He was born in Concord, Massachusetts, graduated from Harvard College in 1659, and was minister at Groton from 1663 to 1676, before being driven out by the Indians during King Philip's War.

Peter Bulkeley, they established the town of Concord, where Samuel was born the sixth child and second son.

[2] At the age of fifteen, Willard entered Harvard College in 1655, graduating in 1659, and was the only member of his class to receive an M.A.

The town's first minister, John Miller, had become ill and, when he died, the congregation asked Willard to stay, and he was officially ordained by them in 1664.

His wife Abigail died some time in the first half of 1679; in July that year he married Eunice Tyng, a possible sister-in-law of Joseph Dudley.

[6] These actions highlighted him as pro-Anglican in the eyes of local Puritans,[7] who later accused him of involvement in a "horrid Popish plot".