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Born: 1596 Lowton, England |
Died: April 22, 1669 Dorchester, Massachusetts |
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Spouse: Katherine Holt m. September 29, 1624 Bury, England |
Children: Increase Mather Eleazer Mather Timothy Mather Samuel Mather Nathaniel Mather Joseph Mather |
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Spouse: Sarah Hawkridge August 26, 1656 Dorchester, Massachusetts |
Children: None |
Additional Information:
"He received a liberal education and taught at Toxteth Park, near Liverpool, England, 1611-15, meanwhile studying for the ministry, and in 1615 he entered Brasenose college, Oxford. In 1620 he returned to Toxteth and was ordained by Bishop Morton of Chester. He was twice married, first, in 1624, to Katharine, daughter of Edmund Holt of Bury, and secondly, in 1656, to Sarah Story, widow of the Rev. John Cotton. He ministered in Toxteth until 1633, when complaints were entered against for non-conformity, and in August, 1633, he was suspended. By the intercession of friends his suspension was removed shortly after, but in 1634 it was again inflicted, and in May, 1635, he joined the company of pilgrims and embarked at Bristol for New England. He arrived at Boston in August, 1635. He formed a new church at Dorchester, Mass., and was chosen its pastor in 1636. Upon the downfall of the hierarchy in England, he was solicited to return to his former charge, but he refused. In 1639 he was chosen to answer the thirty-two questions propounded by the general court relating to church government. He was a member of the synod of 1648 and drew up the Cambridge platform of discipline, which was adopted. During his residence in New England he was a member of every synod convened and was moderator of a synod at the time of his death. He was one of the three ministers selected to prepare a New England version of the Psalms (1646), and he is the author of: Discourse on the Church Covenant (1639) and Treatise on Justification. He died in Dorchester, Mass., April 22, 1669."br>
--From The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans: Volume VII