John Harvard (clergyman)

John Harvard (1607–1638) was an English dissenting minister in colonial New England whose deathbed bequest to the "schoale or colledge" founded two years earlier by the Massachusetts Bay Colony was so gratefully received that it was consequently ordered "that the Colledge agreed upon formerly to be built at Cambridge shalbee called Harvard Colledge." John Harvard was born in Southwark, England. A graduate of Emmanuel College of the University of Cambridge, he emigrated to New England in 1637. Harvard University considers him the most honored of its founders—those whose efforts and contributions in its early days "ensure[d] its permanence"—and a statue in his honor is a prominent feature of Harvard Yard.

26 November 1607

Born on the same birth day (26 November): Armand Frappier • Bat Masterson • Berthold Leibinger • Brian Schneider • Desiré Wilson • Elizabeth Bailey • Frances Dee • Georgios Tzavellas • Haluk Levent • Jasu Patel • Jennie Wåhlin • Margaret Boden • Mary Edwards Walker • Roman Šebrle

Born in the same month (November 1607): Anna Maria van Schurman • Georg Philipp Harsdörffer • Madeleine de Scudéry