Samuel Hallet Thurber (April 12, 1827 – May 15, 1870) was an American merchant, Democratic politician, and Wisconsin pioneer.
About 1856 he moved across Lake Michigan to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, establishing his own hardware business, dealing in stoves, farming equipment, tools, and other utensils.
Horace C. Thurber was a successful businessman, village president of Pontiac, Michigan, and was chosen as a presidential elector in 1848.
Their grandson, Horace Chamberlain Thurber Jr. was a United States Army Air Corps training officer during World War II, but died in an automobile accident in 1943.
[9] Their great-grandson, Donald Neal Thurber also served in World War II as an enlisted man in the United States Navy, later in life he was responsible for creating and promulgating the D'Nealian method for teaching handwriting.