Wigglesworth, Michael (1631–1705)

English-born US Protestant clergyman and poet. He emigrated to Massachusetts as a boy, graduated from Harvard in 1751, and was a fellow and tutor at Harvard before being ordained in Malden, Massachusetts, in 1656. His epic poem Day of Doom (1662) has been described as conservative Calvinist theology in readable form; it was an early American best-seller. He continued his pastorate in Malden, and also practised medicine there to the end of his life. Wigglesworth was born in Yorkshire, England.