Michael Wigglesworth

• GIVN: Michael
• SURN: Wigglesworth
• NPFX: Rev
• Sex: M
• Born: 28 Oct 1631 in , Yorkshire, England
• Died: 10 Jun 1705 in Malden, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States
• AFN: 8KML-WJ
• _UID: F6CB55302A0111DAB9B700A0CC5D9B65957D
• Baptised LDS: 5 Dec 1936 17 Jul 1946 14 Mar 1947
• TEMP: SGEOR
• Record last updated: 30 Nov 2013
• TIME: 11:39
• Notes:

  James Wade's grandmother, Dorothy Wigglesworth, was the daughter of Rev.Michael Wigglesworth, who was born in Yorkshire, England, October 28,1631. He was brought to this country in 1638; graduated from Harvard College in 1651; soon after became a professor there, and was ordained to the ministry in 1656. He died June 10, 1705.
  
  Graduated Harvard 1651, settled in ministry at Malden 1654
  A learned and pious minister; skilled also in medicine.
  He was father of the first and grandfather of the second Professor of Theology at Harvard.
  Memoir, autobiography, letters and library at NEHGR 17:129
  ===================================================================
  Michael Wigglesworth
  
  (1631-1705)
  
  Upon Michael Wigglesworths death in 1705, his gravestone was inscribed, "Here lies Intered in Silent Grave Below / Mauldens Physician For Soul and Body too." Wigglesworth served as minister and physician in the Massachusetts town of Malden for over fifty years, but poems rather than sermons would sustain his reputation throughout the colonies during the seventeenth century. 'The Day of Doom' and 'Meat Out of the Eater,' both bestselling expressions of conservative Puritan theology, urged Puritans to repent their sins and to seek redemption. Presenting the basic tenets of Puritan belief in a jogging verse form called fourteeners, The Day of Doom was purchased, memorized, and recited by Puritans throughout the colonies and England. Today, Wigglesworths candid diary and persuasive poetry serve as fascinating glosses on Puritan experience .
  
  Born in Yorkshire, England in 1631, Wigglesworth was raised by devout parents who left England in 1638 to join the growing community of Puritans in Massachusetts Bay. He excelled in his studies from a young age, and his parents eventually sent him to the newly established Harvard College in 1648. Arriving at Harvard with thoughts of studying medicine, he soon began to struggle with, define, and express the religious and philosophical ideas that would form the substance of his writings and make him an influential minister and poet. Reflecting on Gods grace and examining his own soul, an experience of salvation central to Puritan theology, Wigglesworth postponed his medical studies to prepare for the ministry. He rejected several ministerial positions, however, in order to remain at Harvard for his masters degree and as a tutor. Intensely devoted to his students, Wigglesworth struggled endlessly to place God foremost in his mind at all times.
  
  Wigglesworths Diary records his thoughts and conversations with God during his tutoring years at Harvard, his marriage to a cousin, Mary Reyner, and his agonizing decision to accept a pastorship in Malden. The diary reveals the Puritans constant self-scrutiny and unceasing search for signs of Gods favor or displeasure. He returns again and again to his most unrelenting sins: pride, lack of affection for his parents, especially his father, and attachment to things of the world rather than the divine. With remarkable emotional intensity, he describes his worries about his sexuality and his frequent bouts of illness. Exhaustion, weak lungs, and a chronic sore throat kept Wigglesworth from performing his full duties as pastor of Malden. He compensated for this shortcoming by becoming active in his community as a physician and as a poet. After the death of his wife, he began writing verse, preaching to the world through a medium kinder to his malady. He responded to his frustrated parishioners in the preface to The Da y of Doom:
  
  Some think my voice is strong,
  Most times when I do Preach:
  But ten days after what I feel
  And suffer, few can reach.
  
  In The Day of Doom, Wigglesworth sought to make more present that day that should never leave the Puritan mind: the Day of Judgment. The Last Judgment comes without warning in the poem, instructing readers that they must constantly ready themselves for God by considering each action in life in the light of Gods judgment in death. The fervency of Wigglesworths literary plea for rectitude was, in part, a response to the growth of materialism and the decline of spiritualism in the colonies. Through a poetic parable of goats (the damned) and sheep (the saved), Wigglesworth delineated punishments for the wicked and rewards for the virtuous, balancing Gods mercy and justice. Easily accessible and directed at a broad audience, The Day of Doom provided comfort to many generations of believers. The first edition, published in 1662, sold out within a year, and the volume was reprinted many times in both America and England. Unable to lecture consistently in his own parish, Wigglesworth preached compellingly to an enormous audience throughout the colonies. His next publication, Meat Out of the Eater, fell just short of the popularity of his first book. The title derives from the Biblical story of Samson and suggests that blessing arises from suffering, a theme perpetually present in Wigglesworths own life as he attempted to turn physical ailment into spiritual health. Wigglesworths jeremiad about the colonies spiritual apathy, Gods Controversy with New-England, was written in 1662 but remained unpublished for two centuries.
  
  Wigglesworth became embroiled in his own New England controversy when he married his unbaptized servant, Martha Mudge, in 1679. His influence in the colony, however, continued unabated. In the latter part of his life, Wigglesworths health improved and he became a more vigorous spiritual leader. After Martha Mudges death, he married for a third time, became a Fellow at Harvard, and began preaching more often and energetically. As the colony as a whole grew less orthodox and wavered in its respect for members of the clergy, Wigglesworth still claimed considerable admiration. He continued to heal both body and soul through his medicine, his ministry, and his poetry until his death in 1705.
  
  Danielle Hinrichs
  Claremont Graduate University
  **************************************
  A Genealogical Dictionary of The First Settlers of New England, Before1692
  Volume #4
  
  WIGGLESWORTH:MICHAEL, Malden,
  son of the first Edward, born in England, was ordained 1654, but after serving at the altar eight or nine years his wretched health, of which the melancholy influence runs sadly through his chief poem, was forced to forego his mininstry above twenty years and by first wife Mary, whose surname is untold (but once eroneously thought to have been a daughter of John Rayner of Plymouth, though others supposed her to have been a Hobson of Rowley, and certainly was niece of that Rayner, and daughter of Humphrey of Rowley, who calls him son in his will) who died 21 Dec 1659, had Mercy, born Feb 1656. He partly regained his strength and practiced medicine until wholly restored resuming labor in the pulpit. I have seen a copious epistle to him from Rev. Nathaniel White, dated "Overplus in Somer Island, the 12th of the 7th mo. 1664," acknowledge receipt of his letter of 12th of 5 month informing of safe return to our shore. By which Martha he had Abigail, 20 Mar 1681; Mary, 21Sept. 1682 ; Martha, 21 Dec. 1683; Esther, 16 Apr. 1685; Dorothy, 22 Feb.1687; and Samuel, 4 Feb. 1689, H. C. 1707, the min. of Ipswich Hamlet or Hamilton.
  
  This wife who probably was daughter of Thomas Mudge of Mass. died Sept. 4 or 11, as in scripture may be read, 1690, aged only 28 yrs. if the record be trusted and by third wife of the name of who I believe the account of Farmer in MS. may be recorded that she was Sybell, daughter of the sec. Nathaniel Sparhawk, widow of Jonathan Avery, he had Edward, b. 1693, as is said, H. C. 1710, the first divinity professor at the college tho. common report, onment. of his death early in 1765, makes him 72 years old. Now the s. could not have been the child of that third wife (who by Dr. Allen in his Biographical Dictionary Edition of 1857, was thought to be his only wife) unless we reduce the numberof his years for her former husband Jonathan Avery of Dedham, died less than 72 years before the death of her son by the next husband. This youngest son was probably of the second wife. He was freeman 1690, of very considerable reputation for talents, preaching electrifying sermon in the trying days of 1686, and later the Artil. elect. sermon; but is most spoken of as author of the Day of Doom, a poem of appropriate sadness, which pass. thos. sev. ed. on our side of the water, last in 1829, and was printed to instruct rather than amuse readers in England and died 10 June 1705. His widow died 6 Aug. 1708, in her 54th year as Harris, Epit. 40, shows.
  
  He had talk. his mother and sister to live with him.
  
  Of his daughters, Mary is supposed to have married abt. 1673, Samuel Brackenbury, and next Rev. Samuel Belcher;
  Abigail married 23 Dec. 1700 or 1702, Samuel Tappan;
  Martha married a Wheeler;
  Esther married 8 June 1708, John Sewall, who died 1711, and next 21 Oct. 1713, Abraham Tappan;
  and Dorothy married 2 June 1709, James Upham.
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  NEHGS:
  1655 Wigglesworth c.c. Mercy daughter of Rev. Michael and Mary (12)1655. Birth Malden
  1681 Wigglesworth c.c. Abigail daughter of Rev. Michael and Martha March 20 1681. Birth Malden
  1682 Wigglesworth c.c. Mary daughter of Rev. Michael and Martha Sept 21 1682. Birth Malden
  1683 Wigglesworth c.c. Martha daughter of Rev. Michael and Martha Dec. 21 1683. Birth Malden
  1685 Wigglesworth c.c. Esther daughter of Rev. Michael and Martha April 16 1685. Birth Malden
  1686 Wigglesworth c.c. Dorothy daughter of Rev. Michael and Martha Feb. 22 1686/7. Birth Malden
  1688 Wigglesworth c.c. Samuel son of Rev. Michael and Martha Feb. 4 1688/9. Birth Malden
  1708 WIGGLESWORTH Sibyll, wife of Rev. Michael, late of Malden, Aug.6, 1708, in her 54th year G.R.1. Death Cambridge
  1705 Wigglesworth Rev. Michael pastor of the church at Malden June10 1705. Death Malden
  1690 Wigglesworth g.s.Martha wife of Rev. Michael abt. 28 year. Sept.4 1690. Death Malden
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  http://www.princeton.edu/~eng366/tdod.html
  
  Michael Wigglesworth, The Day of Doom (1662)
  
  Wigglesworth's epic poem is widely regarded as America's first"best-seller," though it was published long before that term came into popular usage. Composed of 224 ballad stanzas, the poem laments the "backsliding" of Puritans into sin and complacency and depicts the final day of Judgement (or "doom") as a series of dramatic confrontations between sinners -- meaning every one -- and their God. 1,800 copies were published, none of which survive today; historians suspect it was literally read to pieces. We do know that it was commonly used to instruct children (and adults) in the ways of the Puritan faith, and many late-17th century New Englanders probably committed it to memory. Its appearance during the controversy over church membership in the early 1660s (a controversy tentatively resolved in 1662 through the "half-way covenant ") probably gave the poem special urgency; at a time when parishioners were falling away from the church, Wigglesworth's poem called them furiously back to it.
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  http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jacquelinesr&id=I05113&style=TEXT