Comments on: William Melanchthon Thayer, 1822-1893

By: Thayer Ave., too

Thayer Ave., too — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 18:17:23 +0000

“I hate to say it, but Bonifant’s is much cooler.”
Even, perhaps, a bit more. . . *sinister* than Thayer’s?

On a similar local history note, I plugged my address into the search engine for the Washington Post archive, and discovered all kinds of things about some of the families who have lived in my house. Newspapers now tend to use “the 1000 block of Georgia Avenue”, but at one time it wasn’t unusual to have exact addresses listed in all kinds of stories, including obituaries. And now I have tons of names and material for future research when I have time.

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 14:20:58 +0000

This might turn into East Side Story: Thayers vs. Easleys? Two clans enter, one clan leave…

By: Jerry A. McCoy

Jerry A. McCoy — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 01:04:32 +0000

Rhona,

Congratulations on finding the Thayer family plot!

By: Easley_does_it

Easley_does_it — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 16:20:12 +0000

Ah, but of course, now it all makes sense…it was the wily, dashing and brilliant Easley who bought this land for a song from the no doubt dissolute, falling-down-drunk Thayer clan. This would explain the innate sense of superiority we feel on our street.

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 01:35:48 +0000

Fair enough

And now this makes me wonder… Mr. Easley? Mrs. Thayer?

By: Rhona

Rhona — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 01:30:49 +0000

Hi- I think the headstone was put in with the last body buried on the plot: David Hutcheson’s (William & Julia’s son-in-law), who died in May of 1923. He, by the way, was a fascinating guy in his own right – Scottish immigrant who rose to become superintendent of the LOC reading room… there’s a great old Post piece about him. And I’ve found all sorts of other stuff about the other Thayers, too. Unfortunately, there are no direct descendants of William and Julia; David and Helen were childless.

And once again, I gotta reiterate: Julia was the one who sold the land we live on to Easley, and a full 9 years after William’s death… I see no reason to assume Easley didn’t name the street for the nice 73-yr-old widow instead of her husband

Please don’t be so hard on Jerry.

By: Eric

Eric — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:17:37 +0000

Yeah, I’ll concede that. The children are also listed on the back of the marker (more on that in a later post). Looks like this might be a 70s or 80s addition.

I was told, however, that Montgomery Blair’s mausoleum could house a large family of migrant workers. That I’ll have to see.

By: Sligo

Sligo — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 13:58:33 +0000

That doesn't look like a circa 1900 headstone. I hate to say it, but Bonifant's is much cooler.