   cotton mather, frs (february 12, 1663&nbsp;â february 13, 1728; a.b. 1678, harvard college; a.m. 1681, honorary doctorate 1710, university of glasgow) was a socially and politically influential new england puritan minister, prolific author and pamphleteer. noted for fostering the salem witch trials, cotton mather also has a scientific legacy due to his hybridization experiments and his promotion of inoculation for disease prevention. ==biography== thumb|right|100px|richard mather right|100px|thumb|john cotton (1585â1652) he was the son of increase mather, and grandson of both john cotton and richard mather, all also prominent puritan ministers. mather was named after his maternal grandfather, john cotton. he attended boston latin school, where his name was posthumously added to its hall of fame, and graduated from harvard in 1678 at age 15. after completing his post-graduate work, he joined his father as assistant pastor of boston's original north church.(not to be confused with the anglican/episcopal old north church) in 1685 mather assumed full responsibilities as pastor at the church.  cotton mather wrote more than 450 books and pamphlets, and his ubiquitous literary works made him one of the most influential religious leaders in america. mather set the moral tone in the colonies, and sounded the call for second- and third-generation puritans, whose parents had left england for the new england colonies of north america, to return to the theological roots of puritanism. the most important of these, magnalia christi americana (1702), comprises seven distinct books, many of which depict biographical and historical narratives to which later american writers, such as nathaniel hawthorne, elizabeth drew stoddard, and harriet beecher stowe, would lo
1663_births 1728_deaths 17th-century_American_writers 17th-century_Calvinist_and_Reformed_theologians 17th-century_Christian_clergy 18th-century_American_writers 18th-century_Calvinist_and_Reformed_theologians 18th-century_Christian_clergy Alumni_of_the_University_of_Glasgow American_Calvinist_and_Reformed_theologians American_colonial_clergy American_people_of_English_descent American_religious_writers American_sermon_writers Apocalypticists Boston_Latin_School_alumni Critics_of_Catholicism Demonologists Fellows_of_the_Royal_Society Harvard_University_alumni History_of_religion_in_the_United_States Massachusetts_colonial-era_clergy New_England_Puritan_ministers New_England_Puritanism People_from_North_End,_Boston People_from_colonial_Boston,_Massachusetts People_of_the_Salem_witch_trials Puritans Yale_University