Frederick Adolphus Sawyer | |
|---|---|
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| United States Senator fromSouth Carolina | |
| In office July 16, 1868 – March 4, 1873 | |
| Preceded by | James H. Hammond |
| Succeeded by | John J. Patterson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1822-12-12)December 12, 1822 Bolton, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | July 31, 1891(1891-07-31) (aged 68) |
| Party | Republican |
Frederick Adolphus Sawyer (December 12, 1822 – July 31, 1891) was aUnited States senator fromSouth Carolina. Born inBolton, Massachusetts, he attended the public schools, graduated fromHarvard University in 1844, taught school inNew England from 1844 to 1859, and took charge of the state'snormal school atCharleston, South Carolina in 1859. He returned to the North during theCivil War, and returned to Charleston in February 1865 where he was active in advancingReconstruction measures. On the night of April 14, 1865, Sawyer was atFord's Theater inWashington, D.C., and witnessed the assassination of PresidentAbraham Lincoln.[1] He was appointed collector ofinternal revenue in the second South Carolina district in 1865, and upon the readmission of the State of South Carolina to representation, Sawyer was elected as aRepublican to the U.S. Senate, serving from July 16, 1868, to March 4, 1873. While in the Senate, he was chairman of the Committee on Education (Forty-first Congress) and a member of the Committee on Education and Labor (Forty-second Congress).
Sawyer wasAssistant Secretary of the Treasury underWilliam Adams Richardson from 1873 to 1874 and was employed in theUnited States Coast Survey from 1874 to 1880. From 1880 to 1887, he was special agent of theWar Department. He conducted a preparatory school inIthaca, New York, and gave private instruction to students inCornell University. In 1889 he moved toTennessee and became president of a land development company atCumberland Gap, which laid out the new city of Shawanee (now part ofHarrogate, Tennessee).[2]
Frederick Sawyer and his wife, Delia, had two daughters who both married into prominent political families.[2] Their elder daughter, Myra, married Charles Eugene Hamlin, grandson of Vice PresidentHannibal Hamlin. Myra Sawyer Hamlin wrote a series of books for girls, and her husband was editor of a weekly magazine for school teachers and a music critic for theNew-York Tribune.[3]
Sawyer's younger daughter, Clara, married Isaiah Kidder Stetson, grand-nephew of Hannibal Hamlin and nephew of U.S. CongressmanCharles Stetson. Isaiah K. Stetson owned a lumber and shipbuilding company inBangor, Maine,[4] and served as Speaker of theMaine House of Representatives in 1899–1900.[5]
Sawyer died suddenly atShawanee, Tennessee, in 1891; interment was in "Sawyer Heights", on the property of his land company, near East Cumberland Gap.[2]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)| U.S. Senate | ||
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| Preceded by vacanta | U.S. senator (Class 3) from South Carolina 1868–1873 Served alongside:Thomas J. Robertson | Succeeded by |
| Notes and references | ||
| 1. Because of South Carolina's secession in 1860, seat was declared vacant from 1860 to 1868 whenJames H. Hammond withdrew from the Senate. | ||
| Class 2 |  | |
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| Class 3 | ||
| Education/Education and Labor (1869–1947) | | |
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| Labor and Public Welfare (1947–1977) | ||
| Labor and Human Resources (1977–1999) | ||
| Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (1999–present) | ||
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
