Nathaniel Thayer, Jr.
| Nathaniel Thayer, Jr. | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
September 11, 1808 Lancaster, Massachusetts |
| Died | March 7, 1883 (aged 74) Boston, Massachusetts |
| Spouse(s) | Cornelia Patterson Van Rensselaer |
| Children | 7 |
| Parent(s) |
Nathaniel Thayer Sarah Parker Toppan |
| Relatives | Stephen Van Rensselaer IV (father-in-law) |
| Signature | |
 |
|
Nathaniel Thayer (Lancaster, Massachusetts, 11 September 1808 – Boston, 7 March 1883) was a United States financier, philanthropist, and the father of John Eliot Thayer, an amateur ornithologist.
He was the son of Nathaniel Thayer (1769–1840), a Unitarian congregational minister of Lancaster, Massachusetts, and Sarah Parker Toppan, daughter of Christopher Toppan and Sarah Parker. He was educated in an academy in Lancaster.
For many years, Thayer was a member, with his brother, of the firm of John E. Thayer and Brother, a banking house in Boston. The firm was active in the development of railroads in the western United States, several of which Thayer was a director. The firm was also involved with other enterprises such as manufacturing which required large amounts of capital. Thayer became senior director of the firm on the death of his brother in 1857. He gradually acquired a large fortune.
He was a fellow of Harvard in 1868-1875, and one of its largest benefactors. He contributed to a commons hall, erected Thayer Hall in 1870 as a memorial of his father and brother, bore the expenses of Louis Agassiz's expedition to South America (which was known as the Thayer Expedition), built a fire-proof herbarium at the botanic garden, and gave much in aid of poor students of the college. He was one of the most generous citizens of Boston.
He married Cornelia Paterson Van Rensselaer (1823–1897), daughter of Stephen Van Rensselaer IV, in 1846. Together, they had seven children:
His granddaughter, Cornelia Van Rensselaer Thayer (b. 1881) married Danish Count Carl Moltke (1869–1935) in 1907.
Elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1866.
...
Wikipedia