Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/141

 THAYER

THILLY

THAYER, WilHam Makepeace, author, was born in Franklin, Mass., Feb. 23, 1820; son of Davis and Betsey (Makepeace) Thayer; grandson of Nathaniel and Ann (Clark) Thayer, and a di- rect descendant of Thomas Thayer, who came from England in 1636 and settled in Braintree, Mass. He was graduated from Brown university, A.B., 1843; studied theology with the Rev, Jacob Ide of West Medway, Mass., and was licensed to preach by the Mendon Congregational conference in 1844. He was married, Oct. 19, 1845, to Rebec- ca W., daughter of Calvin and Lucinda (Leland) Richards of Dover, Mass., and df their children, Eugene R. Thayer became a banker in Greeley, Col., and Addison Munroe Thayer was for several years head of the publishing house of A. M. Thayer & Co. After teaching for several years in Attleborough, South Braintree and Franklin, Mass., William M. Thayer preached for a time at Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, Mass., was pastor at Ashland, Mass., fr«m June, 1849, until 1857, when he resigned on account of a weakness in his throat, and was a representative from Ash- land in the general court of Massachusetts, 1857- 58 and 1863-64, making his home at Franklin, after 1857. He was editor of the Boston Home Monthly Magazine, 1858-62; of the Nation, 1864- 68; and of the Mother's Assistant, 1868-72. He was secretary of the Massachusetts Temper- ance alliance, 1860-76, and a trustee of Dean academy, Franklin, 1890-98. He is the author of many juvenile stories, 1852-59, and was the first to introduce the conversational style in biograph- ical writing, as illustrated in The Bobbin Boy (1859); The Pioneer Boy (1863); a series of biog- raphies (10 vols., 1859-63); Youth's History of the Rebellion (4 vols., 1863-85); White House Series (1880-85) and many others. His publica- tions include: Communion Wine (1869); Tact, Push and Principle (1880), translated into Italian; Marvels of the New West (1887); Success and Its Achievers (1891), translated into Italian; Our Flag Half-mast (1891); Ethics of Success (1892); School Readers {S vols., 1893-94); Turn- ing Points in Successful Careers, Aim High, and Womanhood (1895); Arou7id the Hearthstone, Men Who Win, and Wo7nen Who Win (1896). Several of his books have been translated into European languages. He died in Franklin, JIass., April 7. 1898.

THAYER, William Roscoe, historian, was bom in Boston, Mass., Jan. 16, 1859; son of Fred- erick William and Maria (Phelps) Thayer; grand- son of Elias and Nabby (Bond) Thayer and of Abel and Maria (Stevens) Phelps, and a descend ant of Thomas Thayer, slioemaker, who came to Massachusetts in 1634 and settled in Braintree. He was educated in Europe under a tutor, and at Harvard, where he was graduated A.B., 1881, X. — 9

A.M., 1886, thereafter devoting himself to litera- ture. In 1892 he assumed the editorship of The Harvard Graduates' Magazine. He was married, Nov, 24, 1893, to Elizabeth Hastings, daughter of Henry and Ellen Sophia (Hastings) Ware of Cambridge, Mass. He was elected a member of the Massachusetts Historical society, the Ameri- can Historical association, the Massachusetts Re- form club, the Dante society, the Circolo Italiano of Boston, etc. In April, 1903, he attended the International Historical congress at Rome, Italy, as the delegate of Harvard college, of the United States, and of the Massachusetts Historical society, and on April 3 he read before that body a paper on " Biography as the Basis of History," which was largely quoted and in which he maintained that the time was coming when biography would he one of the cliief elements of history. In 1902 the King of Italy made him a knight of the Order of the Crown of Italy, in recognition of liis histori- cal work, T7ie Dawn of Italian Independence (1893). His other books include: Confessions of Hermes (1884); Hesper (1888); The Best Eliza- bethan Plays (1891); Poems, Neio and Old (1894); History and Customs of Harvard University (1898); Tlirone-Makers (1899).

THAYER, William Wallace, governor of Ore- gon, was born in Lima, N.Y., July 15, 1827. His father served in the war of 1812, and was by oc- cupation a farmer. William W. Thayer received a liberal education; prepared for the law by ex- tensive reading and in an office at Penfleld, Mon- roe county, N.Y., supplementing his preparation by a course of lectures in Rochester in 1851, in which year he was admitted to the bar, and com- menced practice in Tonawanda, N.Y., where he was married to Samantha C. Vincent in 1852, and their son, Claude Thayer, became a lawyer and banker in Tillamook. Ore. Subsequently Mr. Thayer practised in Buffalo, Oregon, where he joined his brother, Judge A. J. Thayer, and in Lewiston, Ind., serving as a representative in the territorial legislature for one term and as district attorney of the third judicial district, 1866-67. In the latter year he returned to Oregon, and set- tled at Portland. He was elected Democratic governor of Oregon in 1878, although the rest of his ticket was defeated, and was judge of the supreme court, 1884-90. He subsequently re- sumed the practice of law in Portland, Oregon, where he died, Oct. 17, 1899,

THILLY, Frank, philosophical writer, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Aug. 18, 1865; son of Pierre and Marie (Barth) Thilly; grandson of Pierre and Marguerite (Zieger) Thilly and of Philip and Katherine (Lauber) Barth. He was graduated from the University of Cincinnati. Ohio, A.B. 1887; was a post-graduate student at the University of Berlin, 1887-89, and at the Uni-