Higginson, Francis

Higginson, Francis a Congregational minister and first pastor of Salem, Mass., was born in England in 1587, graduated at Emanuel College, Cambridge, and was appointed minister of a church in Leicester. After some time he became a nonconformist, and was excluded from the parish church. In 1629 he received letters from the governor and company of Massachusetts inviting him to proceed with them to New England. He accordingly sailed, and on his arrival at Salem he was appointed pastor of the church. He died of hectic fever in August, 1630. He wrote New England's Plantation, or a short and true Description of the Commodities and Discommodities of that Country, (Lond. 1630, 4to). See Allen, Am. Biog. Dictionary Sprague, Annals, 1, 6.