The history of the town of Dorchester, Massachusetts, By a committee of the Dorchester antiquarian and historical society ...

244 HISTORY OF DORCHESTER.
were carried into captivity, &c. The 14th of August, of this year, there was a contribution for Mr.
Swan and others at Roxbury, who had their houses
burnt. Upwards of ~6 was collected.
Dec. 25th, of this year, Rev. Mr. Danforth gave
his answer of acceptance of the call to be the minister of the town.
The town lost, this year, one of its jewels, in the
person of John Foster. He was son of Hopestill
Foster, and graduated at Harvard College in 1667.
Shaw, in his description of Boston, says he opened
the first printing-house in Boston, which was about
1675. The first book he published was issued in
1676, and the last in 1680. He was a great mathematician, and made, calculated and published Almanacs. In the Almanac for 1681, "he annexed an
ingenious dissertation on comets seen at Boston in
November and December, 1680." It is not so much
to be wondered at that the people were astonished
and affrighted at the comet of that time, if the account of a late writer be true, which says its trail
reached from near the horizon to the zenith. There
was a printing press in Cambridge, in the vicinity
of the College, in 1638.
Mr. Foster, in his will, desired to have a handsome
grave-stone. There is a curious device upon it, to
represent his skill in Astronomy, &c., and also upon
it the following inscription.
"The INGENIOUS
Mathematician and Printer Mr. John Foster
aged 33 years, died Sept. 9, 1681.
April 1682.