American clergyman, born in Sandwich, MA, on the 15th of May 1687. He was graduated at Harvard in 1707 and spent the next ten years abroad. Upon his return he became assistant pastor of the Old South Church, Boston. He made a complete collection of colonial historical documents, some of which were destroyed during the Revolution and the remainder are deposited in the Boston Public Library. He published numerous sermons and several miscellaneous works, among which are Account of the English Ministers at Martha’s Vineyard (1727); Earthquakes of New England (1755); and two volumes of The Chronological History of New England (1736–55). He died in Boston, MA, on the 22nd of October 1758. See also Literary Criticism.
