John Rogers (Harvard)

The Reverend John Rogers
President of Harvard College
In office 1682–1684
Preceded by	Urian Oakes
Succeeded by	Increase Mather acting
Personal details
Born	(1630-01-11)January 11, 1630 Coggeshall, Essex, England
Died	July 12, 1684(1684-07-12) (aged 54) Cambridge, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British America
Signature

John Rogers (January 11, 1630 – July 12, 1684) was an English Puritan minister and academic in early Colonial America.

Early life and education

Rogers was born in Coggeshall, England, the eldest son of minister Nathaniel Rogers. In 1636, he immigrated to New England with his family. In 1649, at age 19, he earned a B.A. from Harvard College which, only seven years earlier, in 1642, had graduated its first class of students. In 1652, following an additional three years of study, he received an M.A. and, in 1660, married Elizabeth Denison of Ipswich, Massachusetts.

Career

Residing in Ipswich and, despite neither having been ordained as a minister or trained as a physician, Rogers practiced medicine and assisted in the ministry of his brother-in-law, local historian William Hubbard, who served as Ipswich pastor for over 50 years.

Harvard College president

In 1682, Rogers was appointed President of Harvard, following the death of Urian Oakes. Rogers was not the first choice as successor by the Governing Board of Harvard; first choice Cotton Mather could not be released from his pastoral obligations, and a second choice declined, prior to Rogers accepting the position.

Puritan minister and author Cotton Mather, Rogers was "sweet-tempered...genuinely pious and a accomplished gentleman given to long winded daily prayers." American historian Samuel Eliot Morison says that Rogers would have "made a successful president", but he only held the position for two years, prior to his sudden death at the age of 54. He was buried at Old Burying Ground in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

References

• Harvard History of the President's Office