Clap, Thomas (2)

Clap, Thomas an eminent Congregational divine, was born at Scituate, Massachusetts, June 26, 1703. While attending Harvard University, where he graduated in 1722, he made a profession of religion. He was ordained pastor over the Congregational Church in Windham, Connecticut, in 1726, and continued there until 1739, when he assumed the presidency of Yale College, being installed into his new office April 2, 1740. He resigned in 1766, and died at the home of his youth, January 7, 1767. "President Clap was a man of marked qualities, strong mental powers, clear perception, solid judgment; though sometimes turned aside by prejudice, as in the case of Whitefield. He was a good scholar, an instructive preacher, Calvinistic in doctrine, not fond of parade, peaceful in death," He published a History of Yale College, a number of. Sermons, Essays, etc., and had gathered materials for a history of Connecticut. See Cong. Quarterly, 1861, page 262.