Personal Note:
While I intended to continue to add to my post 'Foundation Threads', I thought the story about this interesting character and grandson of Anthony Sawyer was worth reading on this day, the anniversary of his death, August 24, 1873 at the age of 69 years, 4 months and 26 days.
Crispus Sawyer was born on March 28, 1804 to William and Tabitha Graves Sawyer, the youngest of two sons born to the couple. The oldest son, Joseph Merrill Sawyer, was born in 1797, and followers of this blog may remember that he is one of the Veterans honored for his service in the War of 1812, and interred at the Grand Trunk Cemetery.
At this time, I am still unsure, but there may have been other children born to the couple who died as very young children. Records from the Rev. Caleb Bradley, pastor of the parish in then, Westbrook, seem to indicate there may have been two children, a boy and a girl whose funerals he attended.
Here is the memorial page from Find A Grave with a photo added by Robert Hall and created by Scott Leonard in April 2013 to honor the memory of Crispus Sawyer.
An advertisement placed in the Portland Daily Press on January 24, 1877, four years after his death, announces the sale of real estate belonging to Crispus Sawyer and the heirs of William Sawyer.
I found this somewhat confusing, as William Sawyer, the father of Crispus, was deceased, having died in 1825. Who then is this William? Perhaps, Sawyer descendants out there might offer some clarity to the matter? Undoubtedly, there were other William Sawyers, from other branches of the family. Is this another brother or cousin?
Crispus Sawyer lived in, what was then called Westbrook, in the area we now call East Deering, on a farm near the railroad as you can see from the map. His closest neighbor was another bachelor farmer, Crispus Graves and was also situated not far from his older brother, Joseph Merrill Sawyer.
 |
| The map is dated 1871. |
I recently located a deed for property which Crispus Sawyer purchased from his father's estate from 1829, four years after his father William died. The names of the signers: Tabitha Sawyer, widow, Joseph M. Sawyer, brother, William Sawyer ?, Uriah Hansome, and Hannah Hanscome, wife of Uriah. So, who is this William?
Perhaps the most intriguing (to me), and somewhat terrifying event in the aging farmer's life happened on the first of May in 1870, when an encounter with neighborhood boys threw his life into chaos, at least for a time. The incident was recorded in the Daily Argus on May 4, 1870.
This incident reminded me of what happened to another bachelor farmer, his neighbor Crispus Graves, who would ride on the county road in his horse drawn wagon and was often harassed by neighbor boys who thought it amusing to throw stones at Mr. Grave's horse. It was no wonder that Mr. Graves chose to leave money after his death, to the school in Falmouth on Pleasant Hill Road, not the Portland School near his home. By the way, the school was called the "Grave's School" in honor of his kindness and generosity.
As for Crispus Sawyer; after being jailed for two weeks or so, the case was presented in Superior Court and he was found 'not guilty', however, he was also deemed by the testimony of a number of his neighbors, to be 'insane.'
Crispus Sawyer was at this time of this unfortunate incident, 66 years of age. He died three years later. Here is the account published in the Daily Eastern Argus on May 19, 1870.
So on this August 24th, 2019, we remember Crispus Sawyer on the 146th anniversary of his death, a resident of East Deering, farmer and bachelor.
