Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site: Genealogy Report: Ancestors of James Grover Thurber

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Ancestors of James Grover Thurber

Generation No. 2

      2. Charles Leander Thurber, born 19 March 1867 in Indianapolis, IN; died 9 April 1939 in Columbus, OH. He was the son of 4. Leander Thurber and 5. Sarah Emeline Hull. He married 3. Mary A. Fisher 12 July 1892 in Columbus, OH.

      3. Mary A. Fisher, born 1866; died 1955. She was the daughter of 6. William M. Fisher and 7. Katherine Matheny.

Notes for Charles Leander Thurber:
Charles never knew his father. His mother, Sarah, told him that his father was killed when thrown from a horse on a lonely ride in 1867. There are conflicting stories about the date of this accident, and it is not known if it occurred before or after Charles was born. Since Charles Leander Thurber never knew his father, he had no sentimental attachment to the name Leander. Therefore when he married and his wife didn't like the name Leander, Charles, a lifelong Republican willingly changed his middle name to Lincoln.

At age eleven, Charles' mother sent him from Indianapolis to Columbus, Ohio to stay for a school term with "Aunt" Margery Dangler Albright, as she was known to the Thurber family. It is not known what her actual relationship was to Charles, but it is likely that she was a sister of Tunis Dangler who married his mother (Sarah Emeline Hull) more than 4 years after Charles was born. Margery considered Charles her favorite person in the world.

Charles first met his future wife while living with Aunt Margery and her daughter Belle in a run-down house on South Fifth Street. Margry and her daughter took in washing and ironing, did sewing, and rented out a room to help pay their rent. The Fishers lived on the same street, but in a better house. Charles and Mame went to the same elementary school. The Fishers later moved to a mansion on Bryden Street.

When Charles mother became ill and had to give up her teaching job. Charles had to leave school with only an eighth grade education. He return to Indianapolis and took a full time job to support his mother. Although his formal education was halted early, Charles had an extraordinary memory, and his general knowledge was above that of the average college graduate. He took courses in stenography and became proficient in typing and shorthand. That coupled with his penmanship and language skills enabled him to get a clerical job and eventually to work for local ploiticians.

Mame graduated from high school in 1884. Charles again visited Aunt Margery in Colombus and began his courtship of Mame. He conducted the courtship mostly by mail. In 1889 Charles began working in the office of Indiana's Secretary of State and he proposed to Mame. He clerked at that office until 1895, when he was appointed as clerk in the office of the governor of Ohio, Asa Bushnell. When Bushnell lost the office in 1900, Charles worked as a freelance stenographer and also as a salesman for Underwood typewriters. In 1901, Charles began a new position woking for an Ohio Congressman, and in the spring of 1902, moved the family to Washington D.C.

By early 1903 the family returned to Columbus Ohio, where Charles worked as a recording clerk in the Ohio Senate, until a nearly fatal "brain disease" incapacitated him for months. The family was forced to move into the mansion of Grandfather Fisher. After his recovery, he held a series of positions utilizing his office skills in national Republican campaigns, and once again was secretary to the chairman of the Republican State Committee.

From 1916 to 1923 he was cashier of the municipal court. In 1923 he went to work for the Mayor of Columbus, and held that job until the end of 1931.

Notes for Mary A. Fisher:
Mary Fisher went by the name Mame. Mame was known for "embodying the Fisher-Thurber eccentricity." She was fond of telling elaborate stories and plaing practical jokes on family members, neighbors and friends.

Children of Charles Thurber and Mary Fisher are:

William Fisher Thurber, born 29 October 1893 in Columbus, OH; died November 1973 in Clemson, SC; married Mary Elizabeth Bradley 1963 in SC; born 6 May 1916 in Clemson, SC; died 11 February 2000 in Clemson, SC.

Notes for William Fisher Thurber:
In August 1902, eight-year-old William and his seven-year-old brother Jamie were playing at their rented summer residence in Falls Church, Virginia. It was there that Jamie lost the sight in his left eye as the result of an accident while the boys were playing an apple-less version of William Tell. William told his younger brother to stand facing the fence while he tried to hit him with a blunt-nosed arrow. Jamie tired of waiting for William to fit the arrow to the bow and shoot it, and turned just in time to be hit in the eye. Eventually the eye had to be removed, but it was always the contention of James that the removal occured too late to prevent an inflamation to the undamaged eye. There is diagreement in the medical community as to whether prompt treatment by an eye specialist would have reduced the likelihood of subseqent damage to the undamaged eye.

Williams marriage occurred 2 years after the death of his brother James. William's only living brother was Robert Charles Thurber. William Thurber tried to persuade Robert to move to Greensboro and used the "bait" that William Sydney Porter lived there. Porter, better known as O. Henry, was one of Robert Thurber's favorite authors. After living there for 2 months, Robert missed his home town of Columbus Ohio - and returned there, living alone in a residential hotel.

William was buried in South Carolina at his wife's request.

Notes for Mary Elizabeth Bradley:
Mary was bornand raised on what was then Clemson college. Clemson is a South Carolina land-grant institution located on a 1,400-acre campus that once was the Fort Hill plantation of statesman John C. Calhoun. The John C. Calhoun House, a National Historic Landmark, is located at the heart of the Clemson campus. The University was founded by Calhoun's son-in-law, Thomas Green Clemson, who bequeathed the plantation and a considerable sum from his personal assets to South Carolina for the establishment of an agricultural college. Established in 1889, Clemson is governed by a board of 13 members, including six elected by the state Legislature and seven self-perpetuating life members in accordance with Clemson's will. The college was an all-male military school until 1955, when the change was made to a civilian, coeducational institution. In 1964, the college was renamed Clemson University in recognition of the school's expanded academic offerings and research pursuits.

Mary graduated from the University of Georgia.

Mary Elizabeth Bradley and her 2nd husband, William Fisher Thurber, are buried on Cemetery Hill at Clemson University.

Her obituary in the Greenville News 13 February 2000 read:

Elizabeth B. Thurber, Clemson
Elizabeth Bradley McGarity Thurber, 83, of 390-2 College Ave., died Friday
in Atlanta. Native of Clemson, daughter of the late Professor Mark E. and
Elizabeth Morrah Bradley. She was first married to Robert Louis McGarity
and later to the late William F. Thurber. A graduate of University of Georgia,
she was a former schoolteacher and homemaker. She was a member of Fort
Hill Presbyterian Church, member of UDC, DAR and ZTA Sorority.

Surviving: sons, Col. Robert L. McGarity, Springfield, Va. and Mark Bradley
McGarity, Atlanta; granddaughters Suzanne and Cathleen McGarity. She was
predeceased by a brother USAF Gen. Mark E. Bradley Jr.

Graveside service: 1 p.m. Tuesday in Cemetery Hill. Memorial service
following the graveside service at Fort Hill Presbyterian Church. Visitation:
immediately following service at the church. Duckett-Robinson Funeral Home.

	1	ii.		James Grover Thurber, born 8 December 1894 in Columbus, OH; died 2 November 1961 in New York, NY; married (1) Althea Adams 20 May 1922 in Columbus, OH; married (2) Helen Muriel Wismer 25 June 1935 in Colebrook, CT.
		iii.		Robert Thurber, born 15 December 1896.

Notes for Robert Thurber:
Robert never married. He lived with his mother Mame until her death. After his brother William married in 1963, Robert moved to South Carolina, but returned to Columbus, Ohio after only two months. .

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