Francis Higginson

Born in England in 1588, Francis Higginson was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge, and became known as a Puritan preacher. He served as a minister in Leicester, but pressure on nonconforming clergy eventually pushed him out of that position.

In 1629, he sailed to New England with the Massachusetts Bay Company and became the first minister at Salem. Although he lived there only a short time, he played an important role in the colony's early religious life and in presenting New England to readers back in England.

Higginson is remembered especially for his early writings about Massachusetts Bay, including accounts that described the region's landscape, resources, and prospects for settlement. He died in 1630, but his work remains valuable as one of the earliest English views of colonial New England.