Michael Wigglesworth
October 18, 1631 - June 10, 1705
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Michael Wigglesworth, father to Martha who married Samuel Law December 15, 1708 in Concord, MA,
was born in England on October 18, 1631 to Edward and Esther Wigglesworth. The family arrived in
Charlestown, Massachusetts in August of 1638. They moved to New Haven, Connecticut in October of that year
and that is where his father died in 1653. Wiggleworth's family moved because of religious persecution in England.
Devout Puritans, his father wished him to become a minister and that he did. He graduated from Harvard in 1651
and began to tutor there while he studied theology. One of his pupils was Increase Mather, father of Cotton Mather.
He was invited to Malden, Massachusetts to preach there, which he accepted and stayed until his death on June 10, 1705.
Mr. Wigglesworth was married at least three times and had seven children. The mother of my ancestress Martha,
was one Martha Mudge, possibly Mr. Wigglesworth's housekeeper, whom he married in 1679.
Michael Wigglesworth is buried at Bell Rock cemetery in Malden.
I visited the cemetery in October 2007 but was unable to locate the gravesite.
I visited again in May of 2008 and found the gravesite. It appears below.
Wigglesworth had several published poems and pieces, but he may be known best for his poem
"The Day of Doom", once called "America's First Best Seller", published in 1662, but still in print today.
God's name was well known to the Puritans of his time, so I was pleased to find that in the fourth to last stanza, Wigglesworth
uses Jehovah's name in his writing. This poem is very extensive, so I have not included it here,
but you can very easily find it by typing "Michael Wigglesworth Day of Doom" into a search engine.
The drawing above was done by his youngest son, Edward.
Bell Rock Cemetery Marker
Here lyes buried ye body of that faithfull sepuant of Jesus Christ ye Reverend Mr Michael Wigglesworth Pastour of ye Church of Christ at Maulden Years who finished his work and entered apon an eternal sabbath of rest on ye Lords Day June ye 10 1705
74 Years of Age
The information for this page was taken from the New England Historical and Genealogical Register of April 1863,
available at the Concord Public Library in Concord, MA. AND from the Genealogical Dictionary of New England Vol IV p. 540.