NATHANIEL HIGGINSON.
1670. Nathaniel Higginson, son of Rev. John Higginson, pastor of the first church in Salem, was born at Guilford, Ct., Oct. 11, 1652. After receiving his second degree in 1673, he made preparation to go to England, where an uncle of his had been settled as a clergyman, and where he had a number of relations. He went thither the following year, and was soon introduced to Lord Wharton, with whom he remained about seven years, in the capacity of steward and tutor to his children. He was employed in the mint of the Tower in 1681, and went in 1683 in the East India Company's service to Fort St. George in the East Indies; was a member and secretary of the council, and afterwards governor of the factory at said fort. He married Elizabeth Richards, 1692; returned to England with his wife and four children in 1700, and established himself as a merchant in London, and did considerable business with his New England friends.
In 1706, we find his name, with 19 others, signed to a petition full of invective against Joseph Dudley, then Governor of Massachusetts, and praying for his removal, which was presented and read to Queen Anne in council. Gov. Dudley, in his answer to the charges contained in this petition, notices several of the petitioners, and thus speaks of Mr. H. "Mr. Higginson is a gentleman of good value, born in New England, but has been absent in the East Indies six and twenty years, and so may be presumed to know nothing of the country. To be sure, his father, that has been a minister in the country near sixty years, yet living, and his brother, a member of her Majesty's Council, must know more, his brother having been always assisting the Governor, and consenting in Col. Dudley's justification at this time with the Council, where no man has dissented from the vote sent herewith." The allegations against Gov. Dudley in this petition, were voted by the General Court, or Council and House, to be a "wicked and scandalous accusation;" but some persons of note, considering the high character of Mr. Higginson and his good interest at court, "signified by their letters, that they thought the two Houses impolitic in the severity of their expressions, which, from being their friend, might, at least, cause him to become cool and indifferent." We know not the effect of the language of the General Court on the mind of Mr. Higginson, but we cannot suppose it alienated his affections from his native country. He lived but two years after, to serve the interests of his friends in New England. He died in London of the small pox, in November, 1708, aged 56 years. He had been for several years a member of the Corporation for Propagating the Gospel among the Indians of New England. Judge Sewall says, he had been acquainted with him for forty years, and seems to have had a high opinion of his character and public services. Felt, Annals of Salem, 350. Hutchinson, Hist. Mass. ii. 146, 147. Gov. Dudley's MS. Answer to Mr. H.'s petition (the original, which escaped, in part, the fury of the mob, when they destroyed Gov. Hutchinson's house.)