Notes |
- Note: For a timeline on events involving Robert and his family St. Lawrence County, see John Thayer Sr.
- Robert's son John was born in Ontario and shows W.R., (William Robert) as his father's name: Stormont, Ontario, Canada, Nov. 19, 1871, John Junior Thayer, born of W.R. Thayer, and Harriet Rehor; father is shoemaker; Division: Iroquois; County: Stormont. Robert's full name also was revealed by the birth of a son, William Robert Thayer, Jr., in his second marriage.
-1850 census shows Robert, 8, living in Gouverneur with parents John Thayer and Nancy.
-1860 census shows Robert Thayer, b. abt. 1840-Canada, residing in DeKalb, St. Lawrence County, with the Oliver Lennox family. Oliver Lennox is married to Robert's older sister Julia A. Thayer.
- 1861: John Thayer and three of his sons (John Jr., Robert and Alfred) all enlisted in the 16th New York Infantry in 1861. Potsdam: Oct. 16, 1861: "Capt. George Parker passed through this village last evening en route for the headquarters of his regiment with the following named recruits, whom he had enlisted at and near Gouverneur: John Thayer, Jr. and Alfred Thayer. The father and another son of the above Thayers (Robert) are already in Capt. Parker's company." All served in Company D of the 16th New York Infantry. John Thayer Sr. was first to enlist on May 1, 1861 at age 44; Robert enlisted the next day on May 2, 1861 at age 21; Alfred enlisted Sept. 19, 1861 at age 19; and John Jr. on Sept. 27, 1861 at age 27. Robert was discharged later that year on Dec. 10, 1861 due to a concussion from falling from a railroad car; John Sr. and John Jr. were discharged together "for disability" on Feb. 20, 1862 at Alexandria Va.; and Alfred went through the war, was wounded at Gaines Mills, VA June 17, 1862 and discharged for disability, but re-enlisted and was discharged as a full sergeant July 31, 1865, at Manchester, VA. All of them participated in the battles at Pohock Church, Va. on Sept. 21 and again on Oct. 4. About a week later, Robert fell from a railroad car and suffered a brain concussion. He did not participate in any further battles and was discharged Dec. 10. John Sr. and John Jr. were discharged the following February without engaging in any further battles. Alfred went on to participate in battles at West Point, Va. in May 7, 1862, Mechanicsville, Va. May 22; Chickahominy, Va. June 1, and Gaines Mill, Va. June 27 when he was wounded. He was at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Va. Dec. 11-15, 1863; Franklin's Crossing, Va. April 29-May 2, and Marye's Heights and Salem Church, Va. May 3-4, 1863; and discharged in July, 1865.
- National Archives, Civil War Records, Robert Thayer, Co.D 16 NY Inf., Private. Enrolled at Gouverneur, NY 2 May 1861 for 2 years; discharged at Camp Franklin, VA 10 Dec 1861 , Surgeon's Certificate Disability; b. Canada, 21 years, 5' 9", dark complexion, gray eyes, brown hair, occupation laborer; concussion of the brain caused by fall from the cars while in motion, unfit for duty last 60 days - 8 Jan1862; returning to Gouverneur, NY.
- Between 1863 and 1866, John Thayer Jr. died, and Robert either married his widow Harriet or simply moved in and took up supporting her and her two or three children by John. We know that Caroline E. and Alfred were definitely John's children, and Mary, b. 1868, may have been as well.
- In late 1868 or early 1869, Robert joined his parents in relocating to Michigan. The 1870 census shows Robert at East Saginaw, Mich, Ward 1: Robert Thayer, 30, barber, born Canada (abt. 1840) Harriet, 30, b. NY in 1840, with children Caroline, 12; Alford, 7; and Mary, 2, all born NY; and Delia, 10 months, born in Michigan. Also residing with them is Robert's brother Sylvester, (actually 15) showing an age of 18, and also a barber.
Curious is that while Robert and Harriet are established in Saginaw Michigan in 1870, their son John G., was born in Stormont County, Ontario, Canada on Nov. 19, 1871.
- In 1870, Robert and his wife Harriet and their first four children - Caroline, Alfred, Mary and Deila - are living in Saginaw.
-1880 census: Robert, 39, a barber, married to Harriett, 40, b. abt. 1841 in Canada, residing June 10, 1880, in Toledo, Ohio with children Alfred, 17, an apprentice barber; Mary, 12; Deila, 11; John, 9; and Charles, 5. The 1880 Toledo city directory shows Robert as a barber for A. D'Angelo, and residing on Superior St.
- 1881 Toledo directory: no Robert Thayer.
- 1882: Robert lives Bay City, Mich with 13-year-old.
- 1882 Ogd. city directory. No Thayers.
- 1883 Bay City: No Thayers
- 1883 Saginaw, MI: Sylvester, barber, resides 716 LaPeer.
- 1900 U.S. Census at Bay City, Mich., Ward 5, are: Robert Thayer, 59, shoemaker, b. Nov., 1840, and Cecila Thayer, 31, b. July, 1868, married for 18 years, married in 1882.
- On Nov. 19, 1890, a Civil War pension application was filed in Michigan for Robert Thayer, Co. D, 16thNY, as an invalid.
- A document, "Special Schedule-Surviving Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines and Widows, etc." filed in June, 1890 in the Ogdensburg Civil Division, shows: "Harriet, widow of John Thayer, private, 16NY Inf., enlisted 1861." Both John and Harriet's husband Robert enlisted in this division, and it appears that Harriet may have been improperly collecting a pension from her brother-in-law, John Thayer. The document states that in June, 1890, Harriet was residing in Ogdensburg.
- LDS Michigan Marriages, 1868-1925: Robert Thayer, b. 1841, Canada, son of John Thayer and Nancy Thiers, married Cecelia Deacon, April 19, 1899, at Bay City, Bay, Michigan. Robert was 58. The bride's age is 30. She was born in 1869 in Canada. The bride's father is George Deacon. Her mother is Elizabeth Coulsor.
- Summary: In 1870, Robert and his wife Harriet and their first four children - Caroline, Alfred, Mary and Deila - are living in Saginaw, Michigan. While Harriet was pregnant with John, who was born in November, 1871, Robert was having an affair with a young woman named Ellen Doyle and in July, 1871, when his wife was five months pregnant, Robert impregnated Ellen, who gave birth to a daughter she named Ellen Garfield Thayer, the following April, 1872. It would appear that Harriet didn't know about this situation since, three years later, she and Robert are still in Michigan together, and had another child, Charles, who was born in September, 1875 in Michigan.
After that point, it is possible Harriet discovered Robert's illegitimate child, and/or he was being hounded by the child's mother - or her parents - for support, because about 1876, Robert took his family out of state, moving to Toledo Ohio, where they are found in the 1880 census.
By 1881, Harriet and Robert's daughter Catherine had married and was living with her husband in Toledo. About this time, Robert moved back to Saginaw where his brother Sylvester and his parents were living and a year later in 1882, Robert, now 42 years old, takes up residence in Bay City, Michigan, a suburb of Saginaw, with a 13-year-old girl (not Ellen Doyle) and impregnates her in October of that year. The next July (1883) the girl, Cecila Deacon, now just 14, gives birth to Margaret Thayer.
Somewhere in this period, Harriet moved back to Ogdensburg, NY with her children, probably between 1882 (no Thayers in the Ogdensburg city directory that year) and 1885, since in June of 1886, her daughter Delia married at age 17 in Ogdensburg and so must have been living with Harriet prior to the marriage. The 1890 Ogdensburg directory shows Harriet as a laundrywoman boarding at 85 King St. - she is still there 10 years later in the same occupation in the 1900 city directory. She died May 7, 1900.
Cecila and Robert had three more children - William Robert Thayer, Jr. in 1886, Clara M. in 1890, and Cecila M. in 1892 - before he married Cecila April 19, 1899 at Bay City. The marriage record shows Robert as 58 and Cecila as 30.
The next year in the 1900 census, Robert and wife Cecila are at Bay City with not only their children, but Robert's illegitimate daughter by Ellen Doyle, Ellen Garfield Thayer, now 28 and only two years younger than Robert's new wife. Interestingly, Robert and Cecila, in this census, claim they have been married 18 years. Actually, they've been living together for 18 years, but have been married for only one.
Robert died in 1902 and by 1905, wife Cecila was remarried to William Martindale and living in the same house - the 1910 census shows they have been married for five years. Living with them is Robert Thayer Jr. It is doubtful that Robert and Harriet divorced; there didn't seem time, and I cannot find any divorce record. So he likely committed bigamy when he remarried to Cecila.
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