John Milton Thayer was born on January 24, 1820, in Bellingham, Massachusetts, to Elias and Ruth Thayer. His father died around 1833. He graduated from Brown University in 1841 and established a legal practice in Worcester, Massachusetts. He married Mary Torrey Allen in Sterling, Massachusetts, on December 27, 1842, and they had at least six children: Milton, born around 1844; George, born around 1847; Walter, born around 1850; Herbert, born around 1852; Rollin, born around 1852; and John, born around 1858. Three of his children died before reaching adulthood. By 1850, he was working as a clerk in Groton, Massachusetts.

 

Thayer moved to Nebraska in 1854. He became a major general in the territorial militia in 1855 and fought against the Pawnee Indians in the late 1850s. He joined the Republican Party in the 1850s and won election to the territorial legislature in 1860. He resigned from the legislature in June 1861 to become the colonel of the 1^st Nebraska Infantry. He took part in the Battle of Fort Donelson, the Battle of Shiloh, and the siege of Corinth. He was promoted to brigadier general in October 1862 and fought in the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou and the siege of Vicksburg. The army then assigned him to command the District of the Frontier, and he was stationed in Fort Smith, Arkansas, until February 1865. He resigned on July 19, 1865.

 

Thayer returned to Nebraska after the war and took part in the 1866 state constitutional convention. Nebraska gained statehood in 1867, and he became one of the state’s first two senators. By 1870, he was living in Omaha, Nebraska, and he owned $10,000 of real estate and $1,000 of personal property. He remained in the U.S. Senate until 1871, and President Ulysses S. Grant appointed him territorial governor of Wyoming in 1878. He remained in office until 1878, and by 1880, he was working as a hotel keeper in Rock Creek, Wyoming. He eventually returned to Nebraska and resumed his legal practice. Nebraska voters elected him governor in 1886, and he served until February 1892. He died in Omaha on March 19, 1906.

 

Image: John Milton Thayer (courtesy Wikicommons)

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