Thaddeus Mason Harris

An address by an African American minister before the African Society, a black organization. Traces the slave trade from antiquity to colonial America, concentrating on Massachusetts.

Thaddeus Mason Harris (1768-1842) was a Harvard-educated Unitarian minister and librarian at Harvard. In 1803, suffering from illness and depression, he was advised by his doctor to travel. He and his brother then started out for Ohio, traveling through Pennsylvania by carriage. Part 1 of the book was written from Harris’ travel journal notes, beginning near Shippensburg, PA, describing their trip over the Alleghenies to Pittsburg, on to Wheeling by carriage, and then to Marietta, Ohio by keelboat. The comparatively brief Part 2 is an account of his return trip. These travel accounts contain descriptions of geographical features and accounts of the significant towns. The remainder, and majority of the book, is entitled “Geographical and Historical Account of the State of Ohio”. Written largely from information provided by General Rufus Putnam and several other men that Harris met in Marietta, it must have been one of the earliest attempts at a comprehensive history of Ohio.

Thaddeus Mason Harris (1768-1842) was a Harvard-educated Unitarian minister and librarian at Harvard. In 1803, suffering from illness and depression, he was advised by his doctor to travel. He and his brother then started out for Ohio, traveling through Pennsylvania by carriage. Part 1 of the book was written from Harris’ travel journal notes, beginning near Shippensburg, PA, describing their trip over the Alleghenies to Pittsburg, on to Wheeling by carriage, and then to Marietta, Ohio by keelboat. The comparatively brief Part 2 is an account of his return trip. These travel accounts contain descriptions of geographical features and accounts of the significant towns. The remainder, and majority of the book, is entitled “Geographical and Historical Account of the State of Ohio”. Written largely from information provided by General Rufus Putnam and several other men that Harris met in Marietta, it must have been one of the earliest attempts at a comprehensive history of Ohio.

Thaddeus Mason Harris (1768-1842) was a Harvard-educated Unitarian minister and librarian at Harvard. In 1803, suffering from illness and depression, he was advised by his doctor to travel. He and his brother then started out for Ohio, traveling through Pennsylvania by carriage. Part 1 of the book was written from Harris’ travel journal notes, beginning near Shippensburg, PA, describing their trip over the Alleghenies to Pittsburg, on to Wheeling by carriage, and then to Marietta, Ohio by keelboat. The comparatively brief Part 2 is an account of his return trip. These travel accounts contain descriptions of geographical features and accounts of the significant towns. The remainder, and majority of the book, is entitled “Geographical and Historical Account of the State of Ohio”. Written largely from information provided by General Rufus Putnam and several other men that Harris met in Marietta, it must have been one of the earliest attempts at a comprehensive history of Ohio.

This elegy was an expression of its author's abhorrence of a superstitious practice in which the bodies of those who had died of hectic fever were dug up from their burial sites and removed from their coffins. The bodies were then burned, and the resulting ashes were administered as a remedy to others of the same family also suffering from a hectic fever. This was believed to be a means of curing the illness.

Report of the Select Committee describes the Society's activity in Maine and Massachusetts, including work with Native Americans; has financial report, lists of officers and committee members.