The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Harvard, John
1607–38, English minister in America and first major benefactor of Harvard College, b. Southwark, England, M.A. Emmanuel College, Cambridge, 1635. He immigrated in 1637 to Charlestown, Mass., where he was assistant to the pastor and teaching elder of the First Church. He bequeathed £780 (half his estate) and his library of 320 volumes to the new established college at Cambridge, Mass., which was named in his honor.
