Ichabod Thayer

1721 - 1796  (74 years)

• Name	Ichabod Thayer  [1]
  Birth	31 Mar 1721	Mendon, Worcester, Massachusetts   [2, 3]
  Gender	Male
  Death	10 Mar 1796	Milford, Worcester, Massachusetts   [3, 4]
  Burial	Pine Grove Cemetery, Milford, Worcester, Massachusetts   [2]
  Person ID	I30711	Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others
  Last Modified	5 Nov 2020

  
  

  Father	Isaac Thayer,   b. 24 Sep 1695, Mendon, Worcester, Massachusetts d. Bef 22 Apr 1763 (Age < 67 years)
  Mother	Meriam Thayer,   b. 3 Jun 1699, Mendon, Worcester, Massachusetts d. Bef 15 Feb 1751 (Age < 51 years)
  Marriage	18 May 1716	Mendon, Worcester, Massachusetts   [1, 5]
  Family ID	F7547	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Hannah Bigelow,   b. 6 Mar 1704, Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts d. Dec 1791, Milford, Worcester, Massachusetts (Age 87 years)
  Marriage	1742  [2]
  Children	+ 1. Ichabod Thayer, Jr.,   b. 6 Mar 1745, Mendon, Worcester, Massachusetts d. 22 Mar 1820, Milford, Worcester, Massachusetts (Age 75 years)
  Family ID	F7402	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	4 Nov 2020

  
  

• Notes

  Ichabod Thayer was born in 1721; his first wife, Hannah Bigelow, in 1704. This seems very unlikely. Their shared headstone at Pine Grove Cemetery appears to confirm it, but it was clearly put up long after their deaths. And then there's this, from Adin Ballou's 1882 History of Milford: "There comes down a bit of traditional romance concerning the courtship that led to this marriage. Ichabod had become of age and was looking around for a sweetheart. He had become slightly acquainted with a prepossessing lass, who dwelt in the extreme northerly part of what is now Milford, and resolved to offer her his hand, should she be willing to accept it. So he started from old Mendon in the early winter, near the close of the week, on his connubial mission. But a driving snow-storm opened upon him; and when he arrived at what is now the homestead of Justin H. Eames, the storm continued with unabated severity for two or three days. Meantime there sprang up a mutual attraction between the widow and her gallant guest. She was twenty yrs. the oldest, but still ruddy and agreeable; and as Cupid is not easily thwarted, he planted his arrows in their hearts so effectually that a match was ere long consummated. The snow-storm gave Mrs. Hannah an acceptable and willing prisoner. He went no further in pursuit of a wife."

  
  

• Sources

  [S3019] Vital Records of Mendon, Massachusetts to the Year 1850 by Thomas W. Baldwin. Boston, 1920. [S4798] Find a Grave page for Ichabod Thayer. [S5174] Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, on ancestry.com. [S4798] Find a Grave page for Ichabod Thayer., date only. [S4799] Find a Grave page for Isaac Thayer Jr..