Nathaniel Thayer, Jr.

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.

Early life

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.

Banking

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.

Philanthropy

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.

Personal life

He married Cornelia Paterson Van Rensselaer (1823–1897), daughter of Stephen Van Rensselaer IV, in 1846. Together, they had seven children:

• Stephen Van Rensselaer Thayer (1847–1871)
• Cornelia Van Rensselaer Thayer (1849–1903), who married J. Hampden Robb (1846–1911) in 1868.
• Nathaniel Thayer III (1851–1911)
• Harriet Van Rensselaer Thayer (1853–1891)
• Eugene Van Rensselaer Thayer (1855–1907)
• Bayard Thayer (1862–1916)
• John Eliot Thayer (1862–1933), an amateur ornithologist

Descendants

His granddaughter, Cornelia Van Rensselaer Thayer (b. 1881) married Danish Count Carl Moltke (1869–1935) in 1907.

Honors and Memberships

Elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1866.