If you have visited Veazie.org recently, please REFRESH this page to ensure you have the latest update for this page
Family of Josiah Jr THAYER and Lois KNIGHTS
Josiah Jr THAYER b. 1752 Jan 282852 at Braintree, MA2852. d. 1814 Feb 9840. bd. West Cem., Amherst, MA840.
Lois KNIGHTS b. 1753~840. d. 1814 Feb 11840. bd. West Cem., Amherst, MA840.
Married886 1797 May 25886 at Hadley, MA886. The marriage intention was published in Hadley886, Hadley-V1:107, May 7, 1797. Thayer Mem.4822 has this marriage 1800 (without reference).
Sprague841 has Josiah a Revolutionary soldier 1775; removed to Amherst in 1784; purchased 100 acres there (Old Hampshire Deeds 22:491) Mar 23, 1784.
Josiah Thayer appears in the Mass. And Maine 1798 Direct Tax (AmericanAncestors.org) in Amherst, owner of 1 dwelling (on 1 acre), and two lots, one of 114 acres, another of 28? acres, for which he was assessed $1490.80(!?).
Thayer Mem.4822, p 68, lists 14 children and their birthdates for Josiah and Avis, as does Sprague841, referencing the Thayer Genealogy. Thayer provides no source and Sprague notes that there appears to be no records. Sprague concludes, apparently assuming the birthdates from Thayer, and Josiah's removal to Amherst in 1784, that the oldest 12 of the children were born in Braintree; the youngest 2 in Amherst.
The will of Josiah Thayer (Mass. Wills and Prob. Recs. 1635-1991, www.ancestry.com) "of Amherst," dated Feb 9, 1814, mentions wife Lois; son Sever; daughter Sally Dodge (mentioned elsewhere as Salome, wife of Zebulon Dodge); son Charles; son Hosea's child Susanna; son Josiah; son Stephen; son Nathan; son Zedock; heirs of son Jacob "deceased": Maria, Jacob and Mary; son Joseph; daughter Mary Draper (wife of Frost Draper); son Asahel; son Martin; and son Luther - accounting for the children listed. Son Asahel Thayer was to be appointed executor.
Lois' maiden name ("Knights") is as it appears in the transcribed records886 of Hadley, MA.
A headstone840 (N.B. "In memory of") which is shared by "Mr Josiah Thayer" and "Mrs Lois Thayer consort of Mr Josiah Thayer" provides their death dates, and ages at death: Josiah, age 62; Lois, age 61. Lois' birthdate is assumed from that information.
840. Gravestone inscriptions - www.findagrave.com
841. Genealogy of the Families of Braintree, Mass. 1640-1850, Waldo Chamberlain Sprague - CD, NEHGS, Picton Press
886. Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850, 1620-1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org)
2852. Massachusetts, Braintree Records, Samuel A Bates, Esq., Town Clerk of Braintree, Mass., Daniel H Huxford, Printer, Randolph, Mass: 1886; www.archive.org
4822. Thayer, Memorial of the Thayer name, from the Massachusetts colony of Weymouth and Braintree ...; Bezaleel Thayer, Braintree Hist. Soc., Braintree, MA: 1987