Joel Thayer, son of Levi Thayer and Hannah Parkhurst, was born on May 19, 1782 in Milford, Worcester County, Massachusetts. He had a twin brother, Levi Thayer. Joel married Ruth Hudson in 1802, and Nancy Fuller Seldon in 1823.
Joel helped construct the Thayer and Grandin Brick Row. In that building, the Book of Mormon was published. On December 4, 1833, Joel signed the “Testimony of 51 Neighbors,” later printed in Mormonism Unvailed.[1] Joel died on January 28, 1853. He was buried in the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Erie County, New York.
[1] Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, pp. 366–367.