Editing Thomas Clap (section)

==Early life==
Clap was born in [[Scituate, Massachusetts]], and studied with Rev. James McSparran, a 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]] (then known as Harvard College) at age 15, graduating in 1722. He preached at [[Windham, Connecticut]], in 1725 and was ordained to succeed the Rev. Samuel Whiting as [[minister (Christianity)|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 (he once traveled to Springfield to oppose the ordination of a minister accused of [[Arminianism|Arminian]] tendencies).