George Dana Thayer, AKA G.D. Thayer, or Dana Thayer, was not an original 1883 Meeker Townsite Company member, however, he did become a stockholder by June 1886, where he was listed as secretary of the Townsite Co. and Meeker Town Recorder. Dana Thayer was a retail grocer at Fort Fred Steele in Wyoming (1870 census) and later a merchant living in Rock Creek, Wyoming, with his father, John M. Thayer, who was listed in the 1880 Census as a hotel keeper.
Dana’s father was no ordinary hotel keeper. John Milton Thayer, born 1820 in Bellingham, Massachusetts, studied law at Brown University. After moving to the Nebraska Territory in 1854, he became active in politics and was elected to the territorial Legislature 1860-61. During the Civil War, John served as a Brigadier General in the Union Army. Dana enlisted March 18, 1864, and served as First Lt., Company G, 2nd Arkansas Infantry. In April and May of 1865, they were both at St. Charles, Arkansas. John M. Thayer was the post commander. After the war, John was elected U.S. Senator from Nebraska and served until 1871. President Grant appointed John to be Wyoming Territorial Governor from 1875-1878. John later returned to Nebraska and was elected Governor 1887-1891.
Dana Thayer grew up under a big shadow before coming to Meeker in 1886. He came with his brother, John M. Thayer, Jr. to accept a position with J.W. Hugus & Co. as bookkeeper and cashier. Dana became a charter member of the Meeker Grand Army of the Republic, and was a Colonel in the Home Guards (militia). On July 8, 1887, Mayor Clark, Town Recorder G. Dana Thayer, and Town Trustee McHatton went to Glenwood Springs to “prove up” on titles to the Meeker Townsite. Later, Dana and others diligently pushed the State Legislature to split off Rio Blanco County from Garfield in 1889. Dana was appointed by the governor as the new Rio Blanco County Judge.
In June of 1888, Dana Thayer (as new mayor of Meeker), ex-mayor Clark, and Senator Eddy met with Mr. Moffat in Denver. Moffat was president of the Denver & Rio Grande RR. The delegates returned to Meeker assured that Moffat was going to propose to his directors, that track be laid through Meeker. In June of 1890, I believe that Dana then moved to Glenwood Springs. The Aspen Times reported in the June 14, 1890, issue that G.D. Thayer had been confirmed by the U.S. Senate to be the new Land Register in Glenwood Springs. It appears he performed this office until 1894.
I lose track of Dana until he appears in The Morning Times (Cripple Creek) newspaper as a member of the Cripple Creek Mining Stock Exchange. In 1900, he was nominated to be on the board of directors. In the 1900 Census, Dana is listed as a banker in Cripple Creek. In the 1910 Census, Dana was back in Meeker, boarding at Sarah Miller’s Hotel. He is listed as a bookkeeper at a local general store. About 1916, Dana’s health began to fail, and a winter in Arizona gave him little relief. In the last half of 1918, he received medical care in Glenwood Springs, where he died on Nov. 6, 1918. George Dana Thayer was born in February 1847, in Washington, D.C., grew up in Groton, Massachusetts, and Omaha, Nebraska, son of a Brigadier General/Governor, and grandson of a Baptist minister. Dana never married. His brother, John, living in New York City, had Dana’s body shipped back East to be buried in the family plot in Bellingham, Massachusetts.