Increase Mather

Born in Dorchester, Massachusetts Bay Colony, in 1639, Increase Mather became one of the most influential ministers in seventeenth-century New England. He graduated from Harvard and later studied at Trinity College Dublin, then returned to Boston, where he served for many years as a Congregational minister and built a reputation as a forceful preacher and public figure.

Mather also played a major role in education and colonial politics. He served as president of Harvard College from 1685 to 1701, helping guide the school through a difficult period, and he was active in the affairs of Massachusetts during a time of political uncertainty and change.

Today he is often remembered in connection with the Salem witch trials. His writings criticized the use of questionable evidence in witchcraft cases, and his work is often seen as part of the shift that helped bring the prosecutions to an end. He was also the father of Cotton Mather, another well-known New England minister and writer.