Person Mather; Cotton (1663 - 1728) Mather Cotton 1663 - 1728 British Male 12 February 1663 16630212 13 February 1728 17280213 Burial: Copp's Hill Cemetery, Boston, Massachussetts, United States, North and Central America

Clergyman, Congregational; slave owner Education: Boston Latin School; Harvard, BA (1678), MA (1681) Career: Assistant to his father at the Second Church in Boston (1680); ordained there (1685); remained there for the rest of his life; Overseer at Harvard; one of the ringleaders of the rebellion against Sir Edmund Andros, the Governor of Massachusetts (1688); Fellow of Harvard (1690-1703); his investigations into witchcraft led him to be associated with the Salem Trials, although he later condemned them as unjust; instrumental in securing Elihu Yale's benefaction to the Connecticut College later named after him; when smallpox broke out in Boston, he persuaded Zabdiel Boylston (FRS 1726) to use inoculation after testing the procedure on Boylston's youngest son and two enslaved people; Mather's attention was first drawn to innoculation by an account from Onesimus, an enslaved man in his service, who had been innoculated as a child in Africa; conducted one of the first recorded experiments with plant hybridization based on his observations of corn varieties, described in a letter to James Pettiver (FRS 1695) in 1716; author of more than 450 books and pamphlets on Puritan theology and morals. Son of Increase Mather, President of Harvard, and his wife, Maria Cotton. Married: 1) Abigail, daughter of John Phillips of Charlestown; 2) Elizabeth Hubbard; 3) Lydia George fathered 15 children , only two of whom outlived him Fellow 27/07/1713 50 Sources: Bulloch's Roll; DAB References: Niven, Steven J. (2013). "Onesimus (fl. 1706–1717), slave and medical pioneer, was born in the..." Hutchins center. Harvard College. Notes: Mather was proposed by Richard Waller 23/7/1713 and approved by Council 27/7/1713, and appears to have been informed that he had been elected. In 1723 he wrote to ask if he was indeed a Fellow, as his name was not on the printed list. It was then discovered that he had not in fact been elected in 1713 and the matter was hastily put right (See LBC.15.75 informing Mather of his election, and a letter from Mather acknowledging this letter at MM.1.18) International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) - Ottawa 1996 ISBN 0-9696035-3-3 National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 12 Feb 1663 - 13 Feb 1728 NA8409 21/11/2001 Andyg Pmab 17/12/2025 RS_NET\VirginiaM yes ba9ad96f-e49a-4fb5-a0ad-c0008e16195b