My Genealogy Hound

John A. and George C. Thayer, editors and proprietors of the Van Buren Argus, are natives of Hillsboro, Ohio, sons of Barnabus B. and Sarah W. (Cowne) Thayer, and were born in 1847 and 1852, respectively. The father was of French descent, and born in Massachusetts in 1817. He was a shoemaker by trade, was married in Fredericksburg, Va., and afterward moved to Hillsboro, Ohio. In 1869 he immigrated to Van Buren, Ark., where he died in May, 1879. The mother was born in Fredericksburg, and is yet living. Three of her six children are living, viz.: John A., Mary B. (wife of John O. Cass, of Danville, Ill.) and George C. John A. and George C. were educated at the public schools of Hillsboro, the former becoming a carriage trimmer and the latter a printer. In 1871 George came to Van Buren, and worked for J. S. Dunham on the Van Buren Press as a journeyman, and in 1875 established the Van Buren Argus with his brother-in-law, John O. Cass. He bought the latter’s share in 1878, and in 1880 sold the paper to John A. Thayer, who had become a citizen of the county in 1874. He then edited the Alma Independent, at Alma, for twenty-two months, at the expiration of that period returning and again becoming a proprietor of the Argus, which has since been conducted by the Thayer Bros. These gentlemen are men of strong principles and convictions, of courteous address, and their paper now has the largest circulation of any in the county, its weekly subscribers outnumbering 1,100. It is Democratic in politics, and devoted to the interest of Crawford County. George C. Thayer is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. May 2, 1864, John A. Thayer enlisted in Company H, One Hundred and Sixty-eighth Regiment Ohio Volunteers, and served until September 8, 1864, when he received his discharge at Camp Dennison, Ohio.