On Page 23 of Volume 2 of the diary, Isaac T. Hopper writes that a Thomas B. Thayer of Brooklyn made a donation of one dollar on March 1st, 1847, the rough equivalent of thirty-one dollars in today’s money, to the New York Prison Association (NYPA). [1] Who was this generous individual?

Thomas B. Thayer was thirty-five at the time of this donation, as he was born on September 10, 1812 in Boston, Massachusetts. He was born to a well-off family, as he attended the prestigious Boston Latin School and spent one year in study at Harvard College. After this brief stint in the famous Ivy, Thayer assisted in teaching at the Boston Hawes Grammar School. [2]  It was during this period that he settled on the life path of religious ministry, specifically in the sect of Universalism. [3] Universalism is the religious belief that everyone is fated for salvation, although nineteenth century followers were known to espouse the idea of retributive punishment for sinners. [4] He was awarded his letters of fellowship from the Boston Association of Universalists in June 1832; later in December he was ordained by the same organization. His first pastorate assignment was with the First Universalist Society of Lowell. [5]

In 1845, he received an assignment that would take him in the vicinity of the NYPA, to a Universalist church in Brooklyn, New York. [6] Thayer did not travel so far from home alone, as federal census records from  show that he brought his widowed mother Catherine along with him. [7] During his time in New York, he gave two popular series of lectures regarding maintaining spirituality while in a sinful urban setting. [8] According to his contemporaries, Thayer’s sermons were known to be “alive with thought, easily and earnestly delivered, doctrinally strong and clear, practically pointed and clean”. [9] Another contemporary source reported similarly, but added that he never “comforted the sinful” but was deeply devoted to encouraging the morally corrupt to return to the Lord, a sentiment clearly reflected in his donation to the progressive NYPA. [10]

After the conclusion of his stint in Brooklyn in 1851, Thayer returned home to Massachusetts, married Sarah Athena Peck, had one daughter named Mabel, continued his pastor work at congregations in various parts of the state, and contributed to the religious publication The Universalist Quarterly. [11] In 1865, he received his Doctor of Divinity degree from Tufts University, hence why he is referred to as “Dr. Thomas B. Thayer”. By 1867, he had resigned from active pastor life, and was solely engaged in his work as editor of the aforementioned publication. [12]  He spent his later years raising his daughter alone after his wife died in 1871, before dying at the home they rented on February 12, 1886. [13][14] Thayer left behind not only his twenty-two year old daughter, but also a great legacy of dedicated, intellectual religious work.

Sources:

[1] “Inflation Rate between 1847-2018: Inflation Calculator.” Inflation Calculator. Official Data Foundation / Alioth LLC, n.d. https://www.officialdata.org/1847-dollars-in-2018?amount=1. 

[2] George H. Emerson, “Article XXIII: Thomas Baldwin Thayer,” The Universalist Quarterly and General Review 23 (1886): 342. https://books.google.com/books?id=7NgqAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false.

[3] "Mortuary Notice." Boston Daily Advertiser (Boston, Massachusetts) 147, no. 23781, February 13, 1886: 4. Readex: America's Historical Newspapers. https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/readex/doc?p=EANX&docref=image/v2:109E426370EFFFF8@EANX-12C8F27C1CE96DA0@2409951-12C8F27C72C479A8@3-12C8F27DF907C6F8@Mortuary+Notice.

[4] Richard Bauckham, “Universalism: a Historical Survey,” Themelios 4, no. 2 (September 1978): 47-48. https://www.theologicalstudies.org.uk/article_universalism_bauckham.html.

[5] "Mortuary Notice." Boston Daily Advertiser (Boston, Massachusetts) 147, no. 23781, February 13, 1886: 4. Readex: America's Historical Newspapers. https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/readex/doc?p=EANX&docref=image/v2:109E426370EFFFF8@EANX-12C8F27C1CE96DA0@2409951-12C8F27C72C479A8@3-12C8F27DF907C6F8@Mortuary+Notice.

[6] Emerson, “Article XXIII: Thomas Baldwin Thayer,” 343. 

[7] 1850; Census Place: Brooklyn Ward 4, Kings, New York; Roll: M432_518; Page: 397A; Image: 218

[8] "Mortuary Notice." Boston Daily Advertiser (Boston, Massachusetts) 147, no. 23781, February 13, 1886: 4. Readex: America's Historical Newspapers. 

[9] Ibid.

[10] Emerson, “Article XXIII: Thomas Baldwin Thayer,” 354-355. 

[11] Ibid., 343.

[12] James Grant Wilson and John Fiske, Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. Vol. 6. (New York, NY: D. Appleton and Company, 1889), 73-74. https://books.google.com/books?id=MNEi1tF6VRIC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false.

[13] Emerson, “Article XXIII: Thomas Baldwin Thayer,” 343.

[14] Year: 1880; Census Place: Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Roll: 558; Page: 207C; Enumeration District: 723