Thomas Walter was born in Roxbury, Massachussets, a son of the Rev. Nehemiah Walter, who emigrated with his father to America from Ireland about 1679, and Sarah Mather, a daughter of Increase Mather. As a boy he early displayed a retentive memory and quick perceptions.
He entered Harvard College. In 1713 Thomas was graduated with the A. M. degree and a reputation for brilliance and conviviality.
He was unsuccessfully recommended on Noveber 7, 1716, by Cotton Mather for the chaplaincy of the Castle. His association with young theological radicals of the day, especially his intimate friendship with John Checkley, gave his orthodox father and uncle many anxious moments, but on October 29, 1718, he was safely ordained as his father's assistant pastor at Roxbury, and his grandfather, Increase Mather, preached the ordination sermon. In 1719 he engaged in public controversy with Checkley. The young Puritan had help in this literary enterprise, out of which grew his A Choice Dialogue Between John Faustus, a Conjurer, and Jack Tory His Friend (1720). His uncle recorded: "My kinsman at Roxbury, intending an Answer, to a vile, horrid, monstrous Book, newly published among us, I assist him with Materials. " The "monstrous book" was Checkley's A Modest Proof of the Order and Government in the Church, published in 1723. Walter, meantime, was compiling another work which followed closely upon the work of John Tufts and which appeared in 1721 with the title The Grounds and Rules of Musick Explained; or, an Introduction to the Art of Singing by Note; Fitted to the meanest capacity. The preface was signed by approving ministers. The tunes were in three parts. Simple as was the musical technique involved, this book stood for an effort, scientifically and artistically conceived, to correct in the New England churches what Walter called "an horrid medley of confused and disorderly sounds. " It ran through successive editions, the latest being that of 1764. Another book, The Sweet Psalmist of Israel, appeared in 1722. Walter's participation in his uncle's introduction of inoculation for smallpox nearly cost both men their lives. The incident of the throwing of a heavily-loaded bomb into the chamber in which Walter, who had submitted himself to the experiment, was sleeping, is told at length in Cotton Mather's Diary. The diarist also gives many of the gruesome details of his nephew's consumption which appeared not long after the grenado episode. He died after a lingering illness and was buried in the Roxbury Cemetery in the tomb that contained the remains of the Rev. John Eliot, and later, those of his father.
Quotes from others about the person
His uncle, the Rev. Cotton Mather, wrote in his diary: "I have a Nephew now a Student at Cambridge. I would use various Means, both to preserve him from Temptations and prepare him for Services. I would send for him, talk with him, and bestow agreeable Books of Piety upon him. "
He was married, on December 25, 1718, to Rebeckah, the daughter of the Rev. Joseph Belcher, of Dedham. Their only daughter survived him.
