Rev. John Higginson

Biographical Summary:

Rev. John Higginson, son of Rev. Francis Higginson, born August 6,1616, at Claybrook, Co. Leicester; came with his father, in the "Talbot," 1629, to Salem; freeman, Massachusetts, May 25, 1636; chaplain at the Fort at Saybrook, 1637-8. Porter says he was one of the first settlers of Hartford, "although he appears not to have had a house-lot." He was a schoolmaster in Hartford, and may have occasionally "stepped into the pulpit." Mrs. Higginson sold land to Thomas Olcott, before Jan. 1639-40; he was at Guilford in 1641; colleague with Rev. Henry Whitefield, whose daughter, Sarah, he married He returned in 1659 to Salem, and remained there until his death, December 9, 1708. He married (2) about 1677, Mary, widow of Joshua Atwater, and daughter of Rev. Adam Blakeman, of Stratford.

SOURCE: James Hammond Trumbull, editor, The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Volume 1 (Boston, Massachusetts: Edward L. Osgood, 1886), page 244. Retrieved: 3 May 2011 from Google Books

"REV. JOHN HIGGINSON, OF SALEM, MASS.

At a meeting of the Massachusetts Historical Society, held in Boston, on Thursday, May 14, 1896, Dr. Samuel A. Green said : —

Since the last meeting of the Society, our associate Colonel Thomas W. Higginson has given to the Library a rare volume entitled " Our Dying Saviour's Legacy of Peace to His Dis- ciples in a troublesome World" (Boston, 1686), which was written by his ancestor the Rev. John Higginson, of Salem. It is of special interest at the present time, as it adds another title to the List of Early American Imprints belonging to the Society, which appears in the Proceedings (second series, IX. 410-540). This little book has more historical value than usually attaches to such productions, as the preface con- tains some biographical matter which far outweighs in import- ance the doctrinal views so common in early theological works. Mr. Higginson, the author, came over from England in 1629 with his father, who died during the next year. Though a mere lad at the time, the care and maintenance of his mother and seven other children fell largely upon him, the eldest of the family ; and he soon developed those traits of character for which he afterward became distinguished. For some years he lived in the Colony of Connecticut, but in the summer of 1660 was ordained over the same church at Salem which his father had planted ; and here he remained for nearly half a century. He published several occasional discourses ; and among them is the Election Sermon of 1663, the first one printed in that long series of annual addresses. While he was a relentless opponent of the Quakers, he [subsequently regretted his zeal, and] took no part in the terrible tragedy of 1692 at Salem, where he was then settled. "

Source: Retrieved 18 Jan. 2018 from: https://archive.org/stream/revjohnhigginson00gree/revjohnhigginson00gree_djvu.txt

Links

• [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Higginson_(minister) Wikipedia]
• http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:John_Higginson_%283%29_
• http://foundersofhartford.org/founders/higginson_john.htm

Sources

1. John Brooks Threlfall, Fifty great migration colonists to New England, p. 517.
2. Francis Higginson, in Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), 2:934.
3. Descendants of the Reverend Francis Higginson, first "teacher" in the Massachusetts Bay colony of Salem, Massachusetts and author of "New-Englands plantation" (1630)  by Thomas Wentworth Higginson. Published 1910 by Priv. print. in [Cambridge? Mass.] . Written in English.  Page 6-7