JESSIE OGDEN (MALLORY) THAYER/O'NEAL Part 2 of 4 Frank D. Myers Although the report of Jessie and Deming Thayer's marriage suggests that they were on the verge of launching an independent life, that was not to be the case. In fact, Jessie never really left home during her 63 years, and it seems almost as if the Mallorys swallowed Deming Thayer whole, absorbing his life into theirs. As Smith H. Mallory's fortune grew, he was able to spend less time engaged in railroad entrepreneurship and devote more time to his Chariton interests, especially to the farm north of Ilion house that grew to encompass nearly 1,200 acres. He called it Brook Farm and it included an orchard of approximately 8,000 trees that produced fruit, primarily apples, for the wholesale market; a dairy that produced milk and butter; an egg-laying operation; and a truck farm where vegetables were grown in large quatities. Mallory had specialized in purebred horses and cattle for years, and those operations continued, too, at Brook Farm. Apples apparently were marketed across a wide region, but the other produce was intended for sale in Chariton and to the dining cars of the many passenger trains that passed through Chariton daily during those golden years of railroading. As the farm expanded, son-in-law Deming Thayer abandoned his civil engineering career and became its manager, which no doubt seemed an ideal arrangement to the Mallorys. As they always had, Deming and Jessie continued to live at Ilion with her parents. On the 11th of June 1897, The Chariton Democrat reported, "Mr. and Mrs. D. J. Thayer celebrated the eleventh anniversary of their marriage Wednesday evening by giving a quiet little card party to a few of their friends." Soon after that quiet little card party, however, things would go horribly wrong, if they had not begun to do so already. Deming suffered a mental breakdown during the fall of 1897 and was institutionalized at Iowa's hospital for the insane in Mt. Pleasant. The following June, he killed himself. The Chariton Patriot of 23 June 1898 reported Deming's suicide as follows: DEMING J. THAYER'S DEATH The friends of D. J. Thayer were greatly shocked Tuesday morning on learning that he had shot himself in a sleeper near Burlington while on his way home from Eureka Springs, Ark., where he had gone some weeks ago in search of health. For the past ten months, up to the time of his untimely demise, Mr. Thayer had been under the care of a physician, and his continued ill-health is undoubtedly the cause of his death as above stated. The body was met at Burlington by Mr. F. R. Crocker, who arrived with it in Chariton Tuesday evening at 6:40. Deming Jarves Thayer was born in Boston, Mass., Oct. 3, 1852, where he was well educated, and where he graduated from the Girton School of Technology. He was a civil engineer of wide reputation, being most able and skillful in the art. He was interested in numerous construction companies at various times and was secretary and vice-president of the Fulton County Narrow Gauge R.R. Co. He was married June 9, 1886, to Miss Jessie Ogden Mallory, daughter of Hon. and Mrs. S. H. Mallory of this city. Mr. and Mrs. Thayer have lived since their marriage with Mrs. Thayer's parents at the Ilion. Mr. Thayer was superintendent of Brook Farm previous to his ill health and was greatly beloved by those who worked under him. He was a man with an enterprising spirit, having a vast amount of energy, and "progression" was a watch-word with him. His disposition was inclined to be retiring and unobtrusive. From choice he had few near friends, and to them he was true and faithful. Deceased was a member of the Knights Templar, Knights of Pythias, and Modern Woodmen Lodges. A private funeral service will be held at the Ilion this afternoon at two o' clock and will be conducted by the Rev. C. H. Lynch of Ottumwa, after which the remains will be laid in the Chariton cemetery. Mrs. Thayer and Mr. and Mrs. Mallory have the sympathy of a vast number of friends in the hour of their great sorrow. If The Patriot report was sensitive to the feelings of Deming Thayer's wife and parents-in-law, the Democrat's report of the next day, 24 June 1898, was a more blunt: DEATH OF MR. THAYER On Tuesday morning a telegram was received in Chariton from Superintendent Levy of the C.B.&Q., stating that D.J. Thayer of Chariton had killed himself by shooting, early Tueday moring while occupying a sleeping car on the way from St. Louis to Burlington. Further advices stated that on retiring Monday night, Mr. Thayer had requested the porter of the car to call him at 5:00 o'clock in the morning; that some time afterward the pistol shot which caused death had been heard, but had been regarded as the explosion of a torpedo on the track, and that upon going to waken Mr. Thayer at 5:00 o'clock the porter found him to be in a dying condition. Upon arrival of the train at Burlington, Mr. Thayer was taken to Mercy hospital, where he expired shortly afterward without having regained consciousness. The body was brought to Chariton Tuesday evening and the funeral occurred from the Mallory home Thursday, attended by a larger number of friends of the family. Some seven months ago Mr. Thayer was placed in the hospital for the insane at Mt. Pleasant for treatment for mental aberration. About six weeks ago he returned to Chariton considerably improved in mental condition, and at once departed for Eureka Springs, Arkansas, where, it was thought, the water treatment would aid in building him up physically. When the sad ending of his life occurred he was on his way home from that place. Boston, Massachusetts, was the birthplace of the deceased, and there he spent his early life, receiving a thorough education and being fitted for his avocation in life, civil engineering, in which he was unusually proficient. Years ago he was connected with engineering work in the building of some of the branches of the Burlington road. Later he had charge of important work in the line of his profession in building the railroads of South America, and in more recent years was associated with the Mallory & Fitzgerald Construction Company and other concerns in the work of railway construction. In 1886, he was united in marriage with Jessie Ogden Mallory, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. S. H. Mallory of this place, and Chariton has been their home.