Harvard College (1636-1780)

Samuel Mather (1677-1746) was a member of a prominent Connecticut family. He was born in Branford, Connecticut in 1677; his parents were the Reverend Samuel and Hannah (Treat) Mather. When Samuel was four, his family moved to Windsor, Connecticut. He attended Harvard College, receiving an A.B. in 1698 and an A.M. in 1701. He began studying medicine in 1698 and by 1702 he was admitted "to be a Practitioner of Physick and Chyrurgy." He was quickly successful, and in 1710 was appointed a surgeon to serve on the Port Royal (Nova Scotia) expedition in Queen Anne's War. On April 13, 1704, he married Abigail Grant; they settled in Windsor, where Mather served nineteen terms on the General Assembly, as a justice of the peace, and as a judge of the Hartford County court. When Abigail died in 1722, Mather remarried to Hannah Buckland. He had twelve children. Samuel Mather died on February 6, 1746.

Harvard College's President and Tutors assigned chambers and studies in the College to students. They determined dormitory room assignments for the upcoming academic year in August, usually on the last day of the College's summer recess.