John Leverett, President of Harvard

I'm deep into a biography of John Leverett (1662-1724), first secular President of Harvard, a person who changed the nature of education in the colonies for good.

He may have descendants, but they are not Leveretts; he only had two daughters who lived, and one only lived until her twenties. One who died at the age of thirteen was especially painful for them, but such things were common in the early 1700's. It was a difficult time - bad financially, a lot of disease around, and the colony was not sure whether it would be attacked at any minute.

John Leverett emerged as a strong opposite of Cotton Mather - after the witch trials, the Harvard Corporation wanted anyone except Cotton Mather to run the place, and John, though he wasn't a minister, was at least capable of doing it. He was especially good at taking care of the books and ensuring that people got paid. The enrollment increased dramatically while he was there, and this forced him to look into making new buildings for them to occupy. Harvard became the larger college that it is today by surviving the first two decades of the century.

All the while, Cotton Mather was sniping at him. He wrote about the flagrant antics of Harvard students and how something should be done about it. He tried to get the Hollis grant switched over to Yale, just to spite John.

But in the end, the Corporation and the Overseers did John in by themselves, just putting a financial squeeze on him so that he went further in debt with every passing year. He was unable to leave, because he was so busy fighting forces bent on his destruction.

John had friends, a group of people who put him in power, and who championed his cause. Cotton Mather, on the other hand, had alienated virtually everyone and they were painfully aware that he had used his influence in the pointless deaths of 19 people during the Salem witch trials. There was no doubt that he was considered a kind of loose cannon who could do just about anything if he was mad enough at someone.

Upon John's death, in 1724, Cotton thought he had his last big chance to have the Presidency. But no, the Corporation tried three people and finally settled on one who accepted, and this concluded the chapter: they would pick anyone but Cotton. Cotton died frustrated in that regard.

John's biggest legacy was that Harvard survived: a new building was being built, where his old house had stood; students were filling up the place; it now had traditions that had survived many perilous years. John had participated in those traditions, in some cases preserved them or brought them back, and put his own mark on the place that is still noticed today.