Thomas Walter
WALTER, Thomas. b. Roxbury, Massachusetts, 13 December 1696; d. Roxbury, 10 January 1725. Walter, a Congregational minister and school teacher, is known primarily for The Grounds and Rules of Musick (1721), the earliest American tunebook of which copies have survived.
Walter was the second son of Rev. Nehemiah Walter (1663-1750) and Sarah Mather Walter (1671-1746); Sarah was the sister of Cotton Mather* and daughter of Increase Mather (1639-1723). These three ministers were among the fifteen eminent signers of ‘A Recommendatory Preface’ of Grounds and Rules (Shipton, p. 24), which exhorted that ‘the main Concern of all may be to make [the singing of these Songs of the Lord] not a meer...
If you have a valid subscription to Dictionary of Hymnology, please log inlog in to view this content. If you require a subscription, please click here.
Cite this article
MLA style (see MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd Ed.)
. "Thomas Walter."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press. Web. 22 Apr. 2025.<
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/t/thomas-walter>.
Chicago style (see The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Ed.)
. "Thomas Walter."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press, accessed April 22, 2025,
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/t/thomas-walter.