Page:The librarians of Harvard College 1667-1877.djvu/38

 LIBRARIANS OP HARVARD COLLEGE. of Mr. Ebonezor Grosvenor, student at the Uni- versity. Boston: 1788." 8. pp. 19. AUTHORITIES : Boston Celebration of centennial anni- twrtary of the Evacuation, 1876, pp. 190-191. Clcaveland, Firt century of Dummer Academy, 1865, pp. 34-39, xvili. Curwcu, Journal and tetter*, 3d ed., 1866, p. 465 and passim. Packard, Memoir, 1850, p. 18. Sabine, American loyalistt, 1847, p. 618. Willard, Memories, 1855, ii. 123-126. Winsor, Memorial kM. of Boston, 1881, iii. 72.

1791-1793.

Thaddeus Mason Harris was born in Charles- town, 7 July, 1768. His father, William Harris, lost all his property in the Revolution and died soon after. His mother, Rebekah, daughter of Thad- deus Mason, married again not long after her first husband's death. Young Harris by various means partly supported himself and was partly cared for by Dr. Ebenezer Morse (H. U. 1737) of Boylston, with whom he lived and by whom he was fitted to enter college in 1783. During part of his course he was a waiter in the Commons Hall and was also helped from the beneficiary funds. After gradu- ating in 1787, he taught school for a year in Wor- cester, and then returned to study divinity. At Commencement, 1790, he took his A.M. and the next day delivered the * B K oration. He had already assisted Smith in the Library and in 1791 became his successor as Librarian. He served only two years, but his interest in the Library continued. As Overseer he was for many years chairman of the Committee on the Library and annually made elaborate reports on its condition. Long afterwards he was described as "the little quaint old man, bent almost increditably, but still wearing a hale aspect who used to haunt the alcoves of the old library in Harvard Hall." Mr. Harris had already preached in many places and, 23 October, 1793, was ordained as pastor of the church in Dorchester. In January, 1795, he married Mary, daughter of Dr. Elijah and Dorothy Dix. He had eight children. His health having broken down, he made a journey to Ohio in 1802. As a result of this he published, in 1805, a "Jour- nal of a tour into the territory northwest of the Allegheny mountains, with a geographical and historical account of Ohio." In the same year (1805), he gave the 4> B K poem. Five years later he spent nine months in Great Britain, an ex- perience which he afterwards recalled with peculiar pleasure. In 1813, Harvard granted him the de- gree of S. T. D. His health again failed him in 1832 and he spent a year in the South. His active mind did not allow him to be idle and he here gathered the materials for the life of Oglethorpe which he published in 1841. After a successful pastorate of forty-three years, he resigned his pulpit in 1836. He continued to preach occasion- ally until within a fortnight of his death, which occurred 3 April, 1842. Dr. Harris was connected with numerous socie- ties : he was a member nnd for some years libra- rian of the Massachusetts Historical Society; he was one of the original members of the Antiqua- rian Society ; he was a corresponding member of the historical societies of New York and of Georgia, and of the Archaeological Society of Athens, Greece ; and his name also appears on the rolls of the Massachusetts Bible Society, the Humane So- ciety, the Peace Society, and several others. He was also prominent as a free mason, and was secretary and chaplain of the Grand Lodge. Sev- eral of his books and pamphlets are on Masonry. In the anti-masonic furore of 1826-27 he was the object of many bitter attacks by the opponents of the order. Besides the works mentioned above, Dr. Harris issued many publications. Nearly sixty of his ser- mons were printed. His Natural History of the Bible, published first in 1793 and re written in 1820, passed through three editions in England. In 1803, he edited the Minor Encyclopedia in four volumes. Among his other printed works are a " System of punctuation," 1797, and a " Chronological and topographical account of Dorchester," 1804. He also arranged and indexed for Sparks the Wash- ington manuscripts. Dr. Harris was a man of overflowing sympathies, tender-hearted and kindly almost to excess. Sing- ularly gentle and mild in his disposition, yet he was at times subject to fits of deep depression. As a preacher, he was simple and effective. In his discourses he was rarely philosophical, and, caring little for name or for creed, he seldom ven- tured into the arena of controversy. AUTHORITIES: Frothingham, Memoir, 1855. pp.28. (Also in Mass. hist. soc. Collections, 4th series, ii. 130-155). Froth- ingham, Sermon after the funeral of Her. Dr. Harris, 1842. pp. 15. Hall, Address at the funeral of Bet. T. AT. Harris, 1842. pp. 28. Huntoon, Eulogy in commemoration of Rev. and R. W. T. M. Harris, 1842. pp. 16. Sprague, Annul* of Amer. pulpit, 1865, viii. pp. 215-222.

1793-1800.

Samuel Shapleigh was born in Kittery, Maine, 9 July, 1765. Left an orphan at an early age, he was twenty before he entered college with the class of 1789. He taught a while in the Cambridge gram- mar school, and then studied law, but his poor health prevented him from practising. In Novem- ber, 1790, he was chosen Butler and three years later (27 August, 1793) Librarian. His salary was fixed at $360, on condition that he or a substitute should " continue in the College during the Sum- mer, Fall and Spring vacations that Company may