Francis Higginson was born in Leicestershire, England, in 1586. After graduating from Cambridge University, he became a minister but became increasingly critical of the Anglican Church. He joined with other Puritans to emigrate to North America in 1629. His journal of the first few months in Salem was published as New England's Plantation (1630). Like many of the early settlers Higginson died as a result of the hardships of the first winter in America.