Thomas Thacher

Thomas Thacher (1 May 1620 – 15 October 1678) was an English-American clergyman. Biography Thomas Thacher was born in Milton Clevedon on 1 May 1620. 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 Eastern languages. He was especially noted for the great beauty of his transcriptions of Syriac and other Eastern characters, and also acquired a knowledge of medicine, practicing occasionally with success. He married Elizabeth Partridge Kemp on 11 May 1643 and they had four children. She died on 2 June 1664, and he remarried to Margaret Webb Sheaffe.