Page 301 - PGM Compendium

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Of
M⸫W⸫ Thomas T. Minor

1875-1876

Most Worshipful Brother Thomas Taylor Minor was born on
February 20, 1844, in Manepy, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) an
island country in South Asia, located about 31 kilometres
(19.3 mi) off the southern coast of India. He was a son of
Eastman Strong Minor, who was descended from an old and
esteemed Connecticut family. Eastman Minor was a
successful printer. He closed his printing business and left
Boston, Massachusetts , with his first wife, Lucy Bailey, in
October 1833 as Congregational missionaries to Ceylon, to
spread the gospel of Christianity from India through
Singapore and up to Bangkok. He returned to the United
States in July 1851 and settled in New Haven, Connecticut.
His mother, Judith Manchester Taylor, was born in Madison, New York in 1814 and died in New
York in 1900. She was an orphan and the daughter of Isaac and Judith Taylor. She ran the local
school in Ceylon, learned Singhalese, and taught it to her 2 stepchildren as well as her own six
children.

Upon relocating at New Haven, Thomas attended the local school. In 1861, when he was 17, he
enlisted in the Union Army as a private in Company G, 7th Regiment Connecticut Volunteer
Infantry. He rose to the rank of captain and served as hospital steward and then surgeon.

After the war, he entered Yale School of Medicine graduating in 1867. He was then stationed for
a short time at a military post in Nebraska. While there he was appointed by the government to be
a member of a party of scientific men and explorers, to make a tour through Alaska in the interest
of the Smithsonian Institution. Returning from Alaska on a revenue cutter the party stopped at Port
Townsend for supplies. It was here where Minor met Dr. George Calhoun. The older doctor, who
owned the Marine Hospital, then the largest in the Northwest, invited the 24-year-old Minor to
join in a partnership with him. Minor agreed, settling in the town by the end of 1868.

Despite his youth, Dr. Minor quickly took an active role in Port Townsend civic affairs. He was
an accomplished orator and drew public attention when he gave a New Year's Eve address within
weeks of his arrival. By 1870, Minor had bought the Marine Hospital from Calhoun and was one
of the leading doctors on Puget Sound. In 1872, he organized the Puget Sound Telegraph Company
to bring telegraph service to Port Townsend. Six years later Minor set up the first telephone line
in the city, operating between his office and the hospital.

Our Brother would be brought to Masonic Light on January 24, 1869, in Port Townsend Lodge
No. 6. His Masonic journey would take him to the Grand East on September 23, 1875.