Editing Henry David Thoreau (section)

===Early life and education, 1817–1837===
[[File:Wheeler-Minot  Farmhouse, Concord  MA.jpg|thumb|Thoreau's birthplace, the [[Wheeler-Minot Farmhouse]] in [[Concord, Massachusetts]]]]

Henry David Thoreau was born David Henry Thoreau<ref>Nelson, Randy F. (1981). ''The Almanac of American Letters''. Los Altos, California: William Kaufmann. p. 51. {{ISBN|0-86576-008-X}}.</ref> in [[Concord, Massachusetts]], into the "modest [[New England]] family"<ref name="McElroy">{{cite web |author1=Wendy McElroy |author1-link=Wendy McElroy |title=Henry David Thoreau and 'Civil Disobedience' |url=https://archive.lewrockwell.com/mcelroy/mcelroy86.html |website=[[LewRockwell.com]] |access-date=May 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150620145129/http://archive.lewrockwell.com/mcelroy/mcelroy86.html |archive-date=June 20, 2015 |date=July 30, 2005 |url-status=live}}</ref> of John Thoreau, a pencil maker, and Cynthia Dunbar. His father was of French Protestant descent.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uoi8eRYMXV4C&q=protestant|isbn = 9780822558934|title = Henry David Thoreau: A Biography|date = 2006|publisher = Twenty-First Century Books}}</ref> His paternal grandfather had been born on the UK [[crown dependency]] island of [[Jersey]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=maold&id=I18020|title=RootsWeb's WorldConnect Project: Ancestors of Mary Ann Gillam and Stephen Old|access-date=September 2, 2008|archive-date=October 16, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081016141209/http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=maold&id=I18020|url-status=live}}</ref> His maternal Scottish-American grandfather, Asa Dunbar, led [[Harvard University|Harvard's]] 1766 student "[[Butter rebellion|Butter Rebellion]]",<ref>[https://www.brown.edu/Students/Alpha_Delta_Phi/history/fraternities.php History of the Fraternity System] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090704122642/http://www.brown.edu/Students/Alpha_Delta_Phi/history/fraternities.php |date=July 4, 2009 }}.</ref> the first recorded student protest in the American colonies.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.trivialibrary.com/c/first-student-protest-in-the-united-states.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191215210840/http://www.trivialibrary.com/c/first-student-protest-in-the-united-states.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 15, 2019|title=First Student Protest in the United States}}</ref> David Henry was named after his recently deceased paternal uncle, David Thoreau. He began to call himself Henry David after he finished college; he never petitioned to make a legal name change.<ref>[http://www.barnesandnoble.com/writers/writerdetails.asp?z=y&cid=1019508#bio Henry David Thoreau] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061031164847/http://www.barnesandnoble.com/writers/writerdetails.asp?z=y&cid=1019508 |date=October 31, 2006 }}, "Meet the Writers." Barnes & Noble.com</ref>

He had two older siblings, [[Helen Thoreau|Helen]] and John Jr., and a younger sister, [[Sophia Thoreau]].<ref>[http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/thoreau/ Biography of Henry David Thoreau] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190806235504/https://www.americanpoems.com/poets/thoreau/ |date=August 6, 2019 }}. americanpoems.com</ref> None of the children married.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |date=September 19, 2020 |title=Helen and Sophia Thoreau, Henry David's Amazing Sisters |url=https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/helen-sophia-thoreau-henrys-amazing-sisters/ |access-date=May 15, 2022 |website=New England Historical Society |language=en-US}}</ref> Helen (1812–1849) died at age 37,<ref name=":7" /> from [[tuberculosis]]. John Jr. (1814–1842) died at age 27,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Blanding |first=Thomas |date=1980 |title=Beans, Baked and Half-Baked (13) |url=https://archive.org/details/concordsaunter1980151unse/page/16/mode/1up |journal=The Concord Saunterer |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=16–22 |issn=1068-5359}}</ref> of [[tetanus]] after cutting himself while shaving.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Myerson |first=Joel |date=1994 |title=Barzillai Frost's Funeral Sermon on the Death of John Thoreau Jr. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3817844 |journal=Huntington Library Quarterly |volume=57 |issue=4 |pages=367–376 |doi=10.2307/3817844 |jstor=3817844 |issn=0018-7895}}</ref> Henry David (1817–1862) died at age 44, of tuberculosis.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Thoreau's Life {{!}} The Thoreau Society |url=https://www.thoreausociety.org/life-legacy |access-date=May 16, 2022 |website=www.thoreausociety.org}}</ref> Sophia (1819–1876) survived him by 14 years, dying at age 56,<ref name=":7" /> of tuberculosis.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Herrick |first=Gerri L. |date=1978 |title=Sophia Thoreau – "Cara Sophia" |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23393396 |journal=The Concord Saunterer |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=5–12 |jstor=23393396 |issn=1068-5359}}</ref>

He studied at [[Harvard College]] between 1833 and 1837. He lived in [[Hollis Hall]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Roman |first=John |date=June 24, 2021 |title=The Homes of Henry David Thoreau |url=http://www.electrummagazine.com/2021/06/the-homes-of-henry-david-thoreau/ |access-date=May 16, 2022 |website=Electrum Magazine}}</ref> and took courses in [[rhetoric]], classics, philosophy, mathematics, and science.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Writings of Henry D. Thoreau |url=https://thoreau.library.ucsb.edu/thoreau_life.html |access-date=May 16, 2022 |website=thoreau.library.ucsb.edu}}</ref> He was a member of the Institute of 1770<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thoreausociety.org/_membership.htm |title=Organizations Thoreau Joined |publisher=Thoreau Society |access-date=June 26, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130503192646/http://www.thoreausociety.org/_membership.htm |archive-date=May 3, 2013 }}</ref> (now the [[Hasty Pudding Club]]). According to legend, Thoreau refused to pay the five-dollar fee (approximately {{inflation|US|5|1840|fmt=eq}}) for a Harvard master's diploma, which he described thus: [[Harvard College]] offered it to graduates "who proved their physical worth by being alive three years after graduating, and their saving, earning, or inheriting quality or condition by having Five Dollars to give the college".<ref>"Thoreau's Diploma". ''American Literature''. Vol. 17, May 1945. pp. 174–175.</ref> He commented, "Let every sheep keep its own skin",<ref>{{cite web |author=Walter Harding |url=http://www.walden.org/Institute/thoreau/about2/H/WalterHarding/LiveYourOwnLife.htm |title=Live Your Own Life |work=Geneseo Summer Compass |date=June 4, 1984 |access-date=November 21, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060129085602/http://www.walden.org/Institute/thoreau/about2/H/WalterHarding/LiveYourOwnLife.htm |archive-date=January 29, 2006|author-link=Walter Harding }}</ref> a reference to the tradition of using [[Sheepskin (material)|sheepskin]] [[vellum]] for diplomas.

[[Wheeler-Minot Farmhouse|Thoreau's birthplace]] still exists on Virginia Road in Concord. The house has been restored by the Thoreau Farm Trust,<ref>{{cite web|title=Thoreau Farm|work=thoreaufarm.org|url=http://thoreaufarm.org/|access-date=April 23, 2013|archive-date=October 30, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191030230744/https://thoreaufarm.org/|url-status=live}}</ref> a nonprofit organization, and is now open to the public.