Person:Barbara Drake (3)

Notes from Evelyn Hollen a granddaughter.
My memories of Grandma were chiefly of her working in her kitchen. She had a large kitchen with a sink and roller towel on one side, an old Sellers kitchen cabinet on the other end. On the side opposite the sink was a wood box and a big Monarch cookstove. Next to the stove was a huge square window. Here Grandma had a big wicker chair with cushions in it and this is where she sat at intervals to rest. She could look out to see the highway that was about a quarter of a mile away and she would look through the window by the sink to see towards the barns to see when the men were coming in from the fields. Back of Grandma's chair was another big square window where she could see the dining room.

Grandma never ate with the group in the dining room. After cooking for four or five hired men and her own boys, she liked to rest in her big chair. She ate by herself at the table after everyone had left.

I always felt that my Grandma was "old". She walked with a cane because of arthritis. She had beautiful gray curly hair. It was very short. I can still see her sitting on a chair at the sink. She would moisten a comb and run it through her hair that immediately sprang back into ringlets all over her head. She had a big shell comb that she pushed through the curls on the top of her head.

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Barbara came by covered wagon with her parents to Madison county, IA in 1857 at the age of three. She returned once on a visit to PA in 1864. She was a successful teacher in Madison and Adair counties for 10 years.

John Boon met Barbara Ann Drake for the first time when he went to her home to borrow a saw. He said he thought she was the prettiest thing he'd seen. She was 29 years old at the time and had been teaching school for 10 years. They bought the Dinsmore place and lived there with all of the brothers and sisters. Barbara Ann made all of their clothes. She even made a complete suit for Clifford. She wove rag rugs on a loom that had belonged to her mother, Maria Crumrine Drake. Rag carpet, woven by her, carpeted much of the floor. Straw was spread out first to give softness and then the rug was stretched and tacked down.

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Death of Mrs. John B. Sawyer
Mrs. John B. (Barbara Ann) Sawyer, who had been critically ill for several weeks at her home in the east edge of Adair county, died early last Thursday morning, November 17. She was 73 years of age, having been born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, July 28, 1851. She came to Madison county with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Drake by ox team and a covered wagon when she was but four years of age. She received her education in the Winterset schools and for ten years taught in the Madison and Adair county schools.

She was married to John B. Sawyer, July 24, 1883, who with their seven children survive her. The children are T. J., James R., John K., Mrs. Mabel Hollen, Mrs. Pearl Morris, Dr. Grace Ransom and Mrs. Ruth Givan. She also leaves sixteen grandchildren, and a brother, J. N. Drake, of Vinton.

Rev. A. R. Weed, assisted by Rev. W. J. Myers, conducted the funeral service in the Sawyer home, Saturday afternoon, November 19, and burial was made in the Winterset cemetery. Those furnishing music at the funeral were Mr. and Mrs. B. J. Hollen, Norman Hollen and Miss Lillie Roberts, with Mrs. Eldon Beaman as organist.
-Source: Winterset Madisonian, Winterset, Iowa, Nov 17, 1927

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At some point in his life, John Boon dropped the 's' on Sawyers and used Sawyer. All of his children used the surname Sawyer.

Madison Co., IA Cemetery/Death records list name as Sawyer.

It's interesting to note that on their gravestone, it is Sawyers.

Family links:
Parents:
Abraham Dennis Drake (1828 - 1908)
Maria Crumrine Drake (1828 - 1906)

Spouse:
John Boon Sawyers (1856 - 1940)*

Children:
Thomas J Sawyer (1884 - 1965)*
Mabel M Sawyer Hollen (1886 - 1976)*
Margaret Pearl Sawyer Morris (1887 - 1975)*
Grace M Sawyer Gable (1889 - 1967)*
James Russell Sawyer (1891 - 1960)*
John Kirker Glendon Sawyer (1892 - 1974)*
Rose Gladys Sawyer Givan (1895 - 1966)*

Siblings:
Barbara Ann Drake Sawyers (1854 - 1927)
Sarah Lucinda Drake (1859 - 1860)*
Wellington W. Drake (1868 - 1923)*
John Nelson Drake (1870 - 1929)*

*Calculated relationship

Name: Barbara Sawyer
[Barbara Drake]
Age: 70
Birth Year: abt 1855
Birth Place: Pennsylvania
Residence Date: 1 Jan 1925
Residence Place: Grand River, Adair, Iowa, USA
Race: White
Gender: Female
Relation to Head: Wife
Marital Status: Married
Spouse: John Sawyer
Father: Dennis Drake
Father Birth Place: New Jersey
Mother: Maria Crumrine
Mother Birth Place: Pennsylvania
Parents' Marriage Place: Pennsylvania
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members:
Name Age
John Sawyer 68
Barbara Sawyer 70
Tom Sawyer 40
Wilma Sawyer 7