 |
History and Government—Congressional Biographies—MassachusettsEli THAYER
(1819-1899)
THAYER, Eli, (father of
John Alden Thayer), a Representative from Massachusetts; born in
Mendon, Worcester County, Mass., June 11, 1819; attended the common
schools, the academies in Bellingham and Amherst, Mass., and the
Worcester Manual Labor School; taught school in Douglas, Mass., in
1835 and 1836 and in Hopkington, R.I., in 1842; had charge of the
boys’ high school in Providence, R.I., in 1844; was graduated
from Brown University at Providence in 1845 and was an instructor
in Worcester Academy 1845-1848; studied law and was admitted to the
bar, but did not practice; founded the Oread Collegiate Institute,
a school for young women, in 1848; member of the Worcester School
Board in 1852; alderman of Worcester in 1852 and 1853; member of
the State house of representatives in 1853 and 1854; while in the
legislature secured a charter, and originated and organized the New
England Emigrant Aid Co., which had for its purpose the sending out
of an advance colony of antislavery settlers to Kansas; elected as
a Republican to the Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth Congresses (March
4, 1857-March 3, 1861); chairman, Committee on Public Lands
(Thirty-sixth Congress); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in
1860 to the Thirty-seventh Congress; delegate accredited from
Oregon to the Republican National Convention in 1860; engaged in
railroad and other business pursuits; unsuccessful candidate for
election in 1872 to the Forty-third Congress; died in Worcester,
Mass., April 15, 1899; interment in Hope Cemetery.
Bibliography
Andrews, Horace. “Kansas Crusade: Eli Thayer and the New
England Emigrant Aid Company.” New England Quarterly
35 (December 1962): 497-514.
Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present
Related Links
|
24 X 7
Private Tutor
|
24 x 7 Tutor Availability |
|
|
Unlimited Online Tutoring |
|
|
1-on-1 Tutoring |
|
