Russell Thayer (1852-1933)

He was born at Philadelphia and as a descendent of Benjamin Chew and Edmund C. Watmough among others, he enjoyed descent from several of Pennsylvania's oldest and most prominent families. He was educated at Episcopal Academy, the University of Pennsylvania, and West Point Military Academy, where he served as an assistant artillery instructor after graduating in 1874. After becoming a civil engineer, he worked on the Pennsylvania Railroad and was appointed its Chief Engineer and Superintendent of Fairmount Park. He maintained an affiliation with the military serving as Brigadier-General in the Pennsylvania National Guard and Lieutenant-Colonel and Inspector of the Guard's first division during its amalgamation with the regular army.

In 1885, long interested in aeronautics, he was one of the first to draw up plans for an American airship dirigible for the Army Ordinance Department. In 1899, he became associated with the United Gas Improvement Company for which he made a number of inventions and obtained several aeronautic patents. He was also a poet, novelist, and one-time high-ranking tennis player. He married Mary, daughter of Fitz Eugene Dixon of Farley, near Philadelphia. They lived on 29th Street at Mount Airy and had seven children.