My Genealogy Hound

SAWYER, FRANCIS, Jr., farmer, Sec. 8; P. O. Fort Madison; was born in Rindge, Cheshire Co., N. H., in 1815; when 11 years of age, his father removed to New Ipswich, N. H., where Francis received a common-school and academical education; in 1838, when 22 years of age, accompanied by his brother, then 15 years of age, he left the hills of New Hampshire to find a new home in the West; they traveled the entire distance from New Ipswich to the Black Hawk Purchase (except between Buffalo and Detroit by boat) in a one horse buggy, being six weeks on the road; arriving at Fort Madison in August of that year, he made a claim and erected a cabin, where he now lives. In 1840, he married Miss Sarah Childs, who was born in New Ipswich Dec. 7, 1818; an orphan, raised and came to Lee Co. with Wm. Taylor; she died in January, 1843. He married Miss Lucy Baxter in 1846; she was born in New Ipswich in 1821, and died in 1862, leaving four children — Henry B., born Jan. 30, 1852, now a resident of Kansas; Perley F., born in 1856 and died in 1871; Flora M., born in 1857; Herbert, born in 1860 and died in 1869. He again married Miss Abbie Holt, of Andover, Mass., born in February, 1828, and married in October, 1865. He owns 240 acres of land, valued at $50 per acre. Members of the Congregational Church; he assisted in its organization and was elected Deacon; he has taken an active part in Sabbath schools; established two schools, one of which was the first in the township. His father, Francis Sawyer, came to Lee Co. in the spring of 1838, and made and improved a claim adjoining his son’s; in later years, he removed to Denmark, where he died at the ripe old age of 79 years; the elder Sawyer was a perfect specimen of New England manhood, and possessed all the characteristics of that people.