Taylor County, West Virginia Biography of John R. THAYER ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Valerie Crook, , March 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 94-95 JOHN R. THAYER, a resident of Taylor County for more than half a century, now a retired farmer at Grafton, was an efficient business man while on the farm, and at one time was one of the foremost representatives and leaders among the agricultural interests of the state. He was born in Marion County February 20, 1850. His father, Franklin Thayer, was born near Williamsport, Massa- chusetts, in 1803, and came from that state to West Virginia. He married Nancy Mason, daughter of John Mason, and to their marriage were born ten children: Mrs. Amanda Hoover, who died near Helena, Montana; Caroline, a resident of Buck- hannon, widow of George R. Latham, who held the rank of colonel in the Union Army, later was a Congressman, and was appointed by President Johnson to a foreign post in Australia; Cordelia, who married Lindley Ray, of Fairmont, both now deceased; Luary, of Grafton, widow of Martin Miller; Milton J., who died at Salina. Kansas; Nancy, who married Hoy White and died at Oswego, Kansas; Frank, Miss Mary and Stephen, all of Grafton; and John R., the youngest. When John Ralph Thayer was six years old his parents moved to Nuzum's Mill, now the site of Hammond, West Virginia, and in 1864 came to Taylor County and settled near Grafton. John R. Thayer grew up in a time and place where little attention was paid to the subject of education, and most of his advantages were acquired in the public schools of Grafton. As a youth he did work in a brickyard, offbearing brick, also worked as tail sawyer in a sawmill, and for two years was an Illinois farm hand in Marshall County, getting sixteen dollars a month and board. On his return to West Virginia he did farm labor at Knottsville, near Grafton, for two years, following which he was again a tail sawyer at Grafton, worked in a planing mill, and bought and sold lumber for the plant. While thus employed he married and soon afterward settled down to his vocation as a farmer. Beginning with some land provided by his wife's father in the Haymond settlement near Grafton, he bought other land and accumulated and improved a farm of two hundred and fifty acres, getting two hundred of it under cultivation. Crops were marketed almost altogether through livestock, which was the main business of the farm, raising cattle, horses and sheep. In connection with farming, Mr. Thayer for twenty years was local agent for the McCormick Harvester Company, and he also sold the J. I. Case harvesting, threshing and road-making machinery. From his own business his interest went out to the welfare of the community and gradually to all movements for the advancement of country life. As a member of the Board of Education of the Fetterman District his service might well be gratefully remembered. He had a hand in the erection of a new schoolhouse at Thornton, and was the moving spirit in a strenuous campaign for two new schoolhouses in the Hay- mond settlement. This involved an education of public opinion from the ground up, and it was due to his persistent advocacy that the community finally came over to his way of thinking, and secured a modification of the board's plan for one schoolhouse in favor of two. Mr. Thayer early espoused the cause of the Farmers Alliance when it spread here from the Southwest and West, and he took a prominent part in its organization work. He was elected county president for Taylor County and then vice president of the state organ- ization, refusing the office of president. Of the ten thousand members of the Alliance enrolled in West Virginia, his per- sonal influence and effort were responsible for at least three thousand. The Alliance was not essentially a political movement, and when it became evident that its aims could only be achieved by political action the organization was largely merged with the people's party, and Mr. Thayer naturally had a prominent place in the new party's organization in West Virginia. He was offered the nomination for governor on its first state ticket, but accepted instead the nomination for state senator. In the second campaign there was a fusion between the populists and democrats, and though the results were not altogether successful Mr. Thayer received the nomination of both parties for the House of Delegates. Since the decline of the people's party he has had no official part in politics. His independence of mind is indicated in the mixed record he has made as a voter. His first presidential ballot went to General Grant, he supported James G. Blaine, voted for Bryan twice, once for Colonel Roosevelt, and twice for Mr. Wilson. By appointment Mr. Thayer is now serving as jury commissioner and county coroner. Mr. Thayer married Miss Bertha Kincaid, only daughter of Moses and Nancy (Knotts) Kincaid. She was born and reared at Knottsville, Taylor County, attended the State University and two terms at the Fairmont State Normal. Mr. Thayer was reared in the Methodist faith, but took up Christian Science for the benefit of his wife's health, and both became converts. She profited wonderfully from the treatment, and her life was prolonged many years after hope had been aban- doned. She died July 9, 1917. There were two daughters. Rosalee, deceased, was the wife of Ray M. Parrish, of Grafton, and she is survived by three children. The other daughter, Miss Iva, is the companion of her father.