Mather, Increase (1639–1723)

American colonial and religious leader. As a defender of the colonial right to self-government, he advocated the revocation of the Massachusetts charter in 1683, and went to England as the representative of the colonists in 1688. However, his silence during the Salem witch trials of 1692 lessened his public influence.

Born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, father of Cotton Mather, and educated at Harvard University, Mather served as a cleric in England during the Puritan Commonwealth, returning to Massachusetts in 1661 where he was named teacher of Boston's Second Church in 1664. He was president of Harvard 1685–1701.