Peter Oxenbridge Thacher (1752–1802) was a Congregationalist minister in Massachusetts.

Peter Thacher
Born
Peter Oxenbridge Thacher

(1752-03-21)March 21, 1752
Milton, Massachusetts
DiedDecember 16, 1802(1802-12-16) (aged 50)
Savannah, Georgia
EducationHarvard College
OccupationClergyman
Spouse
Elizabeth Hawkes
(m. 1770)
Children10
Signature

Biography edit

 
View of Brattle Street Church and West End, Boston, looking from Cambridge, 1789

Peter Thacher was born in Milton, Massachusetts on March 21, 1752.[1][2] His brother was Thomas Thatcher.

He served as pastor in Malden of the First Church (1770–1784)[3] and in Boston of the Brattle Street Church (1785–1802). He actively supported the American Revolution.[a]

He participated in the drafting of the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780. In 1794, he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[6] He belonged to the Massachusetts Historical Society and Massachusetts Humane Society. He was educated at Harvard College, 1765–1769. On October 8, 1770, he married Elizabeth Poole (Hawkes); they had ten children.[1][7]

Peter Thacher died in Savannah, Georgia on December 16, 1802.[8]

Notes edit

  1. ^ For example as a young man in 1772 he "went to the Old South meeting & heard Mr. Warren pronounce an oration in commemoration of the massacre perpetrated this day 2 years ago."[4][5]

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Memoirs of the Rev. Dr. Thacher". Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society. VIII. Boston: Munroe & Francis: 277–284. 1802. Retrieved March 17, 2023 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ Emerson, William (1803). A Sermon on the Decease of the Rev. Peter Thacher. Brattle-Street Church, Boston. p. 23. Retrieved March 17, 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  3. ^ Manual of the First Church, Malden, Mass. Boston: Beacon Press. May 1878. p. 4. Retrieved March 17, 2023 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ "Life in the Old Parsonage 1772–1784, From the Diary of Rev. Peter Thacher". Register of the Malden Historical Society (1): 41. 1910. Retrieved March 17, 2023 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ Peter Thacher. "Oration Delivered at Watertown, March 5, 1776." Boston Orations. Boston: Peter Edes, 1785. Reprinted in: Niles, Hezekiah (1876). Centennial offering, Republication of the Principles and acts of the revolution in America. New York: A. S. Barnes & co. pp. 43–46. OL 7106494M. Retrieved March 17, 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  6. ^ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter T" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
  7. ^ Emerson, William (1803). A Sermon on the Decease of the Rev. Peter Thacher. Brattle-Street Church, Boston. p. 30. Retrieved March 17, 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  8. ^ Emerson, William (1803). A Sermon on the Decease of the Rev. Peter Thacher. Brattle-Street Church, Boston. p. 37. Retrieved March 17, 2023 – via Internet Archive.

Further reading edit