Samuel Willard (January 31, 1640 – September 12, 1707) was a

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...

clergyman. He was born in

Concord, Massachusetts Concord () is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. At the 2020 census, the town population was 18,491. The United States Census Bureau considers Concord part of Greater Boston. The town center is near where the co ...

, graduated from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher ...

in 1659, and was minister at Groton from 1663 to 1676, before being driven out by the Indians during

King Philip's War King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1676 between indigenous inhabitants of New England and New England coloni ...

. Willard was

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

of the Third Church,

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, from 1678 until his death. He opposed the

Salem witch trials The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Thirty people were found guilty, 19 of whom w ...

and was acting president of

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

from 1701. He published many sermons; the folio volume, ''A Compleat Body of Divinity'', was published posthumously in 1726.

Early life

Willard's parents were Major

Simon Willard Simon Willard (April 3, 1753 – August 30, 1848) was a celebrated American clockmaker. Simon Willard clocks were produced in Massachusetts in the towns of Grafton and Roxbury, near Boston. Among his many innovations and timekeeping improvement ...

and Mary Sharpe, who had emigrated from England to New England in 1634, settling first in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

. In 1635, with Rev. Peter Bulkeley, they established the town of Concord, where Samuel was born the sixth child and second son. After the death of his mother, his father remarried twice, and Samuel was one of seventeen children born to the family. At the age of fifteen, Willard entered

in 1655, graduating in 1659, and was the only member of his class to receive an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

Ministry in Groton

In 1663, Willard began preaching in Groton, then at the very frontier of the

Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as th ...

. The town's first minister, John Miller, had become ill and, when he died, the congregation asked Willard to stay, and he was officially ordained by them in 1664. On August 8, 1664, Willard married Abigail Sherman of Watertown. In 1670, he became a

freeman Freeman, free men, or variant, may refer to: * a member of the Third Estate in medieval society (commoners), see estates of the realm * Freeman, an apprentice who has been granted freedom of the company, was a rank within Livery companies * Free ...

, with full privileges of citizenship. In 1671, 16-year-old Elizabeth Knapp fell ill and appeared to be possessed. Willard wrote about the strange behavior. Groton was destroyed on March 10, 1676, during King Philip's War, and the 300 residents abandoned the town. Willard and his family removed to

Charlestown, Massachusetts Charlestown is the oldest neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. Originally called Mishawum by the Massachusett tribe, it is located on a peninsula north of the Charles River, across from downtown Boston, and also adjoins ...

Ministry in Boston

Willard preached at the Third Church in Boston during the illness of Rev.

Thomas Thacher Thomas Thacher (May 3, 1850 – July 30, 1919) was an American lawyer. Life Thomas Thacher was born in New Haven, Connecticut on May 3, 1850. He was a descendant of the Rev. Peter Thacher, the rector of St. Edmonds, Salisbury, England; and of hi ...

and gave an election-day sermon on June 5. The Third Church called Willard to be its teacher, an associate pastor, on April 10, 1678. When Thacher died on October 15, Willard became the only pastor. Members of the congregation included a variety of influential members of the colony: John Hull(18 December 16241 October 1683), Samuel Sewall, Edward Rawson,

Thomas Brattle Thomas Brattle (June 20, 1658 – May 18, 1713) was an American merchant who served as treasurer of Harvard College and member of the Royal Society. He is known for his involvement in the Salem Witch Trials and the formation of the Brattle St ...

Joshua Scottow Joshua Scottow ( England, ca. 1618 - Boston, Massachusetts, USA, January 20, 1698), was a colonial American merchant and the author of two histories of early New England: ''Old Men's Tears for Their Own Declensions'' (1691) and ''A Narrative of the ...

Hezekiah Usher Hezekiah Usher (1615 – May 14, 1676) of Boston was the first known bookseller in British America. The first books printed in the thirteen colonies were published and sold by Usher. Early life Usher was born in 1615. The medieval records ...

and Capt. John Alden (the son of

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

and

Priscilla Alden Priscilla Alden (, ) was a noted member of Massachusetts's Plymouth Colony of Pilgrims and the wife of fellow colonist John Alden (1687). They married in 1621 in Plymouth. Biography Priscilla was most likely born in Dorking in Surrey, the da ...

of Plymouth). His wife Abigail died some time in the first half of 1679; in July that year he married Eunice Tyng, a possible sister-in-law of

Joseph Dudley Joseph Dudley (September 23, 1647 – April 2, 1720) was a colonial administrator, a native of Roxbury in Massachusetts Bay Colony, and the son of one of its founders. He had a leading role in the administration of the Dominion of New England ...

. While in Boston, he married

Josiah Franklin Josiah Franklin Sr. (December 23, 1657 – January 16, 1745) was an English businessman and the father of Benjamin Franklin. Born in the village of Ecton, Northamptonshire, England, Josiah was the ninth child of blacksmith Thomas Franklin (b. 1 ...

and

Abiah Folger Abiah Folger Franklin (August 15, 1667 – May 18, 1752) was the mother of Benjamin Franklin, a Founding Father of the United States. Biography Abiah Folger was born on Madaket Road in Nantucket, Massachusetts, on August 15, 1667, to Pet ...

, the parents of the American

polymath A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific pro ...

and

Founding Father The following list of national founding figures is a record, by country, of people who were credited with establishing a state. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e. ...

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading int ...

Church of England

Sir Edmund Andros Sir Edmund Andros (6 December 1637 – 24 February 1714) was an English colonial administrator in British America. He was the governor of the Dominion of New England during most of its three-year existence. At other times, Andros served ...

asked each of the

churches in Boston if its meeting house could be used for services of the Church of England. When he was rebuffed, he demanded and was given keys to Samuel Willard's Third Church in 1687 in a clear power play. Services were held there under the auspices of Rev. Robert Ratcliff until 1688, when

King's Chapel King's Chapel is an American independent Christian unitarian congregation affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Association that is "unitarian Christian in theology, Anglican in worship, and congregational in governance." It is housed i ...

was built. These actions highlighted him as pro-

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...

in the eyes of local Puritans, who later accused him of involvement in a "horrid Popish plot".

Leading Harvard

Willard was the acting president of Harvard College, although having the nominal title of vice-president, from 1701 until his death in 1707.Quincy, pp. 145–156.

Works

* *
''Some Miscellany Observations On our present Debates respecting Witchcrafts, in a Dialogue Between S. & B.''
* Internet Archive * * "A briefe account of a strange & unusuall Providence of God befallen to Elizabeth Knap of Groton" in Samuel A. Green, ed.

Groton, MA: .n.1883

Notes

References

External links

Profile
pragmatism.org; accessed September 7, 2015.
A collection
of Samuel Willard's sermons are in the Harvard Divinity School Library at

Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the academic study of religion or for leadership roles in religion, gov ...

. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Willard, Samuel 1640 births 17th-century Christian clergy 1707 deaths American sermon writers American theologians Critics of witch hunting Harvard College alumni History of religion in the United States Massachusetts colonial-era clergy People from Concord, Massachusetts People from Groton, Massachusetts People of colonial Massachusetts People of the Salem witch trials Presidents of Harvard University Burials at Granary Burying Ground