Thomae was born on 5 April 1668 in Heldburg at the house of his maternal grandfather. His father was Stephan Thomae, the Lutheran pastor of :de:Wiesenfeld bei Coburg|Wiesenfeld bei Coburg and later of Neuhaus and Sonnefeld. His mother was Cordula Buchenröder, the daughter of a Church Superintendent Michael Buchenröder. Privately educated, Thomae came to Coburg in late May 1679 to join the Primary Class at the city's Collegiate School. In 1682, he was admitted to the Great Princely Gymnasium, also in Coburg, and graduated in 1686. From 1688 he studied at the University of Jena. After graduation, he worked as a teacher. In 1697, he was appointed as the Rector for the parish of Neustadt bei Coburg. Three years later, on 9 June 1700, he married Margaretha Dorothea Eyring, the daughter of Johann Andreas Eyring, the Lutheran pastor of :de:Fechheim|Fechheim, and his wife, Anna Ursula Brechtold. With her, Thomae had five children, two boys and three girls. In 1722 he published in Coburg his history of the Reformation of the Duchy of Coburg. He died on 19 March 1724.
Kind-schuldiges Ehren-Gedächtnis, dem weiland Wohl Ehrwürdigen, Großachtbahrn, und in Gott andächtig Wohlgelehrten Herrn Stephano Thomae .
Den in der Augen der Welt unglück seelige, in Gottes Augen höchst=seel. Zustand eines truen Schulmanns , a pamphlet published in 1720 in the memory of the Lutheran Kirchner of Neustadt bei Coburg and the uncle of Thomae's wife, Rev. Georg Simon Eyring, who died in 1717.
Das der gantzen Evangelischen Kirchen, insonderheit in dem gesammten Fürstenthum Coburg aufgegangene Licht am Abend / das ist, Historische Beschreibung des heilsamen Reformations-Wercks und Lebens Lutheri, wie auch aller evangelischen Prediger und Stadt-Schul-Collegen des Coburgischen Fürstenthums, vom Anfang der Reformation biß hieherRising Light in the Evening / That is, the Historical Description of the Beneficial Works and Life of Luther in the Reformation, as well as all Evangelical Preachers and Cities, Schools and Colleges of the Coburger Principality, from the Beginning to the Present ], popularly known as “Licht am Abend'' ”.
