James Appleton Thayer

Archive Name: Alumni Horae Volume 58, Issue 3, Page 129, Articles 19 Originally published: Autumn 1978 James Appleton Thayer (1899-1978) By George A. Tracy

My association with James Appleton Thayer began in the spring of 1953, when I first came to St. Paul's School looking for a position in the Classics Department. We were to meet in the old railroad station in Concord, and the idea that he would never recognize me, or I, him, was dismissed by the phrase that "two classicists will always recognize each other!"

I found that Appy maintained this belief. It was no thoughtless cliché, for he seemed to know everyone in the field of Classics, whether the person happened to be an Italian archaeologist or a Latin teacher from California.

It was my good fortune to be hired by St. Paul's School, but it was even more my good fortune as a young master to be trained by Appy Thayer. Every week for two years, he visited one of my classes, and every visitation was followed by endless notes on the information I had imparted to my students, the order in which lessons were done, the potential trouble spots in the class-but, most of all, the "rhythm" I employed. Pedagogy had for Appy a metre which at times had all the meaning of a hexameter, or at other times the tragic overtones of the iambic trimeter.

In my third year at the School I was anxious to see how Appy taught The Iliad. I became a student in a class of very bright Fifth Formers. To say that I was awed by the performance of these bright people would be no overstatement, but their teacher's work was indeed that of a "master." Most days we covered between eighty and one hundred lines, punctuated with grammatical questions and adorned with classical allusions. Only with the most precise preparation can one accomplish this, and even then it seems beyond belief.

His energy was lavished on all areas of School life, as it was on his Homer class. Young masters always received his kindest attention. The world of athletics and extracurricular activities were very much a part of his life, too, and in the years before my time he had been a coach and had been active in the theatrical life of the School.

One can never mention Appy without the name of Anne, his devoted wife. Their home was a Mecca for everyone in the community. There were countless tea parties for boys and masters and their wives, and their home was a place of happiness and sophistication housing the many guests who came to the School to share of their learning and concern.

Appy's love for the classical world was manifested not only in his work within the School but in the larger classical community too. He was a stalwart in the Classical Association of New England, and the Teachers of Classics of New England, but most of all in his relationship with the Virgilian Society, where for many years he was a driving force in the establishment of the school in Cumae, outside Naples.

After retirement, he lost little of his enthusiasm for life and the joys of learning. One of my fondest recollections was the long walk we enjoyed at a classical meeting at Yale. Never was a conversation with him cloyed by gossip of things at School; one was always stimulated by ideas which to some might appear trivial but to him were eternal.

St. Paul's School is a greater place because of the presence of James Appleton Thayer. He was that "gadfly" of whom Socrates spoke so eloquently. He was annoying when we needed to be annoyed; he was prodding when we needed to be proded; but most of all he was loving when we needed to be loved.

To me, the words over the fireplace in the Upper Common Room speak eloquently of his life: Disce ut semper victurus, vive ut cras moriturus-"Learn as if you were going to live forever; live as if you were going to die tomorrow."

George A. Tracy

http://archives.sps.edu/common/text.asp?Img=11467&Keyword=&Headline...

Title Some account of Capt. John Frazier and his descendants: with notes on the West and Checkley families Author Josiah Granville Leach Publisher Printed for private circulation by J.B. Lippincott Co., 1910 Original from the University of Wisconsin - Madison Digitized Oct 16, 2007 Length 138 pages

Page 49

106. VIOLET OTIS,5 daughter of William Church Otis by his wife Margaret Sigourney, was born at Boston, Massachusetts, 1 January, 1871; married, 1 June, 1891, Reverend William G. Thayer, born at New Brighton, Massachusetts, 24 December, 1863; son of Robert Hilyer Thayer by his wife Hannah Fuller Appleton. Mr. Thayer was graduated at Amherst College in 1885, and at Cambridge Divinity School in 1889, when he was ordained to the ministry in the Protestant Episcopal Church. He then became a Master at Groton School, Massachusetts, where he remained until 1894, when he was appointed Head-Master of St. Mark's School, at Southborough, Massachusetts, which position he still retains. He is a member of the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, and in 1906, received the honorary degree of A.M. from Columbia University.

Children of Reverend William G. and Violet (Otis) Thayer:

202. i. Violet Otis Thayer,* born 1 June, 1892.

203. ii. William G. Thayer,' Junr, born 18 June, 1893.

204. iii. Sigourney Thayer,* born 24 March, 1896.

205. iv. James Appleton Thayer,* born 20 May, 1899.

206. v. Robert Hilyer Thayer,* born 22 September, 1901.

207. vi. Margaret Thayer,* born 12 February, 1905.

http://books.google.com/books?id=E7lMAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA48&lpg=PA48&dq=W...

Title Publications, Volumes 21-25 Author Ipswich Historical Society Published 1916 Original from Harvard University Digitized Mar 18, 2008

Page 228

James Appleton Thayer, third son of Rev. William Greenough Thayer and Violet Otis Thayer. Born May 20, 1899. Student at Amherst in the' Class of 1921. Attended Students Army Training Camp there October,

1918. Ordered to Central Officers Training School at Camp Lee, Virginia, November 10, 1918. After completing^ the three months course received a commission as Second Lieutenant of Infantry in the Officers Reserve Corps and was discharged February 15, 1919.

http://books.google.com/books?id=dP0WAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA228&lpg=PA228&dq...

James A Thayer United States Census, 1930

Name: James A Thayer Titles and Terms: Event Type: Census Event Year: 1930 Event Place: Avon, Hartford, Connecticut, United States District: 0088 Gender: Male Age: 30 Marital Status: Married Race: White Race (Original): White Relationship to Head of Household: Head Relationship to Head of Household (Original): Head Birth Year (Estimated): 1900 Birthplace: Massachusetts Immigration Year: Father's Birthplace: New York Mother's Birthplace: Massachusetts Sheet Number and Letter: 15A Household ID: 352 Line Number: 9 Affiliate Name: The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Affiliate Publication Number: T626 Affiliate Film Number: 261 GS Film number: 2339996 Digital Folder Number: 004531865 Image Number: 00034

Household Role Gender Age Birthplace

James A Thayer Head M 30 Massachusetts

Anne Thayer Wife F 28 Connecticut

James Thayer Jr. Son M 6 New York

Nancy Thayer Daughter F 3 Maryland

Sarah Maguire Servant F 24 Southern Ireland

Darthea Macdonald Servant F 24 New York

Mary Cleland Nurse F 25 Canada

Elenore Cox Nurse F 29 Canada

Citing this Record:

"United States Census, 1930," index and images, <i>FamilySearch</i> (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XMPZ-J8D : accessed 10 Aug 2014), James A Thayer, Avon, Hartford, Connecticut, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 0088, sheet 15A, family 352, NARA microfilm publication T626, roll 261.

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.2.1/33RP-1CF