Author: Harris, Thaddeus Mason
Biography:
Harris, Thaddeus Mason (1768-1842: WBIS)
The son of a schoolteacher, William Harris, and Rebekah (Mason) Harris, he was born in Charlestown MA. His father died of a fever during the Revolutionary War; his mother remarried. Since the family lacked the means to pay for higher education, he worked his way through Harvard, graduating in 1787. He taught school for a time and then returned to Harvard to study for the ministry, completing his program of study in 1790. He served as Librarian at the College 1791-3 before being called as minister to the First Congregational Church in Dorchester MA--a position he held to the end of his life. In 1795 he married Mary Dix, with whom he had eight children. His bookish interests led to many prose publications, including a defence of freemasonry and a Natural History of the Bible (1820). (ANBO 23 Feb. 2019)