Thomas Clap

Who was Thomas Clap?

Thomas Clap, also spelled Thomas Clapp, was an American academic and educator, a Congregational Minister, and college administrator. He was both the fifth rector and the earliest to be called "president" of Yale College.

He was born in Scituate, Massachusetts, and studied with Rev. James McSparran, missionary to Narragansett from the "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts", and with Rev. Nathiel Eells, of Scituate. He entered Harvard University at age 15, graduating in 1722. He preached at Windham, Connecticut, in 1725 and was ordained to succeed the Rev. Samuel Whiting as minister there in 1726, marrying Rev. Whiting's daughter Mary in 1727, and remaining 14 years, with a ministry marked by a rather severe orthodoxy.