While the school's namesake is certainly well known today, his fame is almost entirely posthumous. Andrew McFarland Davis says in his book, "John Harvard's Life in America," that "had there been issued in the summer of 1638 an edition of 'Who's Who in America,' Harvard's name would not have appeared in it. He had published nothing. He had done nothing to make himself conspicuous."

Contrary to popular opinion, John Harvard was not the founder of Harvard College--in fact, he was still in England when the Great and General Court of Massachusetts in 1636 appropriated 400 1636 appropriated 400 pounds for theestablishment of a "schoale or colledge."

Nor did John Harvard lead a particularlyextraordinary life. While he was a respectedminister, he was not one of the most prominentmembers of his community of Charlestown. In fact,all he did of note was bequeath about 800 poundssterling and his 329-book library to the newcollege in Massachusetts. The gift was unusual,for in the seven-teenth century, the tradition wasfor such donations to go to the church.

Today, with Harvard's endownment it thebillions, such a gift would hardly cause anyone toblink. But in 1638, the school's operating budgetwas marginal, and officials were so pleased thatthey decided to name the fledgling school inHarvard's honor.

Born in 1607 to a middle-class, property-owningBritish family, John grew up in Southwark, which,according to one historian, was the "roughest andbawdiest part of London," complete with numerousbrothels, prisons and alehouses.

John's father owned a tavern--the Queen'sHead--and was a butcher by trade; indeed theHarvard family had been a family of butchers formany generations. The Harvards were moderatePuritans--devout but not all that concerned withceremonies.

Very little is known about John's early life.He was the fourth of five children, and several ofhis brothers and sisters, as well as his father,died of the plague in 1625.

However, it was this family tragedy thatallowed John to attend university; otherwise, helikely would have gone on to be a butcher.

Indeed, it was highly unusual for someone likeJohn to attend university--his family had nouniversity connections, and they were middle-classrather than gentry, a barrier that was usuallyinsurmountable at the time.

But John Harvard got into Cambridge by usingsomething that innumerable students since haveused: the "old-boy network."

The rector of John's church, an educated mannamed Nicholas Morton, helped John get the propercredentials for college, and on December 19, 1627,at the unusually old age of 20, John Harvardenrolled in Emmanuel College in Cambridge,England.

Emmanuel College has no record of John Harvardother than his admission--his name never appearsin the 'book of punishments'.

After graduating, receiving a masters degree,and getting ordained as a Puritan minister, Johnmarried Ann Sadler, the sister of a classmate.Within months of his 1636 wedding, while John wasstill in England, the college that would beHarvard was founded.

One year later, John and Ann sailed to the NewWorld, and historians believe the couple was onthe same boat as Nathanial Eaton, who wouldsubsequently become Harvard's first president.

The Harvards settled in Charlestown, Mass., andJohn began preaching at his local church. Mosthistorians believe he was a teaching elder or aclergyman, although the only surviving document inCharlestown calls him a "Sometime Minister ofGod's word here."