Alexander Dallas Thayer (1888-1968)

"Alec" Thayer, of Gwynllan Farm, Pennsylvania

Associated Houses

Singer Castle

Chippewa Bay

He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania where he made a name for himself as an accomplished sportsman, something he continued into his adult life when at his marriage it was reported that he was still, "well-known in lawn tennis and cricket circles". During World War I he served as an aviation instructor first in Oklahoma and Michigan, and then France. In 1926, a "long romance" culminated in his marriage to Marjorie, daughter of Frederick G. Bourne, President of the Singer Sewing Machine Company. They lived at her 500-acre farm, Gwynllan, where he raised Guernsey cows for the dairy and she raised prize-winning German shepherd dogs at their kennels. They bought Fairbank Cottage on Jekyll Island and in 1931 bought a yacht, the Queen Anne, that was said to be one of the largest in the country. Marjorie died in 1962 and two years later (1964) Alec remarried her sister, Florence, before he himself died in 1968.

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Contributed by Mark Meredith on 04/09/2019 and last updated on 09/12/2021.