boomed and bust in a matter of a few years. The subjects are varied and include oil boom town street scenes, oil equipment, railroads, and other early oil subjects. The world's earliest known photo of an oil fire was taken by him at Pithole, Pennsylvania, as well as the famous photo of Colonel Edwin L. Drake at the Drake Well, the world's first successfully drilled oil well, near Titusville, Pennsylvania. Despite his love of photography and his over forty years of documenting oil history and its development in photographs, his later years were sparse, and he suffered from poverty.
His collection of about 4,400 glass negatives of the oil region today reside at the Drake Well Museum near Titusville, PA, and represents one of the largest collection of early oil photographs and negatives.