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-
