Cotton Mather

Timeline

1. 1663–1685Cambridge (Harvard College) · CambridgeBorn into a Puritan family in Boston, named after his maternal grandfather John Cotton. He received his bachelor's degree from Harvard at about fifteen and his master's in 1681; despite a stammer and while training for the ministry, he assisted his father in preaching at Boston's Second Church, and was formally ordained in 1685.
2. 1685–1693Boston · BostonAfter ordination he long served the North Church. In 1689 he published "Memorable Providences" recording witchcraft cases; during the height of the Salem witch trials of 1692–1693 he was commissioned by the governor to write "The Wonders of the Invisible World," providing theological defense for some convictions, while joining his father and other ministers in expressing reservations about relying solely on spectral evidence.
3. 1693–1728Boston · BostonIn 1702 he published in London "The Great Achievement of Christianity in America," a comprehensive history of the New England church. Around 1713 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. During the 1721 Boston smallpox epidemic, drawing on African and Ottoman experience, he promoted inoculation and worked with physician Zabdiel Boylston; despite fierce attacks, he became a key voice in North American public health history.