Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/139

 THAYER

THAYER

4, 18G2. for distinguished services at Donelson and Shiloh, and commanded the 3d brigade, 4th division of the right wing, composed of the 13th army corps under Gen. "W. T. Sherman, at Chick- asaw Bluffs, December, 1862- January, 1863, and the 8d brigade, 1st division, 15th army corps, in the Vicks- burg campaign. In February, 1864, he ■was assigned to the command of the Dis- trict and Army of the Frontier in the De- partment of the Ar- kansas, where he re- mained till just be- fore the close of the war. He was a del- egate to the state constitutional con- vention of 1866 ; U.S. senator from Nebraska, 1867-71, and governor of Wyoming Territory, 1875-79. He was governor of Nebraska, 1887-92, when he returned to his law practice in Lincoln. The honorary degree of A.M. was conferred on liim by Brown university in 1847, and that of LL.D. by the University of Nebraska in 1902.

THAYER, John R., representative, was born in Douglas, Mass., March 9, 1845; son of Mo wry R. and Harriet (Morse) Thayer ; grandson of John and Ruth Thayer and of Chester and Lucy Morse, and a descendant of John Thayer, who emigrated from Scotland and settled in Mendon, Mass., in 1732. He attended the common schools and Nichols academy, Dudle}', Mass. ; was graduated from Y''ale college, A.B., 1869 ; studied law with Judge Henry Chapin of Worcester, Mass.; was admitted to the bar in 1871, and be- gan practice in Worcester. He was married, Jan. 80, 1873, to Charlotte D., daughter of Pitt and Diana (Perrin) Holmes of Worcester, Mass. He served as councilman, 1874-76, and as alder- man, 1878-80 ; was a representative in the general court of Massachusetts, two terms, 1880-81, and in the state senate, two terms, 1890-91. He was the defeated candidate for district attorney, 1876, and for mayor of Worcester, 1886, and was a Demo- cratic representative from the third Massachusetts district in the 56th, 57th and 58th congresses, 1899-1905.

THAYER, Joseph Henry, educator, was born in Boston, Mass., Nov. 7, 1828: son of Joseph Helyer and Martha Stevens (Greenough) Thayer. He was graduated from Harvard college, A.B., 1850, and from Andover Theological seminary, B.D., 1857. He was pastor at Quincy, ]\[ass., 1858-59 ; was ordained, Dec. 29, 1859, and was

pastor of the Crombie Street church, Salem, Mass., 1859-64, serving as chaplain of the 40th Massachu- setts volunteers, 1862-63. He was associate pro- fessor of sacred literature in Andover Theological seminary, 1864-82, and Bussey professor of New Testament criticism and interpretation, Harvard Divinity school, 1884-1901. He was secretary of the New Testament company of the American revision committee, and a fellow of the Ameri- can Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received the honorary degree of D.D. from Yale, 1873 ; from Harvard, 1884 ; from Princeton Theological seminary, 1894 ; that of Litt.D. from Dublin university in 1892, and was a fellow of Harvard, 1877-84. He edited : '• Notes on Scrivener's Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament" (1885) ; a new edition of "Greek Lexicon of the Roman and Byzantine Periods" by Evangelinus A. Sophocles (1887) ; "Critical Essays" by Ezra Abbot (1888); translated: Liinemann's " A Grammar of the Idiom of the New Testament" (1869), which is an enlarged edition of ^Miner's " Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament ; Alexander Buttmann's " Gram- mar of the New Testament Greek," with addi- tions (1873), and Grimm's AVilke's " Clavis Novi Testament!,'' an enlarged edition. He is the author of : Biographical Sketch of Ezra Abbot (1884) ; TJie Change of Attitude' Totcard the Bible (1891); Books and Tlieir Use (1893), and contributions to the American edition of Smith's " Bible Dictionary." In 1901 he was one of the three surviving members of the New Testament committee of American Revisers, the other two being Matthew Brown Riddle (q.v.) and Dr. Timothy Dwight (q.v.). He died in Cambridge, Mass., Nov. 26, 1901.

THAYER, Martin Russell, representative, was born in Petersburg, Va., Jan. 27, 1819 ; son of Martin and Mary Call (Russell) Thayer ; grandson of Josiah, Jr., and Avis (Howard) Thayer, and of Jonathan and Martha (Atkins) Russell, and a lineal descendant of Richard Thayer, of Boston and Braintree, Mass., 1630, a native of Thorn- berry, Gloucestershire, England, and of the Rus- sells and Powells of Petersburg, Ya. He pre- pared for college at Mount Pleasant Classical in- stitution, Amherst, Mass., and matriculated at Amherst college in 1836, but removed with his parents to Philadelphia in 1837, and was grad- uated with distinguished honors from the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, A.B., valedictorian, 1840, A.M., 1843. He was admitted to the Phil- adelphia bar in 1842 ; was commissioner to revise the revenue laws of the state in 1862 ; represen- tative from Philadelphia in the 38th and 39th con- gresses, 1863-67. serving as chairman of the com- mittee on private land claims and as a member of that on bankrupt law ; judge of the district court