Nathaniel Thayer, Jr.

Nathaniel Thayer II (11 September 1808 in Lancaster, Massachusetts – 7 March 1883 in Boston) was an American financier, philanthropist, and the father of John Eliot Thayer II, an amateur ornithologist.

Early life He was the son of Nathaniel Thayer I (1769–1840), a Unitarian congregational minister of Lancaster, Massachusetts, and Sarah Parker Toppan, daughter of Christopher Toppan and Sarah Parker.

Banking His brother John Eliot Thayer I had been operating a successful banking firm in Boston. When he needed more people, he asked Nathaniel Thayer II to be his business partner, now calling the firm John E. Thayer and Brother. The firm was active in the development of railroads in the western United States, several of which Thayer was a director. The firm was also involved with other enterprises such as manufacturing which required large amounts of capital. Thayer became senior director of the firm on the death of his brother in 1857. He gradually acquired a large fortune.

He was known as the “honest banker” because he sold money at the legal rate unlike most, for the time. In 1865 Nathaniel Thayer II retired, sold his business to his partners and lived primarily in The Homestead for “he preferred the woods and fields to the streets and crowds”. He then lived in Lancaster with his wife Cornelia Van Rensselaer Thayer until his death in 1883.

Stephen Van Rensselaer Thayer (1847–1871), who married Alice Robeson, a daughter of Andrew Robeson Jr. Cornelia Van Rensselaer Thayer (1849–1903), who married J. Hampden Robb (1846–1911) in 1868. Nathaniel Thayer III (1851–1911) Harriet Van Rensselaer Thayer (1853–1891) Eugene Van Rensselaer Thayer (1855–1907) Bayard Thayer (1862–1916), a yachtsman and horticulturalist who married Ruth Simpkins (1864–1941). John Eliot Thayer (1862–1933), an amateur ornithologist who married Evelyn Duncan Forbes.

Although Nathaniel Thayer II lived in Boston for many years, he always regarded himself as belonging to Lancaster. He is quoted as saying "Lancaster is my greatest monument."

Descendants His granddaughter, Cornelia Van Rensselaer Thayer (b. 1881) married Danish Count Carl Moltke (1869–1935) in 1907.

The family lived in that house along with their other two houses, one in Boston and the other in Newport RI called The Edgemere.

Honors and memberships Elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1866.