THACHER, Thomas, clergyman, born in Salisbury, England, 1 May, 1620; died in Boston, Massachusetts, 15 October, 1678. He was carefully educated by his father, a minister at Salisbury, who prepared him for entrance to one of the English universities, but the son declined to subscribe to the religious tests that were then a condition of matriculation, and resolved on settling in New England. He reached Boston on 4 June, 1635, and soon afterward entered the family of Reverend Charles Chauncy at Scituate, under whose guidance he studied mental philosophy and theology, and attained a remarkable knowledge of the oriental languages. He was especially noted for the great beauty of his transcriptions of Syriac and other oriental characters, and also acquired a knowledge of medicine, practising occasionally with success. He was ordained at Weymouth on 2 January, 1644, and shortly afterward took charge of the congregation of that village. Here he remained till 1664, when he removed to Boston, possibly because the relatives of his second wife resided there, although he is said to have been dismissed by his congregation in Weymouth a little before that time. He practised as a physician in Boston for the next two years, but preached occasionally. On 16 February, 1699, he was installed pastor of the Old South church. He is mentioned in terms of high praise by Cotton Mather in the "Magnalia," who quotes an elegy, written partly in Latin and partly in Greek by Eleazar, an Indian student at Harvard, in which the virtues of Mr. Thacher are celebrated. He wrote "A Brief Rule to Guide the Common People of New England how to order Themselves and Theirs in the Small Pocks or Measels," which is supposed to have been the first work on medicine that was published in Massachusetts (Boston, 1677 ; 2d ed., 1702), and "A Fast of God's Chusing ; Fast Sermon "(1674).--His son, Peter, clergyman, born in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1651; died in Milton, Massachusetts, 17 December, 1727, was graduated at Harvard in 1671, and was tutor there for several years afterward, having Cotton Mather as one of his pupils. He spent some time in England, where ineffectual efforts were made to induce him to conform to the established church. After his return he was ordained pastor of the church in Milton in 1681, and labored there for the remainder of his life. He attained note as a preacher and was called on to speak on many important public occasions. His "Convention Sermon" (1711) is preserved in manuscript in the library of the Massachusetts historical society. He published " Unbelief Detected and Condemned, to which is added the Treasures of the Fathers Inheritable by their Posterity" (1708) ; "Election Sermon" (1711); "Christ's Forgiveness a Pattern: A Sermon" (1712) ; "A Sermon on the Death of Samuel Man" (1719); "A Divine Riddle: lie that is Weak is Strong " (1723) ; and "The Perpetual Covenant." --Peter's grandson, Oxenbridge, lawyer, born in Milton, Massachusetts, in 1720; died in Boston, Massachusetts, 8 July, 1765, was graduated at Harvard in 1738, and afterward studied divinity, but abandoned it for law on account of his health. He was successful at the bar, and took an active part in opposition to the English government during the early stages of the Revolution, being at that time one of the four representatives of Boston in the general court. He published" Considerations upon reducing the Value of the Gold Coins within the Province" (1760) and" Sentiments of a British-American, occasioned by an Act to lay Certain Duties in the British Colonies and Plantations" (Boston, 1764). In the latter pamphlet he assailed the navigation act with great vigor.--Peter, eldest son of Oxenbridge, clergyman, born in Milton, Massachusetts, 21 March, 1752 ; died in Savannah, Georgia, 16 December, 1802, was graduated at Harvard in 1769, and, after serving as principal of a grammar-school for a few months, was ordained pastor of Malden on 19 September, 1770. His gifts as an orator at once made him popular, and his active patriotism during the Revolution was of great benefit to the cause of American liberty. He published a "Narrative of the Battle of Bunker Hill," at the request of the Massachusetts committee of safety, and delivered at Watertown an oration against standing armies, which has been frequently republished. He was a delegate in 1780 to the convention that met at Cambridge and Boston to frame a constitution for Massachusetts, supported a motion for abolishing the office of governor, and took an active part in all the deliberations of the assembly. He was called to the Brattle street church on 12 January, 1785, and continued in this pastorate for the rest of his life. In 1791 he received the degree of D. D. from the University of Edinburgh. Dr. Thacher was for some time secretary of the Society for propagating the gospel among the Indians of North America. He was one of the earliest members of the Massachusetts historical society, a member of the American academy of arts and sciences, and actively engaged in humanitarian and religious movements. He was chaplain to one or both branches of the general court for fifteen years. He published about twenty-two of his sermons between 1776 and 1800. Dr. Thacher preached funeral sermons for three governors of the state of Massachusetts--Bowdoin, Hancock, and Sumner, all of whom belonged to his congregation during the seventeen years of his pastorate. He published a work entitled "Observations on the State of the Clergy in New England, with Strictures on the Power of dismissing them, Usurped by some Churches" (Boston, 1783), and "Memoirs of Dr. Boylston" (1789).--Thomas, another son of Oxenbridge, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 24 October, 1756 ; died in Dedham, Massachusetts, 19 October, 1812, was graduated at Harvard in 1775, and ordained minister of the 3d church in Dedham, 7 June, 1780. In 1788 he was elected a member of the convention that ratified the Federal constitution, of which he was an earnest supporter. He was a member of the Academy of arts and sciences, and published several discourses between 1804 and 1811.--The second Peter's son, Samuel Cooper, clergyman, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 14 December, 1785 ; died in Moulins, France, 2 January, 1818, was graduated at Harvard in 1804, and began his preparation for the ministry under William Ellery Channing. In 1805 he acted for a time as head-master of the Boston Latin-school, and he subsequently conducted a private school of his own. In 1807 he was appointed librarian of Harvard, entering on the duties of the office in the following year. He was ordained and installed minister of the New South church (Unitarian), at Boston, on 15 May, 1811, but his health failed rapidly, and in 1815 he went to England, where he was advised to winter in the Cape of Good Hope. He resided for some time at Cape Town, but his health improved very slowly, and he returned to England and subsequently went to the south of -France, where he died. Dr. Thacher was a member of the Anthology club, and he published articles in nearly all the volumes of its magazine, the "Monthly Anthology." Many of his lectures and sermons were devoted to the exposition of the Unitarian system, and were considered to embody a more vigorous and formal defence of Unitarianism than any that had appeared previously. His works are " Apology for Rational and Evangelican Christianity" (Boston, 1815); " Unity of God" (Liverpool, 1816; Worcester, Massachusetts, 1817) ; " Sermons, with a Memoir by Reverend Francis W. P. Greenwood" (Boston, 1824) ; and" Evidences necessary to establish the Doctrine of the Trinity" (1828). He also published a volume of sermons of Reverend Joseph S. Buckminster, to which he prefixed a memoir (1814).--Samuel Cooper's brother, THOMAS CUSHING (1771--1837), was graduated from Harvard in 1790, and was pastor at Lynn in 1794-1813. He published " Eulogy on Washington" (Boston, 1800), and sermons (1794-1801).--The first Thomas's grandson, Peter, clergyman, born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1677; died there, 26 February, 1738, was graduated at Harvard in 1696, and for some time afterward taught at Hatfield, Massachusetts He was ordained pastor of the church at Weymouth on 26 November, 1707, where he remained until 1720, when he was called to the pastorate of the New North church, Boston. He was a noted preacher, and published several sermons, etc., between 1711 and 1730.