Cotton Mather of Boston, Massachusetts, was the son of renowned Puritan minister Increase Mather. He was educated at Boston Latin School and Harvard College, and went on to become one of Puritan New England’s greatest scholars and leading ministers. He wrote numerous sermons and scores of books. Among these were Biblia Americana (a complete translation of the Bible from the Greek and Hebrew), some of the earliest histories of New England (one being Maglia Christi Americana – an evangelical history), and meditations on the roles of good and evil (including one of the first evaluations of the Salem witch trials). He married twice and had eight children. Although Mather was respected, he was not well liked by his peers or the members of his congregation. Nonetheless, because of his prolific writing and broad achievements, his death was mourned as a great loss for the religious community in New England.