Fisher, Thamer (1775–1870)

1775–1870

Parents: Gilbert Fisher (1756–1848) and Elizabeth Lewis (1755–1783).
Married: William Lawrence (1776–1848).
Children: William Lawrence (1797–1848), Harriet Lawrence (1799–1834), Edward William DeNoyelle Lawrence (1801–1871), Horatio Gates Lawrence (1803– ), Caroline Sophsonia Lawrence (1803– ), Thamar Ann Lawrence (1805–1855), Napoleon Buonaparte Lawrence (1809–1859), and Thomas Lawrence (1819–1902).
Kinship: Wife of the second cousin once removed of the wife of the third great-granduncle of the post–World War II Smith generation.

Early Life Thamer Fisher was born in 1775, the daughter of Gilbert Fisher and Elizabeth Lewis. Her unusual given name—sometimes rendered Thamar—was, according to family tradition, not biblical in origin but derived from a family friend of her father’s. Her own descendants, however, reverted to the spelling Tamar for later generations.

When George Washington became the first President of the United States in 1789, Thamer was a young girl living in New York and was sent to board with her cousins, the Martine family, to attend school in the city. The school was evidently of high repute: one of Washington’s nieces was also sent from Virginia to study there, and the two girls became close friends.

A family reminiscence recorded by Ellen Lawrence (1851–1934)—a granddaughter through Thamer’s son Edward William DeNoyelle Lawrence—preserves a vivid childhood memory:

“My father told me that his mother had ridden with Washington when she was young. One day, sitting beside her, I asked her about it. She said, ‘Yes, dear, he used to come for us in his one-horse chaise and take off his old three-cornered hat and put it in the bottom. We used to put our feet in it.’ I was shocked—‘Grandmother, you put your feet in Washington’s hat?’ Then she realized my horror and said, ‘We did not look at Washington just as you do now, dear.’”

Marriage and Family At the age of nineteen, while living in North Castle, Westchester County, New York, Thamer eloped with her neighbor’s son, William Lawrence (1776–1848), the youngest son of a nearby Lawrence family. They were married on August 15, 1795, and went to live in New York City.

The couple’s large family—eight children born between 1797 and 1819—carried forward many of the characteristic Lawrence naming patterns, including references to historical and family figures such as Horatio Gates and Napoleon Bonaparte.

Later Life and Character Thamer lived to the remarkable age of ninety-five, dying in 1870. The family traditions that survived through her grandchildren portray her as spirited, independent, and possessed of both humor and warmth—one of the many strong women whose marriages linked the Fisher and Lawrence families of early New York.

Source Ellen Lawrence (1851–1934), sister of Gilbert Fisher Lawrence; quoted in lawrencehistory.wordpress.com.