John Higginson was a clergyman. He came to America with his father, Francis Higginson. After his father's death, he assisted in the support of his mother, Anne Herbert Higginson, and brothers by teaching in Hartford. With Giles Firmin he was employed by the magistrates and ministers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony to take down in shorthand the proceedings of the synod of 1637. He was chaplain of the fort at Saybrook Colony for about four years. In 1641, he went to Guilford, Connecticut as assistant to Henry Whitfeld or Whitfield (1597-1687), whose daughter Sarah (1620-1775) he married. In 1643, he was one of the "seven pillars" of the church there.