Samuel Tredwell Sawyer (1800 – November 29, 1865) was an attorney and politician. Although he served as Congressional Representative, today he is mostly remembered for fathering the two children of the young slave

Harriet Jacobs Harriet Jacobs (1813 or 1815 – March 7, 1897) was an African-American writer whose autobiography, '' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl'', published in 1861 under the pseudonym Linda Brent, is now considered an "American classic". Born int ...

, in whose autobiography, ''

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl ''Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, written by herself'' is an autobiography by Harriet Jacobs, a mother and fugitive slave, published in 1861 by L. Maria Child, who edited the book for its author. Jacobs used the pseudonym Linda Brent. The ...

'', he features prominently.

Early life

Sawyer was born in Edenton,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

, in 1800. He attended Edenton Academy and the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

. Sawyer studied law, was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in Edenton.

Political career

Sawyer was elected to the North Carolina State house of representatives, serving from 1829 to 1832. Sawyer was elected to the

North Carolina Senate The North Carolina Senate is the upper chamber of the North Carolina General Assembly, which along with the North Carolina House of Representatives—the lower chamber—comprises the state legislature of North Carolina. The term of office for e ...

in 1834. He was elected in 1836 as a Whig to the

Twenty-fifth Congress The 25th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 183 ...

(March 4, 1837 - March 3, 1839), where he was chairman of the Committee on Expenditures on Public Buildings. Sawyer was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the

Twenty-sixth Congress The 26th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 183 ...

, moved to Norfolk, Virginia, and resumed the practice of law. He was editor of the Norfolk Argus for several years. He was appointed a collector of customs at Norfolk on May 16, 1853, serving until April 6, 1858. Sawyer moved to Washington, D.C. 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 ...

, he was appointed on September 17, 1861, as commissary with the rank of major in the

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

service. He served until August 2, 1862.

Personal life

As a young man, before he married, Sawyer had a relationship with an enslaved Black woman,

, who was seeking protection from her master, Dr. James Norcom of Edenton. They had two children together, Joseph and Louisa, who were enslaved at birth, according to law, which transferred the mother's status as free or enslaved to her children."Harriet Jacobs"
PBS, accessed 21 April 2009. After Jacobs went into hiding, she arranged with Sawyer to buy their children together with Harriet's brother John S. Jacobs in order to protect them from a sale to slave owners further away. In her autobiography, Jacobs relates that Sawyer promised to legally manumit their children, but failed to do so. In August 1838, Sawyer married Lavinia Peyton, with whom he had three additional daughters, Fannie Lenox, Sarah Peyton, and Laura. He moved to Washington, DC with his family when he served as a congressman. Later Harriet Jacobs escaped from North Carolina, making her way to Philadelphia and then New York. She wrote her autobiography, ''

'', and published it under a pseudonym in 1861. Sawyer features prominently in that book, pseudonymized as ''Mr. Sands''.

Later years

Moving to the North, Sawyer died in Bloomfield, New Jersey in 1865.

References

External links

*
''A True Tale of Slavery''
by John S. Jacobs. London, 1861. Republished online by ''

Documenting the American South A document is a written, drawn, presented, or memorialized representation of thought, often the manifestation of non-fictional, as well as fictional, content. The word originates from the Latin ''Documentum'', which denotes a "teaching" or ...

'' (

)
''Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Written by Herself''.
by Harriet Jacobs. Boston, 1861. Republished online by ''Documenting the American South'' (University of North Carolina) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sawyer, Samuel Tredwell Members of the North Carolina House of Representatives North Carolina state senators 1800 births 1865 deaths American slave owners People of North Carolina in the American Civil War Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from North Carolina 19th-century American politicians People from Edenton, North Carolina