THRASHER, John S., journalist, born in Portland, Maine, in 1817; died in Galveston, Texas, 10 November, 1879. While he was a youth his parents removed to Havana, Cuba, where he followed for some time a successful mercantile career, but abandoned it for journalism, purchasing, in 1849, the "Faro Industrial," which was then the only Liberal newspaper. In September, 1851, his paper was suppressed, and he was condemned by court-martial to ten years' imprisonment with hard labor at Ceuta and perpetual banishment from Cuba. After several months the United States minister at Madrid secured his release. He afterward established in New Orleans a Sunday journal called the "Beacon of Cuba," and in 1853-'5 was an active member of the junta that organized a filibustering expedition to be led by General John A. Quitman. When the United States authorities prevented the departure of this expedition, Thrasher went to New York city. For several years he travelled in Central and South America as a newspaper correspondent, and edited the "Noticioso de Nuevo York," a journal devoted to the interests of Spanish-American countries. Marrying a lady whose property was in Texas, he removed to the south, and remained there during the civil war, acting as agent for the associated press at Atlanta. After the war he edited for several years Frank Leslie's " Ilustracion Americana" in New York city, and afterward resided in Galveston. He published a translation of Alexander von Humboldt's "Personal Narrative of Travels," with notes and an introductory essay (New York, 1856), also many essays on the social, commercial, and political conditions of Cuba.

Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, edited by James Grant Wilson and John Fiske. Six volumes, New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1887-1889