Michael Wigglesworth

Michael Wigglesworth (1631–1705) was a Puritan minister, physician, and poet whose poem The Day of Doom was a bestseller in early New England.

Family

Michael Wigglesworth was born October 18, 1631, in Yorkshire, England.

His father was Edward Wigglesworth, born 1603 in Scotton, Lincolnshire, and his mother was Ester Middlebrook of Wrawby (born in Batley), who married on October 27, 1629, in Wrawby. The family moved to New England in 1638. They originally lived in Charlestown, Massachusetts, then soon moved to New Haven, Connecticut. When Wigglesworth was ten years old his father became bed-ridden, forcing him to leave school to help maintain the family farm.

He graduated from Harvard in 1651 and taught there as a tutor until 1654, sometimes preaching in Charlestown and Malden, Massachusetts. He became a minister at the First Parish in Malden in 1654 but was not actually ordained until 1656.

A daughter Mercy Wigglesworth was born February 21, 1655. With his second wife he had six children, including Samuel Wigglesworth born c. 1689. His youngest son, with his third wife, Sybil (Avery) Sparhawk, was clergyman Edward Michael Wigglesworth (c. 1693–1765), who had several namesakes. His son, Samuel, had 12 children, including one also named Edward Wigglesworth (1741–1826) who was a colonel in the American Revolutionary War.

Work

Wigglesworth believed that he was essentially not worthy of believing in God as a result of his depraved humanity. When he underwent a series of nocturnal emissions in his early life, he was thereafter convinced of his damnation. Through his diaries, he recounts his struggle to remain pure and good, despite continually relapsing into what he viewed as man's natural depravity.