John B. Thayer

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John B. Thayer (1862-1912)

John Borland Thayer, Jr. (born April 21, 1862 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , USA ; † April 15, 1912 in the North Atlantic when the Titanic sank ) was an American first-class cricket player and later Vice President of the Pennsylvania Railroad .

Life

As a young cricketer (1879)

John B. Thayer, Jr. was born in Philadelphia in 1862, the second of six children to John Borland Thayer, Sr. (1836-1904) and his wife Mary Randolph Chapman (1839-1919). He attended the University of Pennsylvania , where he was captain of the baseball team in 1879 . He came from a family closely related to the game of cricket (his three brothers also played cricket professionally) and played his first match for the Merion Cricket Club in Haverford , Pennsylvania at the age of 14 . As part of Philadelphia's cricket team, he went on tour in England in 1884. During this tour he scored 817 runs and managed 22 wickets .

Seven competitions from his sports career are now recognized as first-class cricket. They all took place at the Germantown Cricket Club in Germantown . He got his highest score in a game in October 1883. In his youth he was considered Philadelphia's top cricketer for several years.

After finishing his sporting career, Thayer became a businessman and was, among other things, Vice President of the Pennsylvania Railroad . On November 9, 1893, he married Marian Longstreth Morris (1872-1944), daughter of Frederick Wistar Morris and Elizabeth Flower Paul. Like him, she came from a long-established, wealthy family in Philadelphia, so-called Old Money . They had four children: John Borland "Jack" III (1894–1945), Frederick Morris (1896–1956), Margaret “Peggy” (1898–1960) and Pauline (1901–1981). Peggy married the future Secretary of State for the Department of the Air Force , Harold E. Talbott .

Thayer's wife Marian (around 1900)

In April 1912 Thayer and his wife and eldest son Jack were guests at the American Consul General in Berlin , Alexander M. Thackara. To get into the United States to return, the family went, accompanied by Marian Thayer maid Margaret Fleming as passengers on April 10, 1912 in Cherbourg aboard the RMS Titanic , the Cherbourg the first stop on her maiden voyage to New York was. Thayer wanted to celebrate his upcoming 50th birthday at home. The Thayer couple lived in the first-class cabin C-68 and Jack Thayer lived in the neighboring cabin C-70. On the evening of April 14th, John and Marian Thayer attended a dinner that George Widener gave in honor of Captain Edward Smith in the à la carte restaurant on B-deck. After the collision with the iceberg later that evening, Jack Thayer went on deck to have a look at the "fun". He came back immediately and informed his parents.

Titanic's chief designer , Thomas Andrews , personally informed Thayer that he was n't giving the ship more than a few hours. Thayer took his wife to lifeboat No. 4 on the starboard side . Since only women and children were allowed to board there, Thayer and his son said goodbye to her. In the crowd on deck, father and son quickly lost sight of each other. Marian Thayer and Margaret Fleming survived in boat # 4 and Jack Thayer survived by jumping off the boat deck and being pulled into a lifeboat. According to witness statements, John Thayer made no move to leave the ship. He died in the sinking. His body was never found. Marian Thayer subsequently sued the White Star Line , but not because of the death of her husband, but because of the loss of her luggage.

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