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The Mather Family had a great impact on Colonial
America. Most notable members of the family are
Increase Mather (1639-1723), and
Cotton Mather
(1663-1728). They were staunch Puritan ministers, and a part of the
theocracy that guided colonial Boston.
Increase Mather was the son of Richard Mather, and
pastor of North Church from 1664 until his death in 1723 (this original Old North
Church was later torn down by the British in 1775). He
was President of Harvard University from 1685 to 1701. In 1692, Mather spoke out against the hysterical
Salem witchcraft trials, writing a work entitled "Cases of Conscience," arguing that it was better to
let 10 witches escape, than to condemn a single innocent person.
Cotton Mather was the son of Increase Mather, and minister with his father
at North Church. Cotton was a prolific author, and wrote about 382
works. In 1689, he wrote "Memorable Providences Relating to
Witchcrafts and Possessions," which detailed his observation of a
"possessed" Irish washer-woman. Cotton's influence and works greatly
contributed to the Salem hysteria, and 19 people were convicted of
witchcraft and hanged on Gallows Hill there. In 1702, he wrote the
very important "Magnalia Christi
Americana," a rare ecclesiastical history
of New England. In 1706, he wrote Thy Negro Christianized,
arguing one should love thy neighbor as oneself, and that African Americans are
one's neighbors.
By the fall of 1692, great doubt was cast on how so many respectable people
could have been convicted of witchcraft. One of the judges,
Samuel Sewall, later wrote in 1696 an article of penitence for what had happened at
Salem.
In 1721, Cotton Mather's efforts with Dr. Zabdiel Boylston led to the
development of the first smallpox inoculation in
America.
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