Dear Members of the Carter County, Kentucky Mailing List, After quite some time on the Mailing Lists of Greenup, Lewis and Mason Counties, Kentucky, I now come on board the Carter County List, as well, with this, my first post. Is anyone researching the THAYER surname? James M. THAYER, Sr., according to a family tradition I have received, was killed about 1850 in an exposion at an iron furnace in Carter County, Kentucky. Would that have been Pactolus Furnace? James M. THAYER, Sr. was born about 1820 [birthplace unknown to me] and married the widow Nancy JONES HORNER, 18 Feb 1841, in Lawrence County, Ohio. The couple had a son James M. THAYER, Jr., who was born 2 Aug 1841 in Lawrence County, Ohio. James M. THAYER, Jr. was said to have moved to Quincy, Lewis County, Kentucky by about 1854, based on the affidavit that James THAYER, Jr. provided for my third-great grandfather William COOPER's Invalid Pension Record, the application for which was begun in 1880. James M. THAYER died 27 May 1892 in Lewis County, and was buried in Loper Cemetery, Greenup County, Kentucky. If you have any information regarding the iron furnace explosion or the THAYERs, please don't hesitate to join in. I will be grateful, and in turn will do what I can to help you in your research. I'm looking forward to meeting other researchers of Carter County, even if no one else is studying the THAYERs! Thanks again. Randal W. Cooper Lorain, Ohio