Tomb of the Mather Family - Boston, MA
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 42° 22.046 W 071° 03.333
19T E 330743 N 4692619
The tomb of the influential Puritan ministers Increase Mather, his son Cotton Mather and his grandson Samuel Mather is located in Copp's Hill Burying Ground on Hull Street in Boston, MA.
Waymark Code: WM13DK3
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 11/16/2020
Views: 2
Tomb of the Mather Family is marked by a brick tomb inscribed MATHER TOMB with a nearby plaque which is inscribed:
THE MATHERS
Several generations of great 17th and 18th century New England divines are buried here. Increase (1639-1723), the father, Cotton (1663-1728) the son; and Samuel Mather (1706-1785) the grandson, belonged to a remarkable family of ministers. At a time when the church wielded its own power and religious zeal translated into political influence, the Mathers' ecclesiastical attainments assured them secular authority.
Increase was the sixth son of Richard, who was first of the Mather
dynasty and a minister in Dorchester. Increase graduated from Harvard
in 1656 and within a decade began a 60 year ministry to the 2nd
Church of Boston. Later, he was named president of Harvard. As a
powerful statesman, Increase represented Massachusetts at the British
Court and tried to secure a new, charter for the Colony
in the early 1690s. This effort and his role as personal advisor to
the new Royal Governor, Sir William Phips, acted such resentment
that he was forced to resign as Harvard president and lose his political power. Increase spent his last days in the North End where he had lived much of his life and had raised his 10 children.