Cotton Mather (Cyclopedia of World Authors)
Cotton Mather (MATH-ur), born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1663, was one of the outstanding leaders of the early New England Puritan theocracy; he was also one of the last. He came to power at a time when the control of the church was nearing its end—an end which he spent his adult life trying to prevent, yet which some historians believe he actually hastened.
Cotton was the son of Increase Mather and eventually succeeded him as minister of the Second, or Old North, Church in Boston. First, from 1680 until 1723 (the year of Increase Mather’s death), he served as his...
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