642 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (TAYLOR THOMPSON.) 



in Milford, Conn., where he had a fine estate 

 Laurelton Hall. In 1867 he went to the North- 

 west, and was engaged in constructing railroads 

 in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Later lie 

 similarly engaged in New York, Ohio, and 



was 



Kentucy. He built the Buffalo, Rochester and 

 Pittsburg Railroad into Rochester m 18 < 8, a 

 also built part of the Rome, Watertown and 

 Oedensburg road. About nine years ago he con- 

 dScted the reorganization of the Wheeling and 

 Lake Erie Railroad, securing for the road an en- 

 trance into Toledo, Ohio. He held important in- 

 terests in large railroads, and had served accept- 

 ably in several reorganizations and receiverships. 

 Among his benefactions are the church presented 

 to the Methodist Episcopal congregation of Mil- 

 ford and the public library presented to the 



Taylor, Joseph Banner, soldier and congress- 

 man, born in Belmont County, Ohio, Nov. 7, 

 1830; died in Cambridge, Ohio, Sept. 19, 1899. 

 He was educated in public schools and at Madi- 

 son Seminary. He then taught school, and stud- 

 ied at the Cincinnati Law School. In 1861 he 

 purchased a half interest in the Guernsey Times, 

 which he owned until 1871. In 1863 he was 

 elected prosecuting attorney of Guernsey County. 

 In 1863 he became a captain in the 88th Ohio In- 

 fantry, and shortly afterward he was appointed 

 a judge advocate. At the close of the war he 

 was appointed citizen judge advocate at Indian- 

 apolis. He represented his State in the Philadel- 

 phia Loyalist Convention in 1866. He was presi- 

 dent of the Guernsey National Bank of Cam- 

 bridge, and also president of the Ohio National 

 Bank of Washington, and was identified with 

 many large industrial interests. He was elected 

 to the Forty-seventh Congress, and continued a 

 member of 'that body through the Fifty-second 

 Congress. 



Thayer, Eli, educator, born in Mendon, Mass., 

 June 11, 1819; died in Worcester, Mass., April 

 15, 1899. He was graduated at Brown Univer- 

 sity in 1845, and became principal of Worcester 

 Academy. In 1848 he founded the Oread Insti- 

 tute " the abode of the mountain nymphs " a 

 collegiate school for young ladies, in Worcester, 

 which he conducted with marked success till he 

 hc^an his notable work in behalf of free Kansas. 

 Within this time he served on the school and 

 aldermanic boards of Worcester and in the Leg- 

 islature. At a meeting in Worcester to protest 

 against the repeal of the Missouri compromise, 

 March 11, 1854, Mr. Thayer announced his cele- 

 brated plan of freedom. It was simply to take 

 possession by lawful means of the new Terri- 

 tories through organized emigration of free State 

 people, sustained by a base of supplies. This 

 plan he defined as " business antislavery," as 

 distinguished from "political and sentimental 

 antislavery," both of which had been tried for 

 many years and failed. While in the Legislature 

 (1853-54) he secured the passage of an act to 

 incorporate the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid 

 Company, and then organized and directed the 

 practical work which resulted in the settlement 

 of Lawrence, Topeka, Manhattan, and Ossawato- 

 mie. He also labored till 1857 to induce the 

 Northern States to unite in sending antislavery 

 settlers into Kansas under his plan, and under- 

 took a colonization scheme in Virginia which the 

 civil war interrupted after he had founded the 

 town of Ceredo. He was elected to Congress as 

 a Republican in 1856, and served till 1861. There 

 his speeches on Central American Colonization, 

 on the Suicide of Slavery, and on the admission 

 of Oregon brought him much reputation. While 



the civil war was in progress he proposed a plan 

 for the military colonization of Florida as a war 

 measure, and subsequently urged his general 

 scheme as a remedy for the evil of polygamy in 

 Utah. Alluding to Mr. Thayer's work, Charles 

 Sumner said: "The State of, Kansas should be 

 named Thayer. I would rather accomplish what 

 he has done than have won the victory at New 

 Orleans." Mr. Thayer published a volume of his 

 speeches in Congress, several lectures, a history 

 of the Emigrant Aid Company, and the Kansas 

 Crusade a graphic account of his great work. 

 He had also invented a hydraulic elevator, a 

 sectional safety steam boiler, and an automatic 

 boiler cleaner. 



Thayer, William Wallace, lawyer, born in 

 Lima, N. Y., July 15, 1827; died in Portland, 

 Ore., Oct. 17, 1899. He studied law, was admitted 

 'to the bar at Rochester in 1851, and began prac- 

 tice at Tonawanda. In 1862 he removed to Lew- 

 iston, Ida., which he represented for a term in 

 the Territorial Legislature. He was elected Dis- 

 trict Attorney of the 3d Judicial District in 1866, 

 resigning in 1867 to remove to Portland, Ore. In 

 1878 he was elected Governor on the Democratic 

 ticket, and during his administration the public 

 service was reorganized and a large State debt 

 was paid. In 1884 he was elected for six years 

 judge of the State Supreme Court. 



Thompson, Elizabeth, philanthropist, born 

 in Lyndon, Vt., Feb. 21, 1821; died in Littleton, 

 N. H., July 20, 1899. She was the daughter of 

 Samuel Rowell, a poor farmer, and at the age of 

 nine years went out to service. In 1843, while 

 she was on a visit to Boston, her remarkable 

 beauty attracted the attention of Thomas Thomp- 

 son, a millionaire, and a year later they were 

 married. He was well known as a philanthro- 

 pist, and at his death, in 1869, Mrs. Thompson, 

 who was left with the income of his great estate, 

 followed his example in contributing largely to 

 all kinds of charities. She devoted $10,000 to 

 the investigation of yellow fever in the South; 

 founded the town of Longmont at the base of 

 the Rocky mountains, giving 640 acres of land 

 and $300 to each colonist; and contributed large- 

 ly to the purchase of the Vassar College telescope. 

 For her presentation to Congress of Francis B. 

 Carpenter's painting of the Signing of the Eman- 

 cipation Proclamation she was granted the free- 

 dom of the floor. She contributed large sums to 

 the American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science, and was made its first patron. In 

 December, 1888, she was stricken with paralysis, 

 and from that time she was not able to continue 

 her charitable work. On July 8, 1891, she was 

 adjudged insane by a Kansas City jury, and a 

 curator was appointed to care for her property 

 in Missouri. She left an estate valued at $400,000,. 

 with no public bequests. She was author of a 

 temperance tract entitled Figures of Hell, which 

 was widely circulated. 



Thompson, Frederick Ferris, financier, born 

 in New York city in 1836; died there, April 10, 

 1899. He was graduated at Williams College in 

 1851. In 1857 he married a daughter of Myron 

 H. Clark, then Governor of New York; soon 

 afterward established the banking house of 

 Thompson Brothers, and within a year succeeded 

 to his father's business. In later years he found- 

 ed the National Currency Bank in New York, 

 and was a founder of the First National Bank 

 of Detroit, the Columbia Bank in Chatham, 

 N. Y., and the First National Bank of New York 

 city. He was also a director in the Maritime 

 Canal Company of Nicaragua, and was interested 

 in many manufacturing enterprises. Mr. Thomp- 



