Biographical Sketch

Benjamin Colman was one of the most prominent ministers of his generation. He was born in Boston, Mass., the son of William and Elizabeth Colman. As a young man, he was greatly influenced by Increase Mather, Cotton Mather, and Ezekiel Cheever, and at Harvard by William Brattle and John Leverett. After graduating from Harvard in 1692, he preached for six months at Medford before returning to Harvard for his A.M. degree. In 1695, he sailed for England, but was captured en route by French pirates and imprisoned in France. Ransomed, he moved to London and became involved with the American and English Dissenters there and at Bath. In 1699, friends and family in New England convinced him to return to Boston and take charge of the new Brattle Street Church, where he was immediately embroiled in controversy over reforms in the Congregational Church. He and the other founders of the church issued a Manifesto in 1699 and The Gospel Order Revived in 1700, which angered the Mathers and other traditionalist ministers.

Though Colman advocated a distinct separation between Anglicans and Congregationalists, he maintained a sympathetic and mutually supportive relationship with the Church of England. He coordinated many missionary endeavors among the Indians, often in cooperation with Anglican clergymen like Bishop White Kennett. As a member of the Harvard College Corporation and the Overseers, Colman was also active in Harvard College affairs and secured many patrons for Harvard and Yale, including the very influential Thomas Hollis. Colman was an avid reader of modern English thinkers and continued to correspond with colleagues in England. In 1731, he was awarded an honorary doctor of divinity degree from the University of Glasgow. In 1740, during the first Great Awakening, he invited George Whitefield to preach at various pulpits in Boston and at Harvard. When Whitefield alienated and angered many Boston clergy with his criticisms, Colman successfully mediated the disputes that arose.

Colman married three times: to Jane Clark in 1700; to Sarah Crisp Clark, widow of John Leverett, in 1732; and to Mary Pepperrell, also a widow, in 1745. All three of his children were born to his first wife, but none survived him. His daughter Jane Colman Turell was widely acclaimed as a poet.