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Thayer Family Website
   TAYER FAMILY HISTORY
(Tayer Family Entries In Parish Register )
by
Walter Faxon, Esq. & Edw. Henry Whorg, Esq.
( NEHGR: Vol. LX (Jul 1906) Pages 281-291 )
 INTRODUCTION
 The parish of Thornbury is in the western part of Gloucestershire, the town being a short distance from the River Severn. It is eleven miles north of Bristol, from which port it is probable that Thomas & Richard Tayer, sailed for New England.[1] The Thornbury register is from 1538, with breaks from 1645 to 1650 & from 1679 to 1684.
Thomas Tayer was in Boston before 24 Feb 1639/40, when land was granted to him at Mount Wollaston (Braintree) for "9 heads" in his family,[2] these consisting of himself, his wife, Margery, his sons, Thomas, Ferdinando & Shadrach, perhaps two daughters, Sarah[3] & Hannah,[4] born soon after his arrival in New England; and probably two servants.
Richard Tayer, a widower, presumably a younger brother of Thomas, came to New England in 1641, with eight children,[5] and settled at Braintree, Norfolk Co., afterwards removing to Boston. His children are identified as Richard, Sarah, Jael, Deborah, Zachariah, Hester, Nathaniel & Cornelius.[6]
It is likely that the Nathaniel Thayer, who was in Taunton before 1688,[7] & the Benjamin Tayer who died at Newport, RI, in 1716,[8] were related to Thomas & Richard.
The root of the family name, from "taw", to dress skins,[9] is made clear in the earlier spelling of the name in Thornbury. The letter 'h' was added soon after the emigrants came to New England; but in the line of the family descended from Ferdinando, of Mendon, that letter was silent - as in Thomas & Thompson - until early in the 19th century. From the records of the church (St. Mary's) at Thornbury, and in the fact that Edward Tayer of Oldbury-on-Seven, in the parish of Thornbury, was disclaimed by the heralds at their visitation of Gloucestershire in 1623, for using arms without proof of authority, would show that the family was no armorial. The name is now extinct in Thornbury.
A family spelling the name Theyer and Thayer, and having the same root from "taw"[10] has long been at Brockworth in Gloucestershire,[11] a parish 25 miles north-east of Thornbury; and there was an armorial family of Tawyer at Raunds in Northamptonshire,[12] about 80 miles northeast of Brockworth; and 105 miles from Thornbury; and also an armorial family of Thayer at Great Baddow; and later at Thaydon Garnon in county Essex,[13] afterwards of London,[14] but no connection between these families has been established so far as known.
In an account[15] of "able and sufficient men in body fit for His Majesty's Service in the wars, within the county of Gloucester, in the month of August 1608", which is given in three classes; (1) those about 20 yearsof age; (2) those about 40 years of age; and (3) those between 50 & 60 years of age, there appear in Thornbury; Edward, John, Nicholas & Richard Tayer; all of the 2nd class; and William Martimer, of the 1st class; in Stinchcomb, 8 miles northeast from Thornbury; John Tayer (gent.), of the 2nd class; and in Brockworth, and its vicinity; John Theyer, of the 1st Class; Richard, Roger, Thomas, Walter & William Theyer, of the 2nd class; Gabriel, Giles, John & Thomas Thayer, of the 1st class; and William Thayer, of the 2nd class.
In Shakespear's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" there is a stage direction in the first folio: "[Enter] Tawyer with a trumpet." This refers to William Tawier, or Tawyer, a subordinate in the employ of John Hemmings who was one of the members of the Globe Theatre Company and one of the directors of the first folio. William Tawyer was buried in St. Savior's Church, Saouthwark, in June 1625.[16]
 [1] NEHGR: Vol. XXXVII, Pages 37 & 84; Vol. LVII, Page 225.
[2] Boston Record; Commissioner's reprt, #2, Page 50.
[3] Sarah Thayer & Jonathan Hayward were m. 6 May 1663, Braintree.
[4] Hannah Thayer & Samuel Hayden were m. 28 Oct 1664, Braintree.
[5] Mass. Hist. Soc. Collections, Vol. V, Page 105; Pattee's "History of Old Braintree & Quincy", Page 48.
[6] NEHGR: Vol. LX, Page 93.
[7] "History of Taunton" by Emery, Page 110; "The Harvey Book", Page 37.
[8] "Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island" by Austin, Page 197.
[9] NEHGR: Vol. XXXVII, Page 84.
[10] Oxford Hist. Soc. "Wood's City of Oxford" Vol. I, Page 476, Note #5.
[11] Notes & Queries, 6th Series, Vol. XII, Page 131; & Wood's "Athenea Oxoniensis (1813) Vol. III, Page 996.
[12] "Visitation of Northamptonshire" by Metcalf, Page 49.
[13] "Visitation of Essex" by Hoaward Bysshee, Page 92.
[14] "Visitation of London" (Harleian Soc.) Vol. II, Page 280.
[15] "Men & Armor for Gloucestershire in 1608" by Smith (London 1902)
[16] "A Midsummer Night's Dream", Furness's Variorum Ed., Act V, Scene i, Line 134 & note, & Halliwell-Phillipe's
Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare, 7th Edition, Vol. II, Page 260, Note #2.
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Thornbury Parish Records
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