Historian’s Report August 2022
Happy Greetings to all awesome Thayer descendants and friends of Thayers! Thank heavens Summer is soon to come to an end. Life here in the desert has been beyond extremely HOT and uncharacteristically humid. There has also been so many of our cousins all around the country who have been affected by serious weather-related natural disasters of all kinds, and there have been some tragic mishaps and serious illnesses. Our thoughts and prayers are with each and every one.
Work has continued on Volume XI, regardless of two serious computer crashes. In the first crash, I lost pages from 267 to 500+ which then had to be tediously copied and pasted from an earlier saved file into the main file. In the second crash, less than two weeks later, pages from 375 through pages 500+ were lost, requiring the same time consuming effort as in the first “disaster.”
Our son Brent came to my rescue and install new RAM memory chips. My poor old computer is on its last leg, but I must necessarily continue with its use due to the complexity of my obsolete programs and platforms. Should I live to publish a Volume XII (containing the “unplaced” Thayer families), it will require the new Computer and may be in an entirely different format.
Volume XI will contain around 3,000 THAYER individuals, along with their spouses; and, in this particular volume, the parents of both male and female spouses (in other words, for the husbands of Thayer women and the wives of Thayer men), as well as the children of the Thayer daughters has been included, where known. This effort took considerable work so that this additional information could be included for our readers. About 13 or more addendums will also be included, which affords very interesting additional information on the individuals contained in Volume XI. At this time, there are over 170 photos and illustrations.
This volume is being dedicated to Richard Allen Thayer of Bremerton, Washington, who served as our first editor of the Thayer Quarterly newsletter and who has been supportive and helpful to my Thayer Publishing Project through the years. Thanks Rick!!
Final Work on the addendums is the next step, and thereafter, creating the Table of Contents and the massive index. A final check to be sure everything is in the exact correct order also will need to occur. With the shortage of the exact paper needed for publishing Volume XI, I am still projecting to have it ready in time for Christmas gifting 2022. Wish me luck! This has been a lifetime endeavor! Really looking forward to Autumn with cooler temperatures, and praying for everyone’s safety and really good health. -- Patricia
Editor’s Note: Years ago when Patricia and I sought to assist in editing Rex Clement’s GenBook (now unavailable!), we identified the program’s shortcomings and requested the program to expand to include far more than the limited number which was currently available for generating. The incredible cross referencing between individuals where they appear as children in their respective parents’ families and where they appear as parents in their own families is one of the wonderful features the program allows. A great deal of extra effort had to be done in order to have the genealogy follow the male lines of descent, due to the fact so many early Thayers married their own Thayer cousins! This is one feature which sets the Comprehensive Genealogy of the Thayer Family of America Volumes apart from other genealogies.
In the beginning, our genealogy journey was commenced by using an IBM 1st Miniature “lap top” (one of 50,000 originally produced) with a SEVEN INCH Osborne (orange) screen!! And what a journey it has been!!! You will soon be able to own the last volume (XI) in this massive series dedicated to the descendants of the earliest known Thayer family of Thornbury, Gloucestershire, England. Thanks to each for your continued help and support!!
Trips to Braintree, Massachusetts to meet with renowned late Genealogist and Historian, H. Hobart Holly, followed by trip back home in Oregon to send the late Brig. General James Burdett Thayer to Braintree to organize and create the Thayer Families Association, commencing with an original 600+ membership. All these remarkable steps with the purpose of supporting our wonderful Thayer journey in creating a memorial to our Awesome THAYER family! Additional highlights included creating our Thayer Quarterly newsletter and installing dedicated workers in our leadership, etc., etc.
May family and friendships continue to be strengthened as we reach our across America!
Editor, Don Muno