40th Wedding Anniversary

 

Bob and Iva Williams Sawyer 40th Anniversary

My grandparents were married 1 October 1925 in Portland, Oregon far from their families in East Tennessee. Forty years later their children threw them a party in Morristown, Tennessee where they spent most of their lives. Their children, grandchildren, Granddaddy's sisters and brothers, a couple cousins, and a few close friends attended. All but one of the adults in the picture has passed away. We children are now standing. 

Seated in chairs Conway Sawyer, Iva Williams Sawyer, Bob Sawyer, Emma Sawyer, Winston Sawyer. Standing from left to right Flavia Sawyer, friend, Bob Sawyer Jr., Carolyn Popp, Janis Green, friend, Andy Popp, Connie Haun, Burr Haun, Selma Sawyer, Clevel Luttrell, Joanne Bryan, Mary Kathryn McKenzie, Charlie Green, Mr. Rogers. Standing behind on the right are some cousins, in-laws and friends. 

So Glad They Got Married

Carolyn Sawyer and Andrew Popp, 4 September 1954

Today would have been my parent's 67th wedding anniversary. I've never done a blog post about their wedding. Not even a photograph. It's time. 

They were married at her parents home by her parents' Baptist minister in a civil ceremony attended by her family and friends. More on that. Following the wedding they spent a very quiet honeymoon at Myrtle Beach recovering. There was never a photo of their wedding anywhere in their home. The one wedding album was tucked away in a bookshelf. The day was acknowledged as we got older, but never celebrated in any big way. It was a private time and memory for them, though as we grew older they spoke of it in response to our questions. They remained married until my mother's death in 1999. It was, most days, a good marriage, with sacrifices on both sides. But they had enormous love, devotion and respect for one another. Theirs was the model I have used for my own 42 years of marriage. 

Mother and Daddy met in Washington, DC after college. Both worked at the Navy Department, though that's not how they met. Both finished school and very deliberately chose to NOT return to the towns and families they'd grown up with. Both loved those families fiercely. 

Dad's best friend was dating Mother's roommate and suggested they meet. His motives weren't pure. Mother never left the apartment and he was hoping for time alone with his girlfriend (later wife). So Dad phoned her, they chatted and he asked her out for a beer. She declined, but graciously enough that he called back. And back. And back. Same story. Finally he asked Ted who asked Margaret who asked Mother why she wouldn't go out with him if she was willing to spend hours on the phone. She answered, "I don't drink beer." Dad called and invited her for coffee. She accepted. The rest is history. 

They were from wildly different backgrounds, but met a need in each other beyond their obvious attraction and love. Daddy, child of Eastern European Catholic immigrants, wanted an "American" wife as he assimilated into mainstream culture. Mother, rejecting the bigotry and narrow parochialism of her very southern, pre-civil rights childhood, wanted someone "other". Neither family was thrilled, but my father's family very quickly recognized and accepted the relationship. 

Not so my mother's. At least not her mother. Mother had moved back to Tennessee for graduate school. She was teaching and weighing two different proposals. She loved both men. Deeply. We spoke of those days of decision many times as I got older. She was very, very clear about her decision and her reasoning. And that it was the most difficult decision of her life. 

Once made, she turned to planning the wedding. Whatever subtle opposition her mother had expressed to her daughter marrying a Catholic first generation American was made clear. No member or friend of my father's family was invited, other than Ted, the best man. My grandmother never mailed those invitations. She cancelled florists and musicians. She launched a full out campaign to derail the wedding. My mother was heartsick, ill, but determined. Daddy finally showed up, uninvited and unwelcome, and announced that if they could not be married at home as Mother wished, then they would be married in his Byzantine Catholic Church in Binghamton, NY. His mother was fully capable and willing to put on the wedding and his priest had already consented. At that point my grandfather, utterly uninvolved by choice, finally spoke up and ordered my grandmother to cease her sabotage efforts and put together the wedding their daughter wanted. More or less. It did not include Daddy's immigrant family. The two families met for the first time at my sister's wedding, decades later. 

The effects of this were long-lasting. My father spent very little time visiting my mother's parents. The excuse was always he was working, but the truth told later to us as adults, was that it was easier for Mother to be there with us and without him. She still adored her family, they adored her, and by extension, us. He did make it clear that Grandmother was to stop cross-examining us about church and faith or he would stop our visits. Never Mother's. He knew how deeply hurt she was, but also knew how much she needed her family. And so we grew up. 

My sister and I had truly beautiful weddings. Joy-filled, and far more lavish than either of us wanted. Those wedding mattered as much to our parents as they did to us. They believed one of the most important things they could do as parents was to support and celebrate our choices. 

As for our family, we are today a very tightknit cohort of cousins, children of the three daughters Sawyer. Those sisters were a force - due in strong part to their mother. They were devoted to each other. Again, due to their parents. My father, particularly, expressed his admiration for all of them. He was careful to make clear that love and devotion could and should survive hurt and pain. It's a model to live by that I have difficulty following, but aspire to.  

Furnished for Burial Purposes

Receipt, dated March 18, 1893

"March 18, 1893

Received from Wm Sawyers Guardian

Lanie Sawyers 65/100 Dollars

in full for goods furnished for burial purposes

$0.65        Maloney Bros"

This receipt was one of many my great-grandfather Gee Sawyer kept tucked away in a trunk at his farmhouse in Warrensburg, TN. It answers a question I had for many years about one of his nieces, Delaney Sawyer. 

Delaney Sawyer was born about 1878 to Gee's brother Jake Sawyer and his wife, Sarah Elizabeth Fox. She appears with them on the 1880 census, living across the Nolichucky River in Cocke County with one younger sister. There are no further public records for her. She is not recorded in any local cemetery. No marriage records have been found. There were notes in Gee's chest indicating his older brother William had taken guardianship of Jake's children after Sarah died in 1884.

William, who never married, served as the head of the family once his father died. In 1880 his widowed and paralyzed mother was living with him, as was a widowed sister and her children, and Gee, his youngest brother. 

This receipt from Maloney Brothers (one of two stores in Warrensburg) confirms William's guardianship of Delaney and tells me she died in March, 1893. Her mother and Sawyer grandparents were buried at Josephs Chapel in Cocke County so she may have been buried there. With whatever was needed for burial purposes. 

Sources: 

Sawyer Family Papers.  Privately held by Susan Popp Clark . 2000.

 1880 U.S. census, Cocke, Tennessee, pop. sch., Chuckey Knobs, p. 360B, ED 61, dwelling 204, family 213, Delaney Sawyers; NARA film T9, roll 1248.

1880 U.S. census, Greene, Tennessee, pop. sch., District 4, p. 65C, ED 046, dwelling 162, family 162, William Sawyers: NARA film T9, roll 1258.

Uncle Herbert Bit the Bullet

Herbert Sawyer 
(1895-1923)

 The story of my great-uncle Herbert Sawyer's death was too gruesome not to share. And far too gruesome not to remember. He died young. Before my mother was born. Before his younger siblings were fully grown and came to know him as adults. Thus what we and our parents heard about Herbert growing up was little more than the tale of his death. And that his nephew Bob, Jr. resembled him. Which is an understatement. 

But what a tale. His youngest sister told me Herbert was a bit of a hypochondriac, implying he would have lived if he'd only skipped the dentist. I asked her what they did for toothaches and she answered. "Pliers." I don't doubt her, but I can't blame Herbert for seeking an alternative. 

The (Knoxville) Journal and Tribune
March 28, 1923
From Sawyer family photo album

 My mother suspected he was given too much ether and, in an effort to reassure me, said he received grossly inadequate care by modern standards. But this was 1923 in a small town in East Tennessee. Modern dental care was still to come. The newspaper speculated he died of strangulation. Which leads back to inadequate care. Because if you are performing dental surgery on someone you ought to at least notice them choking.

Whatever happened, his family mourned their son and brother. And eventually came to treat his death as a great, if tragic, story. Which they shared with relish. Until my mother realized I was going to need extensive dental work. Under anesthesia. And shut down all mention of Uncle Herbert in my presence. 

I hate going to the dentist. 

Aunt Emma Got Hold of the Camera

Sister by Emma Sawyer

 Two words I heard whenever I was with my great (very, truly great) aunt Mary Kathryn McKenzie (aka Sister) were frolics and fooling. She was my grandfather's youngest sister, the 9th of ten children. As such she spent many years both checking in on her older sisters and younger brother who lived on the family farm. She eventually moved back home to care for them. She and they laughed. All. The. Time. 

I am going through their photo albums now and laughing, as well. Aunt Emma Sawyer had a wicked tendency to shoot pictures of her sister regardless of what she was doing. And to keep them. All those "looks" she received from Sister were surely followed by laughter from both of them. 

Catherine & Gee Sawyer Revealed

 My Sawyer great-grandparents lived large. Large family. Large personalities. The stories are numerous, full of love and laughter. Much like their children. But since they died long before I was born, my images of them were constrained by the few photos I'd seen. Especially for Gee Sawyer (Jehu Stokely Sawyer, 1855-1940). My great-great aunts Selma and Mary Kathryn resembled their mother Catherine. I knew them well. I could imagine her cooking, or chatting, or chasing down a stray child. But the only photos I'd seen of Gee were a formal portrait at the time of his marriage, and this one of him not long before he died. 

Sawyer family, c. 1940 (from left to right, Clevel Sawyer Luttrell, Gee Sawyer, unknown man (perhaps Clevel's husband Hardin Luttrell), Mary Kathryn Sawyer McKenzie, Emma Sawyer)

It was hard to get the sense of him that I knew from the stories. However....

Looking through my aunt Mary Kathryn's photo album from the 1920s I found what I am certain is a snapshot of her parents. Faded, and not the greatest image of her mother. But, after I put it through the photo enhancement program at MyHeritage.com,  I can see Gee now. His little smile. Sparkling eyes. The relaxed embrace he and Catherine share. 

Catherine Conway and Gee Sawyer, c. 1927

That caption says it all. For me, too. Happy? Yes.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: A Mystery Aunt

Well, well, well. A mystery has unfolded.

I was roaming through Ancestry's shaky green leaves a few weeks ago and found a copy of this photograph on someone's tree. A photograph of my 2nd great-aunt Barbary Sawyer Proffit  I posted on the blog back in 2010. I assumed it had been taken from the blog, but when I checked, the woman who posted it had labeled it as being Liney Huffman Howlett Evans, Barbary's older half-sister. She had gotten the photo from a cousin. When I asked her about the identity she was unsure, having based the identification on her cousin's information.



As am I.

My photo is labeled on the back in my aunt's handwriting. She never knew either woman, but labeled the photograph based on interviews with her aunts. The problem is her aunts never knew Liney and only barely knew Barbary. I never have been able to figure out who the F.L. Evans is sitting next to Barbary. BUT, if the picture is Liney, then it is probably her husband James A. Evans. It would be lovely if the photograph included a studio name or location. Barbary lived in Cocke and Greene counties in Tennessee. Liney moved to Arkansas and then to Oklahoma. No studio. That the women might look enough alike to be mistaken for one another makes sense. They are sisters.

Last week I found the photo on another Ancestry tree belonging to one of Liney's descendants. This time I know the owner of the tree. He is a thorough and generous researcher who has shared his work with me about Liney and her life after leaving Tennessee. I am inclined to trust his information, even if the source of the photograph is not given. Unfortunately the email address I have for him is no longer valid and he has not responded to messages through Ancestry.

So, who is this? Another one of my Sawyer mysteries. A photograph of one of my great-grandfather Gee Sawyer's older sisters. With a man named Evans. My bet is Liney, but then again, my aunts were no slouches when it came to research either.

Written for Amy Johnson Crow's blogger challenge 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.

Wormhole Genealogy

Last night I had one of those out of body, out of time genealogy adventures. In the end it was more fiction than science, but what a ride! 

I began by revisiting my great-aunt Mary Kathryn's mysterious husband, Heiskell (now Hascal) McKenzie. I knew he was a devastatingly handsome man "from" Lenoir City (Loudon County, TN), that they married when my mother was a teenager (1940s) and that he died soon after from alcoholism. I have never found a marriage record for them and decided to see how Ancestry's search feature would work with the elusive Mr. McKenzie. 

Sometime later (on FamilySearch) I found him in the 1900 census living with his grandparents in Cocke County, TN. This was a revelation to me, for I had no idea he had local roots. I was even more surprised that his mother's parents were Abe and Jane Dawson, part of a large Dawson clan that contributed many in-laws to my Sawyers and Conways. 

I wandered a bit further and discovered that Jane Dawson, Hascal McKenzie's grandmother, was born Jane Precilla Ren in January, 1837 which is when Mary Kathryn's grandfather, Archie Sawyer was being hauled into court to support an illegitmate child born to Scintha Ren. This was when my brain took off and the ride become more carnival roller coaster/side show than actual research. I leapt, wondering if she was the child (probably not). I found a Priscilla Ren living with Jane in 1850 and suspected she was the errant Scintha, neglecting to notice she was in her sixties in 1836. I discovered that Jane's purported father Joel Ren was married to an Elizabeth Killion, prompting visions of Archie's sister-in-law marrying into the other woman's family and raising his spawn. 

At which point I decided I'd best go to bed.

Today, after sleep and copious amounts of caffeine I realize that I don't know if Archie and Scintha Ren's child was a boy or a girl. I don't know if the child survived. I don't know what happened to Scintha Ren. I have yet to find a record that I can confidently tie to Scintha. I even wonder now if Archie and Sallie's son Andy could have been Scintha Ren's son, for I have no marriage record for Archie and Sallie. 

What I do know is that Archie and Sallie's FAN club has grown, giving me lots more to work with. Joel Ren was born in North Carolina. Did he migrate with the Killions? Did he know the Sawyers before landing in Cocke County? Who is the Priscilla Ren I was so eager to label as the other woman in Archie's life (wouldn't that have been an accomplishment)? Is Elizabeth Killion Ren one of the tickmark daughters of David and Barbary Killion? 

I also know that falling into those wormholes is tremendous fun. I started looking for a 20th c. in-law and landed back in the 19th c. hills circling near my favorite mystery grandfather. 

Photo Credit
 Some rights reserved by uncleboatshoes

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Archie's boy, Crofford Sawyer (1847-1916)

Last week I wrote about my great-great grandfather Archie Sawyer's son Andy. This week I am focusing on Crofford, the third of the five known sons of Archie and his wife, Sallie Killion. Archie and his boys are on my radar because of my focus on DNA research this year. I am on the hunt for male Sawyers descended from Archie to beg, borrow or bribe my way to a cheek swab for a yDNA test. Bounties will be paid to those who deliver a willing, living candidate. Cake, cookies, booze. Whatever works.

Joel Crawford or Crofford Sawyer (1847-1916) also lived his life in Cocke County, Tennessee. He married Melvina (Vina) Green. Together they had 8 children, including 3 sons who survived to adulthood. He spent his life farming, and perhaps logging with his brother Andrew. Crofford was old enough to have been affected by the Civil War, especially since he was living in East Tennessee. It is hard to imagine he was not involved in some way - even if it was simply trying to stay away from the roving bands of bushwackers.

1. William Jehu Sawyer (1873-1943) married Sarah Jane Solomon. They had a large family that included at least six sons who survived to adulthood. 
1. Crawford L. Sawyer (1900-1972) married Agnes Miller. They are not believed to have had surviving sons.
2. Joe Andy Sawyer (1905-1961) married Ann Ward. They are not believed to have had surviving children.
3. Reaford P. Sawyer (1903-1969) married Pearl Reed. They lived most of their adult lives in Hamblen County, Tennessee and had a large family. 
4. Edward Edgar Sawyer (1907-1973) married Lennie Bell Smith. They lived most of their adult lives in Hamblen County, Tennessee and had a large family. He also appears in some records as William E. or Edgar Sawyer. 
5. Thomas U. Sawyer (1912-2000) married Edna Walker. They lived most of their adult lives in Anderson County, Tennessee and had a large family.
6. J. B. Sawyer (1914-1996) married Mayme Kate Moyers. They lived most of their adult life in Hamblen County, Tennessee and had a large family.
2. Joel Lawson Sawyer (1877-1950) married Maude Conway, the sister of my great-grandmother Catherine Conway Sawyer, making their children double cousins to my grandfather and his siblings. They lived most of their lives in Cocke County, Tennessee and had a large family including 4 sons who survived to adulthood.
1. Clyde Sawyer (1913-1985) married Creola Babe Baker. They are not believed to have had surviving sons.
2. Kenneth Sawyer (1921-1981) was married and lived much of his life in Hamblen County, Tennessee. He is not believed to have had sons surviving to adulthood.
3. Harley Guymond Sawyer (1925-1985) was married and lived in Cocke and Hamblen Counties, Tennessee. He is not believed to have had sons surviving to adulthood.
4. Living Sawyer. The youngest son of Lawson and Maud Conway Sawyer is believed to still be living. 
3. Joe A. Sawyer (1882-1972) married Fannie Robinson. They lived most of their lives in Cocke County, Tennessee and had a large family including 4 sons who survived to adulthood.
1. Gerome or Jerome Sawyer (1917-1961) married and had children. He lived most of his life in Cocke County, Tennessee.
2. Walter L. Sawyer (1921-2007) married Ida Flores and had children. He lived most of his life in Cocke County, Tennessee.
3. Living Sawyer. The third son of Joe and Fannie Sawyer is believed to still be living.
4. Herbert Sawyer (1931-2000) was married and had children. He lived most of his life in Cocke County, Tennessee. 

I don't mean to give short shrift to the women of the family, or to those children who died young. They are cherished and recorded in my data. But they do not pass on the yDNA I am seeking.

I would dearly love just one or two minutes of time with any direct male descendant of Archie and Crofford. It won't hurt a bit. Just a little swab. Promise.

Written for Amy Johnson Crow's blogger challenge 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.


Photo Credit  Some rights reserved by Phil Romans

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Archie's boy, Andy Sawyer (1836-1926)

Last week I wrote my great-great grandfather Archie Sawyer's son James. This week I am focusing on Andrew, the eldest son of Archie and his wife, Sallie Killion. Archie and his boys are on my radar because of my focus on DNA research this year. I am on the hunt for male Sawyers descended from Archie to beg, borrow or bribe my way to a cheek swab for a yDNA test. Bounties will be paid to those who deliver a willing, living candidate. Cake, cookies, booze. Whatever works.

Archie and Sallie's eldest son, Andrew Sawyer (b. 15 Dec 1836 d. 6 Nov 1926) lived most of life in Cocke County, Tennessee. He married Sallie Etherton. Together they had 11 children, including 6 sons that survived to adulthood.

1. George Wesley Washington Sawyer (1858-1960) had no surviving sons, but as our longest lived relative must be included. 
2. James Sawyer (1863-1944) does not appear to have had any sons. He and his wife Clara Jones had daughters Mary, Ruth and Grace. 
3. William A. Sawyer (1865-1904) married Nannie Cavender in 1895. They appear to have had one surviving daughter, Susan, before William died.
4. Jacob Charles Sawyer (1867-1914) was an invalid for most of his adult life. He never married and is not believed to have had children.
5. John Sawyer (1872-1940) and his wife Cora Quinn do not appear to have had any sons. They had daughters Tressie and Charlsie. 
6. Joseph Henry Luther Sawyer (1883-1944). FINALLY!! Joe and his wife Eunice Holt had surviving twin sons, Clarence and Claude (b. 24 May 1921). They also had a daughter Alta, who compiled a family history that has been a cornerstone of my research with the Sawyers. 

I don't mean to give short shrift to the women of the family, or to those children who died young. They are cherished and recorded in my data. But they do not pass on the yDNA I am seeking.

While there are many family stories about Andy, especially about his Civil War experiences, documenting them has proved difficult. It is clear the war was a monumental experience in the life of his family. They lived in Sevier County then, reportedly moving further up into the mountains to avoid the violence. Andy was gone for much of the war, though where he was or which side he fought on is not clear. It seems he didn't go far, since several children were born those years. His wife and children reportedly lived with his parents.

According to family stories (and photographs) Andy worked as a teamster hauling cut trees across the mountains to mills in North Carolina when the lumber companies moved into the Smoky Mountains in the early 20th century. His occupation in census records is listed as a farmer. He appears in most records living with or next to his brothers, sisters and children as part of a tight knit clan.

I would dearly love just one or two minutes of time with any direct male descendant of Andy and Joe. It won't hurt a bit. Just a little swab. Promise.

Written for Amy Johnson Crow's blogger challenge 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.


Photo Credit  Some rights reserved by Shawi 

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Archie's boy, James Sawyer (b. 1820)

I wrote two years ago about what I was told about my great-great grandfather Archie Sawyer when I started researching our family. I followed it up with a What I Know post a couple weeks ago.  Bless Amy Crow and her 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge for getting me back on track!

Archie is on my radar because of my focus on DNA research this year. (The idea that this project will last a year is laughable.) He is at the top of my most wanted list. I am on the hunt for male Sawyers descended from Archie to beg, borrow or bribe my way to a cheek swab for a yDNA test. Bounties will be paid to those who deliver a willing, living candidate. Cake, cookies, booze. Whatever works.

What I had been told was not entirely accurate. Two of the children my great-aunts ascribed to Archie and his wife, Sallie Killian, were children from earlier marriages. Each came with one. Archie may have had more. What is clear is these were the children who considered each other siblings. Together, Archie and Sallie had 7 children who survived to adulthood. I am descended from their youngest son, Jehu or Gee Sawyer. Gee, his brothers William and Jake have no known direct male descendants still living. But his brothers James (half-brother), Andrew and Crofford may well have direct male descendants.

Thirty plus years of research and I still cannot figure these guys out. I believe Archie was related to the other Sawyers appearing in the 1830 and 1840 US Federal Census in Cocke County. But at this point DNA is one of the last tools I have available.

So. I am on the hunt for ~

James Sawyer, Archie's eldest known son, does not appear in census records that I can identify before 1860, when he was enumerated in the household of John Bregman, across the mountains from Cocke County in Buncombe County, North Carolina. The next year he married John's widowed daughter Nancy. He and Nancy lived out their lives in Buncombe County. Theyare buried in Chambers Cemetery, near Weaverville. They had 5 children, including two sons.

1. James Robert Sawyer (1862-1924) married Barbara Virginia Thrash in 1884 and had at least two sons, Horace (born about 1886) and Thomas (born about 1890). He spent his life in Buncombe County.
2. Leroy/Lee Roy Sawyer (1868-1919) married Nina Jones and had at least 5 sons, Earl (born about 1901), Clifford (born about 1902), John B. (born about 1906), Leroy, Jr. (born about 1909), and Paul (born about 1914). He spent his life in Buncombe County.

I would dearly love just one or two minutes of time with any male descendant of James. It won't hurt a bit. Just a little swab. Promise.

Written for Amy Johnson Crow's blogger challenge 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.


Photo Credit  Some rights reserved by nevil zaveri

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Archibald Sawyer (1795-1880)

Archie Sawyer, my great great-grandfather, is a man of mystery. He shows up as Archibald Sayard in the 1830 Federal Census living in Cocke County, Tennessee census. A grown man, age 30-39, with a house full of women and children. Another Archibald Sawyers, aged 70-79, is enumerated on the same page. According to later census data Archie was born about 1795 in South Carolina. Just to make this more interesting there are two similar James Sawyers families enumerated a couple of pages later.

1830 Census listing showing two Archibald Sawyer/Sayers/Sayard listings

Ten years later, I believe Archie is living with my great-great grandmother, Sallie Killian, their eldest two children, his son, her daughter and three other children. Sallie is the only adult woman in the household. The second household, no longer listed on the same page, appears to now be headed by Rebecca or Bricka Sawyer. The elder Archibald appears to have died.

An aside. The presumed death of old Archibald corresponds very nicely with the death in 1839 of a Revolutionary War pensioner, Lewis Sawyer, in Cocke County. A man who does not appear in any Cocke County census. Except his name is NOT Archibald. James Sawyer also loses an elderly man, aged 80-89 in the 1830 census. And names a son Lewis. Of course, I don't know what Archie named those children living with him in 1830.

1840 Cocke County, TN census

By 1850, Archie and Sallie's household reflects the family I know, family my great-grandfather Gee Sawyer, his brothers and sisters considered their own. They claimed Sallie's daughter, Linnie, and Archie's son, James, as their own, never distinguishing them from the full brothers and sisters. Which led to more than a little confusion when I began researching.

The confusion lingers. Just who are those people living with Archie in 1830? I assume brother James, born about 1820, is one of the boys. I have no idea who the others are. None. In 1840 the women, oldest girl, and one male child are no longer in the household. That leaves one boy and two girls, all aged 10 to 14 years old, living with Archie and Sallie. Three people of whom no mention has ever been made in my family.

So who are these folks, Archie? These people you sheltered in 1830 and 1840. Where are they hiding? I am hoping DNA testing may lead to some clues.


Written for Amy Johnson Crow's blogger challenge 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.

Sources

• Alta Sawyer Palmer, The Sawyer Family, Third Edition (Morristown, Tennessee: Privately published, 1986).
• 1830 U.S. census, Tennessee, Cocke, p. 245, line 4, Archibald Sayard; digital images, Ancestry.com (accessed 24 Feb 2014); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M19, roll 180. 
• 1840 U.S. census, Tennessee, Cocke,, p. 262, Archabald Sawyers; digital images, Ancestry.com (accessed 16 Jan 2014); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M704, roll 518.  
• 1850 U.S. census, population schedule, Tennessee, Cocke, District 11, p. 423A, dwelling 1142, family 1142, Arch Sangers or Sawyer; digital images, Ancestry.com ( accessed 16 Jan 2014); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M432, roll 874.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Sally Killian Sawyer (1812-1881)

Sally Killian Sawyer is one of my favorite ancestors. Perhaps it's because I knew so little about her when I started researching 30 years ago. For someone who was known as a story teller, my great-grandfather Gee Sawyer said very little about his parents, Archie and Sally Sawyer. I started with their names and birthplaces. Nothing more.

Over the years I have learned more about them both. I have learned that spelling really doesn't count. Even my own hasn't been consistent. She has shown up as Sallie or Sally or Sarah. As Killian or Killion. As Sawyer or Sawyers or Sanger or Sayers. And as a tick mark in the 1820, 1830, and 1840 censuses.

Sally was born in Lincoln County, NC in September of 1812 to David and Barbary Fulbright Killian. A marriage bond for Sarah Killian and David Huffman was recorded on 18 October 1832 in Lincoln County. Sally's daughter Linnie Huffman Howlett Evans named her father as William Huffman in her Civil War Widow's pension application, so the name of Sally's first husband is open for discussion. Whatever his name, their daughter Linnie was born 13 May 1833 in Lincoln County, NC. Mr. Huffman disappears from the scene soon after.

By 1836 the Killians, Sally and Linnie Huffman have moved to Cocke County, TN. Sally has married Archie Sawyer, at least 10 years her senior with a child or children of his own. Their eldest son Andrew was born 15 December 1836, just before Sally's father was putting up part of the bond for Archie after Scintha Ren had named him has the father of her illegitimate child. Magnanimous soul.

State of Tennessee, Cocke County.

We Archibald Sawyers, David Killian and Lewis Williams acknowledge our selfs (sic) indebted to the state of Tennessee as follows;  Archibald Sawyers as principal in the sum of two hundred dollars and fifty;  David Killian and Lewis Williams as his securities in the sum of seventy five dollars each to be bound of sums goods and chattles lands and tenements respectively for the use of the state to be void on condition that the above bound Archibald Sawyers do make his personal appearance at the circuit court at the court house in Newport on the second Monday in January to answer the state on a charge of bastardy by Scintha Ren and not depart the court without leave.     

Archibald Sawyers (his mark);  David Killian (his mark)  Lewis Williams (his mark)

Acknowledged before me Jos. Williams and acting Justice of the Peace for Cocke County this 6 day of January 1837;
Jos. Williams Esq. CC                            Fd’d Jany 9 1837 in circuit court clerk office

Sally and Archie had six more surviving children - Barbary, (1838), William (1840), Elizabeth (1843), Crofford (1847), Jake (1849), and my great-grandfather Jehu Stokely "Gee" (1855). Archie appears in census data as a farmer, though there is no indication of any wealth. They moved frequently in the years surrounding the Civil War, living in Sevier County in 1860, in Jefferson County in 1865 and back in Cocke County in 1870. By 1880 Sally was an invalid widow living with her son William in Greene County. According to her gravemarker she died 2 January 1881. Her grave lies in Joseph's Chapel, just down the road from Sawyer Hollow.

Census information indicated she was illiterate. Her daughter Linnie's pension application has provided me with the greatest bit of information. Sally was midwife for her daughter, delivering all but one of her children. She apparently acted as midwife in the area. Her 1869 deposition stated

"she ... acted as chief Physician and that she was the Osetrician in the section, at the time, and where these children were born and is yet..." 

I have wandered the roads in Cocke, Greene and Sevier counties where Sally lived but it wasn't until I read this deposition that I had a sense of who she may have been.


Written for Amy Johnson Crow's blogger challenge 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.

Sources

• Alta Sawyer Palmer, The Sawyer Family, Third Edition (Morristown, Tennessee: Privately published, 1986).
• Cocke, Tennessee, Supreme Court Cases, East Division, State vs. Archibald Sawyer, 1837; Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville.
• Jefferson County Court Clerk.Nicholson, James M. Voter Registration Receipt for Archibald Sawyers. 19 Jul 1865. Privately held by Susan Popp Clark, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] St. Louis, MO. 1996.  
• North Carolina Division of Archives and History, "North Carolina Marriage Bonds, 1741-1868," database, Ancestry.com (accessed 18 Jan 2014), entry for for Sarah Killian and David Huffman; citing marriage bond 000073458.  
• Sawyers, Sarah Depostion, Howlett, William M. Civil War Widows Pension Application 141.238, 1867; privately held by Susan Popp Clark, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] St. Louis, MO. 2005. Digital image of pension application file.  
• 1820 U.S. census population schedule, North Carolina, Lincoln, East of the South Fork of the Catawba River, p. 406, David Killion; digital images, Ancestry.com (accessed 16 Jan 2014); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M33, roll 83.  
• 1840 U.S. census, Tennessee, Cocke,, p. 262, Archabald Sawyers and David Killion; digital images, Ancestry.com (accessed 16 Jan 2014); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M704, roll 518.  
• 1850 U.S. census, population schedule, Tennessee, Cocke, District 11, p. 423A, dwelling 1142, family 1142, Sarah Sangers or Sawyer; digital images, Ancestry.com ( accessed 16 Jan 2014); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M432, roll 874.  
• 1860 U.S. census, population schedule, Tennessee, Sevier, District 3, p. 399, dwelling 272, family 272, Sarah Sayers; digital images, Ancestry.com (accessed 16 Jan 2014); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M653, roll 1270.  
• 1870 U.S. census, population schedule, Tennessee, Cocke, District 11, p. 468B, dwelling 12, family 12, Sarah Sawyers; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 16 Jan 2014); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M593, roll 1519.  
• 1880 U.S. census, population schedule, Tennessee, Greene, District 4, enumeration district (ED) 046., p. 65C, dwelling 162, family 162, Sarah Sawyers; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 16 Jan 2014); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T9, roll 1258.  

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Catherine Conway Sawyer

Amy Johnson Crow has issued a challenge to genealogy bloggers to write about an ancestor a week during 2014 on her blog No Story Too Small. We'll see how close I get to hitting her number!

I am starting with my great-grandmother Catherine Conway Sawyer - the Nolichuckiest of my Nolichucky Roots. Catherine Pearlina was born 3 February 1865 to Porter and Eleanor Holt Conway at Conway's Ferry on a bend of the Nolichucky River in Cocke County, Tennessee. She was, you will notice, born near the end of the Civil War leading me to believe her children's assertion that her father did not fight during the War. Another post, but not so!

As a girl she ran the ferry from her father's farm across the river to Warrensburg in Greene County. Somewhere on one of those trips she must have met Jehu Stokely  "Gee" Sawyer. They were married two days before Christmas in 1886 and settled into the house he built in Warrensburg along the Nolichucky River.

Gee and Catherine had 10 surviving children from 1887 to 1909. The household was full of life, laughter and probably more than a few pillows flying through the air. Catherine's children and grandchildren describe a mother rarely flustered, rarely still, and often laughing. She had plenty to laugh at. Merely traveling by the house put one at risk from projectiles flying from one of the trees, roof or windows. She was a legendary cook, quilter and seamstress. Her youngest daughter's first memories were of being leashed to her mother's sewing machine while the older children frolicked. Frolicking was a favored pastime. I've often wondered if Catherine was trying to protect her toddler daughter from her older brothers, keep her from wandering off, or was too absent minded to keep track of her while sewing. Or all of the above.

I have no photographs of Catherine from the time of her marriage until her daughters got their first camera around the time of World War I. Even then photos are scarce. One reason might be she never stood still long enough to get a shot. Here's what I found when I looked through the photo albums.

And finally, this with her daughter and granddaughter in 1929.

Catherine was widowed in 1940 and died 2 March 1943 in Warrensburg. She lived her entire life within yards of the Nolichucky. She is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in Greeneville, TN. I never heard anyone mention her name or tell any story about her without a huge grin on their face. She brings a smile to mine every time I think of her. 

Sources

1870 U.S. census, population schedule, Tennessee, Cocke, District 4, p. 378A, dwelling 64, family 64, Perlina Conaway; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 5 Jan 2014); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M593, roll 1519.  

Cocke, Tennessee, Tennessee State Marriages, 1780-2002, December 1886: 376, Sawyer-Conway; digital images, Ancestry.com (accessed 5 Jan 2014).  

Greene, Tennessee, Tennessee Death Records, 1908-1958, 1943: Katherine Conway Sawyer; digital image, Ancestry.com (5 Jan 2014).  

Photographs
Gee Sawyer Family Photo Albums; digital images, privately held by Susan Clark . 1996.  

A Snowy Day

We are having a true winter in St. Louis this year. Indeed, much of the United States and Canada is preparing for record cold temperatures over the next two days. Today's snow sent me back to my photo albums hunting for wintery days. I found a few, though none of my uncles or male cousins. Either they were behind the cameras or looking outside at their snow crazed sisters.

Chicago, near the stockyards, c. 1928. Anna, Mary, and Helen Hricak. 

Warrensburg, TN c. 1932. Mary Kathryn Sawyer. 

Remembering Mother

I've always avoided acknowledging the anniversary of my mother's death, but she has been so much in my thoughts the last couple weeks. She died thirteen years ago. Life goes on, full of many ups and a few downs, but we miss her.

This is not a full-life reflection. I've simply gathered photos taken over the last 15 to 20 years of her life that capture one of her expressions. There are many missing. She is more self-conscious than she was away from a camera. She had a look that could stop me cold at 50 feet. I never thought to capture that one. Today, with cell phones and cameras everywhere, I might be able to. I'm feeling a look just thinking about it. I don't have any of her trying to tell a story and laughing too hard to complete it. Nor of her concentrating intently, be it on a bridge hand, a baseball game, or a book. These are not the mother I knew as a child, nor the woman she was before she had children, nor the wife or daughter. But this is the woman I knew and loved as an adult. This is the mother I miss.

New Sister - Wordless Wednesday

My grandmother, Iva Williams Sawyer, with her eldest daughter and my mother, Carolyn Sawyer, c. March 1929. This is the first picture we have of Mother.

A Meditation on Grandmothers

Even before my new grandson joined us - from the moment I learned of his existence - I pondered who I would be to this newest member of our family. Grandmother or Baba, as I called my grandmothers? Granny, as my children called my mother? Nannan, as they called my mother-in-law?

Grandmother, wishing once again that we'd fly right.

Grandmother was a force to be reckoned with. She was an elegant, articulate, Southern with a capital S woman. Adored by her children and adoring them, but with very strict notions of religion, propriety and society. Notions as silly as chiding her young granddaughters for waving at the soldiers in a convoy lumbering down East First North Street in Morristown, TN. Or as chilling as refusing to share a taxi home from the market with a black woman in the late 1960s. Or as saddening as her deep sigh upon learning I was engaged to marry a Roman Catholic.

Yet so much that I am comes directly from her - my love of books and reading, my penchant for men who are awful, awful punsters, my loves of history, genealogy, and opera. She was a devoted mother, as was her daughter, my mother. Visiting down home was a thrill when I was young, perhaps because Mother was so full of joy, or perhaps because of the wide open arms and smiles that greeted us when we pulled into her driveway after the long drive from Connecticut. She had wonderful things awaiting us - old sunbonnets and clothes to play dress ups, the complete Five Little Peppers series of books, perfumes and bath beads, and two drawers full of treats (toys in the dining room and candy in the kitchen). Even in college, when my friends and I pulled in for dinner on our way to New Orleans for spring break, she came flying out the back door with arms spread wide and plied us with food, coffee and sandwiches for the road. And yes, there was a gelatin salad.

Baba and two of her
granddaughters.

I always thought I'd be a Baba. I've identified with my Carpatho-Rusyn heritage my entire life, saw much more of Baba growing up than Grandmother, and had a much less complicated relationship with her. She exemplified the unconditional love I associate with grandmothering. I cherish the memories of dinner at her house, of shelling peas from her garden or teasing her about ironing the aluminum foil to reuse, of kneeling in the church yard with the Easter baskets to be blessed, of watching her brush her waist-length hair and feeling her brush mine.

I share her quick temper, her fierce devotion to her family. It is my constant prayer to share her faith and work ethic.

When Mother chose Granny as her moniker I was startled. I don't remember her using the word when talking about her own grandmothers, but she told us then it was what she called her paternal grandmother.

Granny and the rest of us on tour. Children's clothes by Granny.

Granny, like my own grandparents, was a long-distance grandmother. We laughed at and loved the clothes that rained down on the grandchildren. (I am already imitating this trait.) She adored being with the babies, rocked them for hours and loved to hear of each new accomplishment as they grew. We travelled together, toured and sat for hours on various beaches as sand castles were built and washed away. She made sure the grandchildren had their New York City adventures, times with their cousins and had a special room set aside for them at home in Connecticut.

She was a character, as well, slipping off when we visited to her very unfinished basement for a cigarette and glass of wine. Should one of the grandchildren go missing odds are he or she would be found perched on a lawn chair in the basement, next to the cobweb ladened bomb shelter their grandfather built at the height of the Cold War, working with Granny on a New York Times crossword puzzle, ringed in smoke and nibbling on the tic-tacs she'd share. It drove me mad.

She thought of each grandchild often, and in her last days spent time sharing her hopes for them with her husband and daughters. One of her final conversations with my young son involved her funeral, my funeral and a hawaiian shirt. Apparently there will be a pig roast when I die. She was irreverent, witty and lived life on her own terms. My children adored and adore her.

Nannan with her lap full.

Their Nannan almost defines grandmother. She rocked, listened, laughed, hugged or scolded as needed. Fussed over their meals, played countless card games (graduating from Go Fish to Bull___), toured aquariums and battlefields, saved bread for them to feed the ducks, proudly introduced them after mass, remembered every story about their childhoods (not to mention their father's and her own) and is still at it. She's now a very proud long-distance great-grandmother.

So which will I be? Probably a little of all of the above (the best parts, I pray). But I'm going by Granny these days. I'm still not sure why, except it felt the most comfortable.

112 years ago today....

Today is the 112th anniversary of my grandmother Iva Williams Sawyer's birth. She lived a long life and we had many opportunities to celebrate together.

The last two milestone birthdays we gathered for were her 85th (a memorable, rowdy surprise party - all the greater because it was in the early spring when it was easier for us all to travel) and her 90th (a much quieter gathering with dinner at the Little Dutch).

She presents something of a challenge for me. Our relationship was complicated. But as I've looked through the pictures today it's clear how much she and her children cherished, loved and flat out enjoyed one another. That her grandchildren and great-grandchildren continue to gather, love and enjoy one another is surely a testament to her and her girls.

Happy birthday, Grandmother. I'm grateful for all the years we had together.