Frederick Adolphus Sawyer (December 12, 1822July 31, 1891) was a

United States senator The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...

from

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

. Born in

Bolton, Massachusetts Bolton is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Bolton is in eastern Massachusetts, located 25 miles west-northwest of downtown Boston. The population was 5,665 at the 2020 census. History The town of Bolton was incorpora ...

, he attended the public schools, graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1844, taught school in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

from 1844 to 1859, and took charge of the state's

normal school A normal school or normal college is an institution created to Teacher education, train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high s ...

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

in 1859. He returned to the North during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, and returned to Charleston in February 1865 where he was active in advancing

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...

measures. On the night of April 14, 1865, Sawyer was at

Ford's Theater Ford's Theatre is a theater located in Washington, D.C., which opened in August 1863. The theater is infamous for being the site of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. On the night of April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth entered the theater box ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and witnessed the assassination of President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

. He was appointed collector of internal 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 a Republican 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 was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under

William Adams Richardson William Adams Richardson (November 2, 1821 – October 19, 1896) was an American lawyer who served as the 29th United States secretary of the treasury from 1873 to 1874. During his tenure, the Panic of 1873 swept the nation and caused a depress ...

from 1873 to 1874 and was employed in the United States Coast Survey from 1874 to 1880. From 1880 to 1887, he was special agent of the War Department. He conducted a preparatory school in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named a ...

, and gave private instruction to students in

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

. In 1889 he moved to

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

and became president of a land development company at Cumberland Gap, which laid out the new city of Shawanee (now part of

Harrogate, Tennessee Harrogate is the largest city in Claiborne County, Tennessee, United States. It is adjacent to Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. The community has been known as "Harrogate" since the 19th century, but did not incorporate by that name un ...

). Frederick Sawyer and his wife, Delia, had two daughters who both married into prominent political families. Their elder daughter, Myra, married Charles Eugene Hamlin, grandson of Vice President

Hannibal Hamlin Hannibal Hamlin (August 27, 1809 – July 4, 1891) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 15th vice president of the United States from 1861 to 1865, during President Abraham Lincoln's first term. He was the first Republican ...

. 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 the '' New-York Tribune''. Sawyer's younger daughter, Clara, married Isaiah Kidder Stetson, grand-nephew of Hannibal Hamlin and nephew of U.S. Congressman

Charles Stetson Charles Stetson (November 2, 1801 – March 27, 1863) was a United States representative from Maine, and the eldest member of a powerful Bangor political family. He was born in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, on November 2, 1801, but moved with hi ...

. Isaiah K. Stetson owned a lumber and shipbuilding company in

Bangor, Maine Bangor ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat of Penobscot County. The city proper has a population of 31,753, making it the state's 3rd-largest settlement, behind Portland (68,408) and Lewiston (37,121). Modern Bangor ...

, and served as Speaker of the

Maine House of Representatives The Maine House of Representatives is the lower house of the Maine Legislature. The House consists of 151 voting members and three nonvoting members. The voting members represent an equal number of districts across the state and are elected via p ...

in 1899–1900. Sawyer died suddenly at

Shawanee, Tennessee Harrogate is the largest city in Claiborne County, Tennessee, Claiborne County, Tennessee, United States. It is adjacent to Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. The community has been known as "Harrogate" since the 19th century, but did no ...

, in 1891; interment was in "Sawyer Heights", on the property of his land company, near East Cumberland Gap.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sawyer, Frederick 1822 births 1891 deaths People from Bolton, Massachusetts South Carolina Republicans Cornell University faculty Harvard University alumni Republican Party United States senators from South Carolina Schoolteachers from Massachusetts 19th-century American politicians