Sherman Day Thacher

Sherman Day Thacher, (November 6, 1861 - August 5, 1931), was the founder and headmaster of the Thacher School at Ojai, California. A graduate of Hopkins Grammar School, he attended Yale University and won second prize in English composition his Sophomore year; oration appointment Junior year; dissertation appointment Senior year; an editor of the Yale Record; member, Delta Kappa, Psi Upsilon, and Skull and Bones.

Salesman for W. & J. Sloane, New York City, 1883-84; studied in Yale School of Law 1884-86 (LL.B cum laude 1886; Townsend Prize, John Addison Porter Prize, associated with law firm of Lathrop & Smith, Kansas City, Missouri, 1886-87; went to California 1887 and took up 160 acres of government land and planted an orange grove, in 1889 founded the Thacher School at Ojai, California; served as headmaster until retirement in June, 1931 (his brother, William L. Thacher, (Yale 1887), associated with him from 1895; honorary M.A. Yale 1923, honorary charter member of Delta chapter of Phi Beta Kappa at Occidental College, Los Angeles, 1926; president of board of trustees of Nordhoff (California) High School 1908-1922; trustee of San Antonio District School 1898-1912; president of Headmasters Association of Pacific Coast Private Schools for Boys 1930-31 and honorary member Headmasters Association of Eastern Private Schools for Boys, chairman of standing committee of Ojai Board of Trade 1912, of executive committee of Ojai Valley Men's League 1910-1920, and of local Exemption Board for Ventura County (rank of Major) 1918; Four-Minute Man; director of Ojai Civic Association, on advisory committee of California Junior Republic 1920-1931, in charge of Topa Topa Orange Ranch, Ojai, since 1921; honorary trustee of National Society of Mental Hygiene; vice president of Yale Club of Southern California 1918-19, and its representative on Alumni Board since 1920; member Yale Committee for Participation in the Restoration of the Library of the University of Louvain 1924; author Edward Tompkins McLaughlin: A Sketch (1894), member American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and American Academy of Political and Social Science; had attended Ojai Valley Community (Presbyterian) Church since 1887

Married June 24, 1896, in New Haven, Eliza Seely Blake (B.L, University of California, 1895), the daughter of Charles Thompson Blake (Yale BA 1847) and Harriet Waters (Stiles) Blake, and the granddaughter of Eli Whitney Blake (Yale BA 1816). Children: Elizabeth (B.L., University of California, 1920); three sons who each died in infancy; George Blake, Yale 1925, (B.S. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1927); Anson Stiles, (Yale 1927; Helen Sherman (B.A., Smith College, 1930); Harriet Janet, (B.A. Smith College, 1934); and Sherman Day, Jr.

Death due to an operative shock. Survived by wife, three sons, three daughters, brother, and a sister, Elizabeth T. Kent, the widow of William Kent, '87.

Notes

Sherman Day Thacher's father was Yale professor of Latin and administrator Thomas Anthony Thacher (B.A. Yale 1835; LL.D. Western Reserve 1869); son of Peter and Anne (Parks) Thacher of Hartford, Connecticut. His mother was Elizabeth Baldwin (Sherman) Thacher, the daughter of Roger Sherman, Jr. (B.A. Yale 1787) and Susannah (Staples) Sherman, of New Haven, Connecticut. He was the paternal great-grandson of American founding father Roger Sherman. He was also the brother-in-law of William Kent (U.S. Congressman).

ource

Yale Obituary Record, 1931-32, pages 65-66