Colonial clergyman and writer, born in 1617, in England. He settled in Watertown, MA, in 1635, but soon moved to Martha’s Vineyard. There, and in Nantucket, he became the leading spirit in the colonial life. He was a minister of the Baptist Church. His daughter, Abia, was the mother of Benjamin Franklin. He published several poems of some merit; the principal one, A Looking-Glass for the Times (1675), was much read at the time. He died in Nantucket, MA, in 1690.
