JESSE THAYER
Jesse Thayer located in Pleasant Township in 1871, and bought eighty acres of wild land on section 5, in 1872, which he began improving, and now has it in a good state of cultivation and well improved. It has since been, and is still, his residence. He is a native of Crawford county, Pennsylvania, born April 21, 1836. His early life was spent upon a farm in his native county. In 1858 he came to the State of Iowa, and located in Allamakee county, purchasing land in Rossville township, which he improved and lived upon until 1871, coming from there to Cass county. In the fall of 1861 he enlisted in company B, of the Twelfth Iowa Infantry. He was wounded at the battle of Fort Donelson, and discharged on account of disability. In the fall of 1863 he again enlisted in the First Iowa Cavalry, company K, and was in active service until the close of the war. He was discharged at Austin, Texas, February 18, 1866, and returned to Allamakee county. In the spring of 1859 he was married to Ellen Wheeler, who was born in Crawford County, Pennsylvania. By this union there were four children: Charles, Ernest, Nellie and Orpha. Mrs. Thayer died in 1875. In 1877 Mr. Thayer was married to Mary Shaffer, and by this marriage has two children---Frank and Ezra.
Contributed by Lisa Varnes-Rex from "History of Cass County, Iowa. Together With Sketches of its Towns, Villages and Townships, Educational, Civil, Military and Political History: Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Old Settlers and Representative Citizens." Springfield, Ill.: Continental Historical Company, 1884, pp. 813.
