Did you know Zabdiel Boylston...

One prominent New Englander who was strongly influenced by Cotton Mather was Dr. Zabdiel Boylston (who was also a great-uncle of John Adams). Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1680, Boylston never went to medical school, but he learned his profession as an apprentice to his father, who had been a physician in England. He also trained under another Boston physician. (There were no medical schools in North America until 1765.)

Boylston was a successful and wealthy doctor in Boston. He gained a reputation as a scholar and a scientist as well, doing scientific research into the flora and fauna of North America. He also performed the first surgical operation by an American, the first removal of gallstones, and the first surgery to remove a breast tumor. It was a smallpox epidemic in 1721 that led to Boylston’s greatest claim to fame. Cotton Mather had distributed pamphlets to all the physicians in Boston, urging them to use inoculation against smallpox. When no one responded, Mather wrote a personal letter to Dr. Boylston. Boylston responded by first inoculating his own son and two African-American slaves. All three recovered from a mild case of smallpox caused by the inoculation and developed an immunity to the disease.

In all, Boylston inoculated 241 people. Only six of them died, four of whom already had a full-blown case of smallpox before the inoculation. Those deaths, however, prompted calls to try Boylston for murder. He took to visiting patients only at night and in disguise. Probably knowing that Cotton Mather had encouraged Boylston, somebody threw a grenade into Mather’s house.

                                                                                 .  . . was a Congregationalist?

Historical story by: Rev. Robert Hellam
Celebrating 400 Years of American Congregationalism

Learn more about our Congregational History at naccc.org