Biographies
from
The History of Otsego County, New York
1740-1878
D. Hamilton Hurd
Published by Everts & Fariss, Philadelphia
THAYER, W. A., Dr. - Otsego
Caleb THAYER, father of the doctor, was born in the town of
Hardwick, Worcester Co., Mass., Jan. 28, 1799. Moved to the
State of New York with his family in 1829, and settled in the town
of Otsego, in the same neighborhood which he continued to reside
until his death. In his early residence in Otsego he was engaged in
the manufacture of lead pipe for conveying water, and for quite a
number of years he traveled in Otsego and adjoining counties in this
business; but after cheaper processes of manufacture had been
invented, he discontinued the business, and confined himself
exclusively to farming. In an obituary notice, published in the
Cooperstown Journal, the following is said of him:
He was descended from a long-lived ancestry, and inheriting a
vigorous constitution, which his temperate and industrious habits
tended well to preserve, he was enabled with very little physical
suffering and mind unimpaired to reach a ripe old age, to which
very few now attain. His was truly a busy life. Time to him was
too precious to be squandered in idleness and dissipation. Ever
ready to extend a helping hand to those who were needy, he had
no charity for the idle and dissipated. He was very social in his
disposition, and enjoyed with much zest the society of his friends
and neighbors, many of whom often came to him for advise and
counsel. In his intercourse with his fellow-man, and in all his
business relations, he was ever guided by the principles of right
and justice.
Mr. Thayer was twice married. By his first wife, whose
maiden name was Hannah STEVENS, he had two children, viz.,
the subject of this sketch, and Henry Clinton. The latter was born
in Otsego, March 1, 1835, and was drowned May 25, 1838. His
wife died March 21, 1864, and he was again married Oct. 14, 1866,
to H. Aurelia PIERCE, daughter of John and Sally Pierce, a further
notice of whom will be found in another column of this work.
After his second marriage, Mr. Thayer purchased the old
homestead of the Pierce family, upon which he made most of the
improvements, and where he died. His death occurred Dec. 4, 1877.
Dr. W. A. Thayer was descended from an old family, several
members of which served during the War of the Revolution with
distinction. A near relative, Hiram Thayer, was imprisoned on
board a British man-of-war in 1803, and was detained until
discharged at the close of the war. An aged uncle, William Thayer,
still survives at the green old age of eighty-five, who served his
country in the War of 1812, and was wounded at the battle of
Lundy's Lane.
He was born in Hardwick, Worcester Co., Mass., March 6, 1824.
His primary education was received in the district school of his
neighborhood. When seventeen years of age he entered a preparatory
course for college in the Cooperstown academy, where he remained
three years. In 1842 he entered the sophomore class of Union
college, and graduated from that institution in 1845. For one year
thereafter he was principal of the Sunbury academy, Sunbury, Pa.
At odd times during his college course, and while teaching, he
prosecuted the study of medicine with Dr. King, of Cooperstown.
In the fall of 1846 he attended the first course of lectures at the
Berkshire medical college, Pittsfield, his second course at Woodstock,
Vt., from which he took his medical diploma in 1847. In the fall of
the same year he commenced the practice of medicine in Clayville,
Oneida Co., N.Y., where he remained two years. From thence he
went to Cortland, Cortland Co., N.Y., where for seven years he
carried on the drug trade in connection with the practice of his
profession. In 1856 he moved to Monmouth, Warren Co., Ill.,
continuing in the drug trade and practice of medicine. In 1861 he
returned to Otsego, where he remained on the homestead farm till
1867, relieving his father from the burden of its management.
Having purchased a farm in Oakland, Franklin Co., Iowa, he moved
on to it, and remained till 1873. When his father moved on to the
Pierce farm, he returned to the homestead, which he has since
occupied.
The doctor married Sept. 10, 1849, Nancy A. CRITTENDEN,
daughter of Ichabod and Lydia Crittenden, who were natives of
Cincinnatus, Cortland, Co., N.Y. She was born July 3, 1826, in
Willet, Cortland Co. They have children as follows: Alfred Clinton,
born May 10, 1851; died Dec. 22, 1852. Franklin A., born Dec. 20,
1853; married April 10, 1877, to Fanny POPEJOY; living on the
farm in Iowa. Henry Caleb, born Dec. 17, 1856. George Crittenden,
born June 21, 1865. Charles Ichabod, born Aug. 1, 1868; the latter
three living at home.
In politics the doctor has been a life-long Democrat. He has
retired from the practice of medicine, finding ample employment
of his time in the management of his farm. A representation of his
home, with portraits of his father and mother, self and wife, appear
on other pages of this work.--
Excerpt from History of Otsego Co., NY, page 254