General Notes

Richard2 (Richard1) Thayer was baptized Feb.10,1624/5 at St. Mary's
Church,Thornbury, Gloucestershire, England.
died - "Richard Thayer Sr. died Aug.27,1695aged 71 years," says his
gravestone, Hancock Cem., Quincy.
married Dec.24,1651 at Braintree, Dorothy Pray, born about 1634, died
Dec.11,1705, dau. of Quinton Pray, an iron worker, who resided near the
Thayer homestead on Elm. St., Braintree.
No settlement of his estate is recorded, but he was an extensive land
speculator and from his claims and rebuttals we know much about him. He
was one of the eight children who came over with his father early in
1641; in 1648 he purchased his father's homestead in Braintree and added
to it in 1661, 1663, 1667 and in 1668 mortgaged his lands and became
involved in a law suit because his title was not clear to some of them
and was in turn forced to sue for some of the Iron Works land that had
been sold to him without cleartitle. He became involved in other land
deals, having leased in 1657 a largetract of land at present Canton from
Capt. Roger Clapp, and in 1692 sued Clapp's heirs but lost the case.
About 1680 he returned to England and made claims for land which so
alarmed the Braintree inhabitants that they sent a petition to the throne
in England in rebuttal (Mass. Archives 3-34 & 1-87).  In 1685 he again
laid claim to large tracts of the Iron Works land. He only succeeded
however in obtaining the remaining estate of Increase Robinson of
Taunton, the administrator of the estate of John Payne of Boston who had
sold him by defective title a small piece of land belonging to the
creditors of the Iron Works Co. in Braintree. He also became in
litigation from - contract for building a vessel at Braintree in 1688
(Suffolk Court Rec. #1342 & #947).
In 1658 he was fined by the General Court for selling liquor contrary to
law (Mass. Colony Rec. Vol.4, p.1?). During the litigation and afterwards
he occupiedthe lands he had mortgaged to Simon Lynde, as a tenant and in
the settlementof Lynde's estate in 1689 his son Benjamin Lynde received
lands and estate at Braintree in the occupation of Richard Thayer.
Richard Thayer or his heirs eventually recovered some or all of these
lands, probably by repayment of themortgage. His well preserved
gravestone would indicate he had some estate athis decease, though none
is of record.
(See Pattee's History of Quincy pp. 40-54 for details of some of the
lawsuits, also Suffolk Court Rec. #1885,2053,2508, also Suffolk Deeds
5-446, 7-236, 11-309, 16-42, Bristol Deeds 1-224, 6-307, etc.)
He also was in Barbados in 1660 with his father, and probably stayed
there some time as no children are of record between 1658 and 1670.