A well-informed amateur physician (one who has no formal medical training), Mather was at the forefront of promoting medical advances such as smallpox inoculation. His book
The Angel of Bethesda (1722), a catalog of common ailments and their remedies, made significant contributions to colonial American medicine. A man of extreme contradictions, Mather had a life filled with disappointment and anguish.
Must Fulfill Family Expectations
Cotton Mather was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1663, into a third generation of prominent Puritans. His father, Increase Mather, was an historian and prominent Boston clergyman and his grandfather, Richard Mather (1596–1669), was a famous Puritan minister. His mother, Maria Cotton Mather,was the daughter of John Cotton (1584–1652), an equally esteemed Puritan minister. Such an impressive family background placed considerable pressure on Mather as a young boy. He was expected to become a successful theologian like his father and grandfathers, and he set about fulfilling these high expectations. By the time he was a teenager he had mastered Latin, Greek, and other ancient languages. He had also learned how to deliver formal sermons (religious speeches). When Mather was fifteen he graduated from Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and three years later he earned a master's degree from that institution.
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