Thaddeus Mason Harris (July 7, 1768– April 3, 1842) was a Harvard librarian, Unitarian minister and author in the early 19th Century. His most noted book was ''The Natural History of the Bible'' first published in Boston in 1793.
Harris was named after his maternal grandfather Thaddeus Mason,
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
class of 1728 and secretary to
Jonathan Belcher
Jonathan Belcher (8 January 1681/8231 August 1757) was a merchant, politician, and slave trader from colonial Massachusetts who served as both governor of Massachusetts Bay and governor of New Hampshire from 1730 to 1741 and governor of New J ...
. His father William Harris was killed fighting on the colonists' side in the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
. Harris was born in
Charlestown, Massachusetts, but after his father's death he was sent to live on a farm in
Sterling, Massachusetts
Sterling is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, USA. The population was 7,985 at the 2020 census.
History
Sterling was first settled by Europeans in 1720 and was officially incorporated in 1781.
Previous to its incorporation it was " ...
. Harris went on to study at Harvard from which he graduated in 1787. After graduation from Harvard, he spent a year as a school teacher in
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...
. At the end of his teaching stint in Worcester, Harris was offered an appointment as secretary to
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...
, but contracted small-pox, and his recovery time prevented him from taking the post. He became the librarian of Harvard in 1791 and then was appointed the minister of the First Unitarian Church on
Meeting House Hill in
Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1793. He was elected a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...
in 1806.
Harris was also a founding member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1812, and served as corresponding secretary from 1812-1831, and as secretary of foreign correspondence from 1831-1832. The Antiquarian Society holds original copies of a significant number of Harris's published works, as well as some manuscript items from his personal papers.
Harris's son
Thaddeus William Harris
Thaddeus William Harris (November 12, 1795 – January 16, 1856) was an American entomologist and librarian. His focus on insect life cycles and interactions with plants was influential in broadening American entomological studies beyond a narrow ...
would also serve as a librarian at Harvard and be one of the leading American naturalists in the first half of the 19th century.
Works
His publications include:
[Seaburg 2000]
* ''Journal of a Tour into the Territory Northwest of the Alleghany Mountains'' (1805)
* ''The Natural History of the Bible'' (1820)
* ''Biographical Memorials of James Oglethorpe'' (1841)
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Thaddeus Morton
1768 births
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Members of the American Antiquarian Society
Harvard University librarians
Harvard University alumni
1842 deaths