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Cotton Mather, the minister of Boston's Old North church, was a true believer in witchcraft and played an integral role of the witchcraft trials of the late 1600's, and even today remains one of the strongest clerical figures of the early New England Puritan society. Mather, born in 1663, spoke several languages including Latin and Greek and obtained a degree from Harvard when he was sixteen. Son of Increase and Maria Mather. His main ambition in life was to become president of Harvard just as his father had done. Mather was first married in 1686 to Abigail Phillips, and then later in life to Elizabeth Clark Hubbard and Lydia George, and with them he had a total o