Thaddeus Mason Harris (July 7, 1768 – April 3, 1842) was a Harvard librarian, Unitarian minister and author in the early 19th Century. One of his most noted books on theology was ''The Natural History of the Bible'' first published in Boston in 1793.
Life
Harris was named after his maternal grandfather Thaddeus Mason,
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
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 ...
. 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 the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
. Harris was born in
Charlestown, Massachusetts
Charlestown is the oldest Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. Also called Mishawum by the Massachusett, it is located on a peninsula north of the Charles River, across from downtown Bost ...
, 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, United States. The population was 7,985 at the 2020 census.
History
Previous to its incorporation, it was "the Second Parish of Lancaster." It was commonly called by a portion of its In ...
. 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 the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the list of United States cities by population, 113th most populous city in the United States. Named after Worcester ...
. At the end of his teaching stint in Worcester, Harris was offered an appointment as secretary to
George Washington
George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...
, but contracted smallpox, and his recovery time prevented him from taking the post.
He moved to Cambridge in 1789 to start his training for a theology degree at Harvard.
He became the librarian of Harvard in 1791 and then was appointed the minister of the
First Parish Church of Dorchester
First Parish Dorchester is a Unitarian Universalist congregation in Dorchester, Massachusetts. It was founded by English Puritans who initially saw themselves as reformers rather than separatists, but increasingly intolerable conditions in England ...
on
Meeting House Hill in
Dorchester, Massachusetts
Dorchester () is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood comprising more than in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Originally, Dorchester was a separate town, founded by Puritans who emigrated in 1630 from Dorchester, Dorset, E ...
. In 1802 he traveled to Ohio, then part of the frontier, and later publishing a book on the journey.
He was elected a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) 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, and other ...
in 1806.
Harris was also a founding member of the
American Antiquarian Society
The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...
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. He received a Doctorate of Theological Studies from Harvard in 1813.
He resigned as First Parish Church minister in 1836 and died April 3, 1842 in Dorchester. He is buried in the
Dorchester North Burying Ground in Uphams Corner, Dorchester.
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. Thaddeus Harris was a long-standing member and frequent visitor to the
Boston Athenæum
The Boston Athenaeum is one of the oldest independent libraries in the United States. It is also one of a number of membership libraries, for which patrons pay a yearly subscription fee to use Athenaeum services. The institution was founded in ...
private library and
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne (né Hathorne; July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion.
He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associat ...
once claimed to have encountered his ghost there.
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
Harvard University librarians
Harvard University alumni
1842 deaths