Cotton Mather
Cotton Mather did not stray far from the path laid by his father and grandfathers. Both John Cotton (1584/5-1652), Mather’s maternal grandfather and his namesake, and Richard Mather (1596-1669), Mather’s paternal grandfather, attended university in England, emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony to escape the religious persecution of Puritans, and became authors, pastors, and leaders in the community. Mather’s father, Increase (1639-1723), similarly graduated from college, Harvard, and became a reverend and political leader.
Cotton Mather was born to parents Increase and Maria Cotton on February 12, 1663, in Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony. Cotton was one of ten children. His early education occurred at home. Mather was dedicated to learning, supposedly studying fifteen Bible chapters per day. At the age of twelve, Mather became the youngest person to ever attend Harvard, successfully completing entrance exams in Latin and Greek. Mather graduated from Harvard in 1678, and returned to continue his studies receiving a master’s degree at age 18 from his father who was President of Harvard College at the time.
That same year, Mather preached his first sermon. He was ordained at age 22 in 1685 at the Second Church of Boston. Mather, like his father and grandfathers, was a Puritan believer. Puritans were a denomination of Protestantism within the Church of England. They desired to further distance Protestantism from Roman Catholicism and the Pope by eliminating remaining Catholic practices and traditions. Puritans believed that moral and religious earnestness should guide life. Furthermore, they sought to rid sin and corrupt practices from society, such as drinking and gambling. Puritans supported Oliver Cromwell and Parliament in the English Civil War (1642-1646) as they thought King Charles I held Catholic beliefs. Upon the reinstation of the monarchy with King Charles II in 1660, the Puritan sect became unpopular due to its connections with the war. For that reason, many, like John Cotton and Richard Mather, left England for the new world. Mather believed that the establishment of the colonies was a direct intervention from God, saving the territory from the Devil. Salvation was also bestowed upon enslaved people by their Puritan owners through the teachings of Christianity. Puritans, including Mather who owned numerous slaves, were not against slavery or the slave trade as it was a practice rooted in the Bible.
Mather published over 450 books and pamphlets throughout his life, and he wrote in seven different languages. His works covered topics such as poetry, science, and sermons. He also wrote about Religion and history, sometimes together like in the Magnalia Christi Americana (1702), which provided an eight hundred plus page overview of Puritanism in New England. Mather’s collection of works Curiosa Americana (1712-1724) consisted of his observations of America’s Indigenous people as well as flora and fauna. This work was particularly well received and earned him membership to the Royal Society of London.
Mather’s interest in science did not stop with America’s natural history. Mather had a strong interest in medicine; he spent some time studying to become a physician. This detour did not last, and Mather returned to his religious studies, but medicine remained an interest. Mather became a key proponent of inoculation after hearing about the practice from an enslaved person in his household. This concept was not popular among the public at the time. To prove its effectiveness, Mather vaccinated his son for smallpox and almost killed him. This act sparked so much outrage that an explosive was thrown through a window in Mather’s family home attempting to silence if not kill him.
Mather also participated in the very contentious Salem Witch Trials. The ordeal occurred from February 1692 through May 1693; the courts found twenty people (mostly women) guilty of witchcraft and had them executed. The Chief Judge of the special courts hearing the witchcraft trials was Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts Bay, William Stoughton; nominated by Increase. Stoughton was a puritan like Mather and his father; however, he ruled the courts in a much more ruthless manner than they expected. Mather and Increase were against allowing witnesses to testify that the “spirit of the accused witch appeared” to them, known as “spectral evidence.” They were concerned that people would be wrongly accused and wanted to avoid hurried decisions to execute those on trial. Increase even wrote Sir William Phips, Royal Governor, to put an end to the trials. Mather published a detailed account of the event in 1693 called Wonders of the Invisible World. In it, Mather resolved,
An Horrible PLOT & against the Country by WITCHCRAFT, and a Foundation of WITCHCRAFT then laid, which if it were not seasonably discovered, would probably Blow up, and pull down all the Churches in the Country. And we have now with Horror seen the Discovery of such a WITCHCRAFT!
A dissident, Robert Calef, published More Wonders of the Invisible World, in response to Mather’s book. While not published in the colonies, it negatively impacted Cotton and Increase Mather’s reputation amongst Puritan leaders, accusing them of increasing the panic and supporting unjust proceedings. Mather would never become Harvard College’s President, like his father, likely due to his involvement in the trials.
Throughout his life, Mather married three times. His first wife, Abigail Phillips, died in 1702. He married again one year later to Elizabeth Clarke. He and Elizabeth had at least five children together. Unfortunately, Elizabeth, their two-year-old daughter, and newborn twins died in 1713 from the measles during an outbreak. Mather married Lydia George, his third wife, in 1715. Though she outlived him, she was eventually declared insane. Overall, Mather had fifteen children with his three wives, though only six of the children lived into adulthood.
Mather died in Boston, MA on February 13, 1728, at the age of sixty-five. He was buried in Copp’s Hill Burying Ground in Boston. Lydia George and two of his children survived him in death.
