Introduction
Carl Sagan never proposed this theory, but it’s a safe bet that at any random moment in the cosmos, an amateur genealogist has just laid his head down on his arms at a battered library table and muttered, “Why am I doing this?”
He’s surrounded by notebooks and well thumbed copies of cemetery books assembled by long gone members of the Junior League. A totebag spills over with pages inscribed in genealogy hieroglyphics: William? 1857? North Carolina? "Sara and Amos"????!
Our amateur has gone beyond the safety zone of his parents’ social security numbers. And if he ventures out of the thirteen colonies, the trail of church records and census data disappears into the wilderness; just like his folks.
Which is why, he answers himself, he is doing this.
1. Your Letter Of The 9th On The Subject of Thayers Is Most Interesting
“Why not start a Thayer Family Association? We could give you a pretty good mailing list as a starter, and the objective of working toward publication of the genealogy would be a good initial goal to do it now.”
Hobart Holly in a letter to Phil Thayer, May 11, 1985
A genealogist never has enough filing space. The best computer programs, carefully transcribed notes, and neatly filled out charts must be supported by research and verification. Proof that your ancestor is really your ancestor, and that means paper.
It also means relying on work done by others, if one is lucky enough to find a shared surname traced by another researcher.
Before the formation of the Thayer Families Association, those researching the Thayer lineage had to ferret out information themselves, or depend on work compiled by Dr. Elisha Thayer, General Bezaleel Thayer, Tomas and Luis Thayer-Ojeda, Ruth Thayer Ravenscroft, or Waldo Chamberlain Sprague. These resources, compiled at various times over a 162 year period, varied greatly in comprehensiveness and verification. Further complicating the task was the continuing growth of the Thayer family in America.
The most respected of the genealogies, Waldo Sprague’s work on the Thayer Family absorbed thirty years of his life and was still confined only to the New England area. Sprague, a historian with tremendous qualifications, was hindered by the earlier, faulty research of General Bezaleel Thayer. General Thayer was somewhat reckless with verification of his data, overtaken by either enthusiasm or frustration (or both) for the task.
Waldo Sprague died in 1960, his work on the Thayer Family uncompleted. The manuscript was left to the New England Historic Genealogical Society, and Sprague’s friend, Hobart H. Holly, hoped to see it completed and published. While held as a model of genealogical research, the manuscript was in first draft form.
Holly, a retired Naval Architect and well regarded historian and genealogist, volunteered his time with the Braintree and Quincy Historical Societies. The societies received requests for data and queries about old Massachusetts families continually, and Holly found himself traveling often to Boston to comb through the NEHGS archives.
Holly struck up an acquaintance there with Philip Thayer, a retired Biochemist and full time volunteer researcher for NEHGS. Phil Thayer’s interest in his family, and Holly’s sincere wish that Waldo Sprague’s Thayer manuscript be produced and published, provided the impetus to begin a Thayer Family Association.
But how do you come up with a significant amount of money to finance a project such as publishing Waldo Sprague’s research? Earlier estimates had put the cost of finding a genealogist to verify and prepare the manuscript at $20,000 to $25,000. Now, in 1985, the cost would be at least that much, and probably more.
Braintree Historical Society’s publication fund was depleted from an earlier project. Nor would the New England Historic Genealogical Society finance such an amount. Lack of money did not indicate lack of interest, though. Holly reintroduced the idea of publication at BHS, and it was well received. It was similarly embraced at NEHGS. NEHGS offered, if not funding, then cooperation in making the Sprague manuscript available to a genealogist who would complete the project.
In a letter to Phil Thayer, in May 1985, Holly suggested starting a Thayer Family Association to support eventual publication of the Sprague work. This avenue had worked successfully for other families in the same situation; and in addition to being a source of possible funding, an association would be a place for Thayer descendants to share information and fellowship. Phil Thayer was apparently acquainted with the idea.
Phil Thayer focused instead on finding NEHGS funding. By August, it was apparent such funds were not forthcoming. More strongly, Holly wrote Thayer again:
In my letter of May 11th, I commented on a possible Thayer Families Association as you had mentioned. It looks like a very feasible idea to me. The large number of Thayer descendants from many parts of the country who have joined the Braintree Historical Society show a strong interest in their family. With this list as a starter, someone to spearhead the organization, and someone to produce a newsletter, would be enough to get off the ground.
As with all family associations, catering to common interests would be the major purpose. A specific focal point can also be very valuable. Participation in the publication of a Thayer Genealogy would serve such a purpose. The membership would be very valuable contacts for a researcher to complete and bringing up-to-date the Sprague material. Financial involvement might materialize but that should wait and be played by ear. Further, the association membership would be a prime group for sale of the book.
However, the idea of a Thayer Family Association would remain a backburner issue for three more years.
2. The Lady In Oregon
Genealogist Patricia Thayer Muno wrote to the BHS seeking information on her Thayer line for the first time in 1982. In 1988, when the issue of a Sprague publication was still percolating, Muno wrote again. In the intervening years, she had put together a significant body of data on the Thayers.
Holly, after establishing a relationship with Patricia Muno, was sold on the quality of her work. And Muno made it clear that she planned to publish her own Thayer genealogy.
Holly realized that Patricia Muno had the qualifications, commitment, and intent he and Phil Thayer had looked for in a genealogist to present the Sprague material.
After floating the idea of Patricia Muno’s involvement to BHS and NEHGS, Holly approached her.
As far as the Sprague material was concerned, Holly expected to give Muno photocopies of the 1,500 page document to work from. Control of the material was critical to NEHGS; concerns about formatting, including wills, deeds, and similar records, and how many generations the research would cover, were all issues to be ironed out.
Still convinced a Thayer Family Association was the best vehicle for supporting the proposed Sprague production, Holly wrote to Phil Thayer, May 5, 1988:
Since there is not yet a TFA, I suggest a group of Thayers to supervise the project, and handle the financial end when the time comes for that – and that doesn’t seem to be as impossible a dream as it did a year ago. This is the way the Pennimans did their book.
In Oregon, Patricia Muno had meticulously combed through all the Thayer data she could compile and spent years verifying, then creating a computer database, from the records.
Impressed with Sprague’s work as she authenticated, and then compared it against her own data, Muno found the offer from Holly and Phil Thayer to become involved in a Thayer genealogy a good one. Publishing her own research on the Thayer family was financially out of reach – the same problem BHS and NEHGS had confronted.
In his letter to Muno of July 27, 1988, Phil Thayer mentioned the possibility of aTFA to provide funding, but emphasized the interest he and Holly had in finding “angels” (those willing to make large donations) to obtain the money. The angels idea, Thayer wrote, was the one he and Holly were most interested in pursuing.
Patricia Muno was extremely interested in working with the Sprague data toward publication. But she was soon to find it was a project with serious restrictions.
3. The Infernal Machine and Other Matters
While Patricia Muno felt Waldo Sprague’s material to be a piece of the Thayer puzzle, NEHGS saw it as a stand alone work.
NEHGS demanded that Sprague’s manuscript be published exactly as written. NEHGS also wanted complete inclusion of miscellaneous details, such as wills and deeds. Insisting on complete ownership and total editorial control of any work Muno might produce, NEHGS demands reduced Muno’s role to that of a typist.
“Out of respect” to Sprague, NEHGS’ directors wanted the manuscript limited to the seven generations Sprague had compiled. Further generational data would be published separately, and the entire document was to be presented in Register style.
Any mention by Muno of computerizing the data was completely rejected. “Phil and HHH were afraid my intentions for a Thayer genealogy would be a computer printout!” Patricia Thayer Muno, 1997
While Holly was not committed to using computer programs, he did disagree strongly with publishing Sprague’s manuscript verbatim.
“Waldo Sprague did not finish his work or carry it to any logical stopping point. He had intended to complete it and then put it into publishable form. I feel that Mrs. Muno’s approach would be carrying on Waldo’s work and be much more of a tribute to him than would be the publishing of his incomplete workdraft.” HH to PT, September 9, 1988
After obtaining a copy of Sprague’s manuscript, Patricia Muno analyzed the realities of publishing it verbatim.
The Sprague material, while meticulously researched, was laden with detail Muno felt would hinder the modern Thayer researcher. Muno’s personal goal was to publish a comprehensive, yet “accessible” genealogy, without including random biographies, wills, deeds, and matters such as “how many feather pillows Abigail was left” -- all information better collected elsewhere. As for Register style, she felt it would never encompass the large Thayer family.
Muno countered the NEHGS offer; she would not only incorporate Sprague’s data into her comprehensive Thayer family genealogy, but return to NEHGS all of Sprague’s research logged into a modern computer database.
NEHGS was not interested.
4. It Is Time To Stop Fiddiddling
Frustrated by NEHGS’ stance on publication of the Sprague material, Hobart Holly revived the idea of a family association. On October 4, 1988, Holly wrote Phil Thayer, including a photocopy of a BHS September newsletter.
“I think you will find this bit from the BHS interesting,” Holly wrote. In case Thayer missed it, Holly pointed out that of ten new BHS members listed, five were Thayers.
Further, the size of the Thayer family, the availability of leads from BHS membership rolls to comprise a mailing list, and the objective of publishing the Thayer genealogy all added up to “a favorable time to form a TFA,” Holly wrote.
But Phil Thayer continued to press for a compromise with NEHGS, using the Sprague material and Muno’s work in some collaboration. NEHGS still feared any presentation of the Sprague document in what Phil Thayer described to Patricia Muno as, “…a skeletal, computerized sketch of ancestral linkages.”
In June of 1988, three years after first suggesting a family association as a resource for Thayer descendants and publishing the genealogy, Holly wrote Phil Thayer a formal, seven point letter, the first of which read:
“It is time to stop fiddiddling, become realistic, and take some positive action.”
Addressing each hindrance in the Sprague-Muno project, Holly strongly and decisively made a case for a family association, convinced it was the only route through which to accomplish the publication of a Thayer genealogy.
Holly saw no true commitment from NEHGS to ever publish the work of Waldo Sprague; he rightly feared the possibility, if action was not taken to publish a good Thayer genealogy, of another Bezaleel-like manuscript; and he pointed out that Patricia Muno would eventually publish her Thayer work, with or without the Sprague/NEHGS seal of approval.
“I see no reason to believe she will not do a credible job,” Holly wrote. “…possibly exactly what you and I and many others would like to see.”
Loaded for bear, Holly laid out a course of action and summarily “elected” Phil Thayer to take charge, and removed NEHGS from the picture.
With the help of Holly, Mr. Willard Rockwell of the BHS, and Oregon resident Jim Thayer, Phil Thayer could, according to Holly, provide Muno with access to the Sprague material, oversee the development of her work, and arrange for financial support of the project.
5. Perhaps A Family Reunion
One hopes Hobart Holly did not sit by his mailbox, waiting for a reply from Phil Thayer. If one came, it has not been saved.
Starting a family association is a daunting task, and Phil Thayer may not have wanted to touch it with a ten foot pole – and understandably so. Undeterred, Holly kept his ear to the ground, looking for volunteers.
In the summer of 1989, Holly received a letter at the BHS from Will Thayer of Connecticut. Along with his request for data to further his own research, Will Thayer apparently suggested the idea of a Thayer Family Reunion, possibly in 1990.
Holly was inspired. It was a new pointy stick with which to poke Phil Thayer.
Shortly thereafter, Holly cheerfully reported to Will Thayer that Phil Thayer (possibly thinking it was the lesser of two evils) had begun investigating the idea, gathering “pointers” from a participant in a reunion of the same sort.
Holly enthusiastically supported the idea. In his remarks about how to organize the event, the words “family association” can seamlessly be substituted for “reunion.”
It was never far from his mind.
6. A Real Show of Interest
By 1990, with the continuing support of Jim Thayer, Holly had convinced Phil Thayer to test the waters. Though far from the goings on in New England geographically, Jim Thayer was so enthusiastic about a possible TFA that he had even visited Boston to meet with Holly and Phil Thayer.
The first of several letters were mailed to fewer than one hundred people who had shown interest in a Thayer Family Association. The response was very positive; enough so that, in March of the following year, a more formal mailing was distributed and a notice submitted and printed in the Braintree Historical Society newsletter.
Detailing a proposed formation of a Thayer Family Association open to Thayer descendants and interested persons, the memo stated several goals for the TFA. Along with providing a “focal point” for family history, organizing family reunions, and issuing a publication with articles and queries, the TFA hoped to sponsor “the development and publication of a rigorously researched family genealogy, more up to date and more accurate than the only one presently available (1874.)”
The members of the organizing committee were listed as Jim Thayer of Oregon, Will Thayer of Connecticut, and Phil Thayer of Massachusetts. Hobart Holly was rightly listed as an Advisor. Volunteers for the roles of officers and directors were solicited.
Holly was able to write Jim Thayer in late April of “…generous contributions and a real show of interest.”
In Oregon, Jim Thayer was staying in touch with Patricia Muno. Publication of a definitive, comprehensive Thayer genealogy was a stated goal of the newly forming TFA, and this ambition still meshed perfectly with Muno’s own hopes for her Thayer work.
While the next year was devoted to defining membership and roles of the eventual TFA officers and directors, Hobart Holly continued to nip at the heels of Phil Thayer. Calling himself “unofficial needle” as well as a recognized TFA consultant, Holly advised, cajoled, pestered, and nosed Jim Thayer, Phil Thayer, and Will Thayer into action when their focus was elsewhere.
In August of 1992, the first Thayer Family Association newsletter was mailed out to the fledgling membership. The organizing committee announced its move toward “active recruitment” to fill administrative roles – in light of the fact that only one brave soul had volunteered for a job.
Holly saw the reluctance of the organizing committee to establish proper authoritative and board positions as a threat to the young group.
In October, Holly suggested that Phil Thayer become Secretary, as he had offered to be, and that “key people” Jim and Will Thayer be called upon for other offices. Raymond (Rick) Thayer, of Braintree, had volunteered to help and Holly thought his talents should be utilized, also. Though he was ready to contribute, Rick Thayer was not interested in becoming an officer.
In December, Phil Thayer sent a letter to the new membership, proposing officers and Board nominees. These were Will Thayer, President; Jim Thayer, Vice President; and Phil Thayer, Secretary/Treasurer.
Proposed Board Members were Thayer Eldridge, Catherine Naughton, Paul Hutchins, Garland Thayer, Robert Knighton, and Howard Thayer.
When the preposted ballots were returned and recorded, all nominees were approved.
Rick Thayer had been unable to resist the call to take a TFA officer’s position. In February of 1993, he found himself in the role of Acting Secretary, and Treasurer, assuming Phil Thayer’s positions. It was his difficult duty to inform the TFA membership of Thayer’s unexpected death following heart surgery on February 2.
“The Thayer Family Association was his dream,” Rick Thayer wrote about Phil Thayer. “…and I, for one, will press on to see his dream realized.”
“Rick picked up the pieces and carried us forward.” Patricia Muno, 1997
7. Sorting Out
In May, a few months after Phil Thayer’s death, Rick Thayer published and mailed another volume of the TFA newsletter. He was able to report membership at two hundred people, and also that Thayer Eldridge had taken the role of Acting Secretary.
While membership was the immediate focus of the TFA, more basic issues came to the foreground. Most critical was the debate over who could belong – would only those who could show “blood proof” of their Thayer ancestry be members, or would it become a surname organization? Many members of the TFA, including Patricia Thayer Muno, would be excluded for membership if the TFA became a lineage organization. Despite years of research, Muno had not been able to trace her father’s Thayer line.
In the end, the membership of the Thayer Family Association overwhelmingly supported becoming a surname organization, and became the Thayer Families Association in 1994.
While the officers and board members of the TFA debated the surname problem, the establishment of bylaws, and membership, there was also an intent to bring Patricia Muno into a more prominent position.
Not only was Muno’s Thayer genealogy invaluable, her skills as a genealogist and expertise regarding the Thayer family were a plus for the TFA. Muno was offered the position of Historian/Genealogist of the TFA. She formally accepted at the 3rd Annual TFA meeting in June, 1994.
This meeting also saw the election of Albert Thayer Morton as a director, replacing Thayer Eldridge. Morton was also made Membership Chairman.
As a consequence of Muno and Morton’s efforts, membership saw a dramatic increase. All officers and board members felt their responsibilities grow. Muno lessened one duty for the Secretary/Treasurer by bringing in another Rick Thayer, of Bremerton, Washington, to publish the newsletter. Under Rick Thayer’s editorship, the newly renamed Thayer Quarterly became an additional benefit to members, and showed the TFA in its best light.
8. The Purposes Have Remained Constant
1995 was a year of growth and stabilization for the TFA. Membership increased steadily and the availability of online communications allowed many members and officers immediate access to each other. The ability to communicate so frequently and easily developed tremendous cohesion among TFA-ers.
In 1996, there was a change in the majority of directors. New members were anxious to contribute, and brought a renewed energy to the organization.
Three very important strides in recent TFA history, at the time of this writing in 1997, are the TFA Homepage on the Internet, developed and maintained by Rodney Lee Thayer, and the election of Al Morton as the most motivated and dynamic president the TFA has had.
In an unpublished document, Rick Thayer of Braintree wrote, “The purposes of the Thayer Families Association have remained constant…despite many changes of venue.”
One of those changes of venue was the death of Hobart Holly. He died November 25, 1996, after a bout with pneumonia.
In light of the continuing growth and success of the Thayer Families Association, perhaps Phil Thayer and Hobart Holly now serve as the TFA angels they once sought.
Sources and Acknowledgments
The History of the Thayer Families Association is a work in progress. As the largest Family Association in America, members can expect the TFA to be a resource for many years to come. The material covers events up to the time of this writing, in June of 1997.
This manuscript could not have been written without the generosity of Mrs. Patricia Thayer Muno of Oregon, Mr. Rick Thayer of Massachusetts, and Mr. Albert Thayer Morton of New York, all of whom sent every scrap of paper collected in TFA history, carefully saved and photocopied. Further, all three patiently answered requests for more information and interviews. Many thanks, also, to Mrs. Judy Young Thayer of Virginia for her careful proofreading and feedback.
All information herein is taken from personal correspondence, TFA documents, and interviews. Dates are given where appropriate; as frequently as possible without destroying readability of the narrative.