Person:Darius Sawyer (2)

Darius Sawyer Lee Centre Township Portraits & Biographical Record of Lee County IL" 1892, Pg 741 It is a generally conceded fact that the farmer enjoys a greater amount of personal freedom than any other man who is engaged in the busy and almost endless task of accumulating money. There is something about life in the country, where one is surrounded by nature, that seems to bring a quietness and peace found nowhere else. Our subject, who is at present a prosperous farmer of Lee Centre Township, was born in Waterbury, Vt., on 17th of April 1816. The August following, his parents left Vermont and emigrated to Ohio, settling in Clarke County, where they lived nine years. At the end of that time they moved to Licking county, where they remained for the same length of time, and in October, 1831, they left the Buckeye State and spent the following winter at Terre Haute, Ind., and in Edgar County, Ill. In the spring of the following year, the family came to this county, settling in Lee Centre Township. Mr. Sawyer came to this place with his parents when he was eighteen years old, assisting his father on the farm for the following four years, and in March, 1839, he was married in Lee Centre Township to Miss Sophronia Parker, a native of Syracuse, N.Y. She has borne her husband ten children, nine living to manhood and womanhood; Charles F. is a farmer in Russell County, Kan.; Horace P., who was a member of Company I, 46th IL Inf. died on the Red River, in Louisiana, after the close of the war, in 1865; Sarah G., who is the wife of John A Livingston; Darius M., who is a farmer in Lee Centre Township; Florence is the wife of Francis K. Livingston; Mattie, who died when about eighteen years old; Rolla F. is in the employ of the Illinois Central Railroad, in the shops at Amboy; Alice F., the wife of Samuel B. Starks, and Abi. The mother of this family passed from this life in Lee Centre Township, July 25, 1883. The father was again married October 6, 1887, to Mrs. Jane E. Tinker, who bore the maiden name of Jane E. Borge and was the widow of Edward B. Tinker. She was born in Hartford County, Conn., in the town of Windsor, May 3, 1834. The subject of this sketch learned the trade of a blacksmith, which he followed for several years in connection with farming. He now owns a handsome estate of one hundred and forty acres, with good improvements. He has held the township office of Highway Commissioner, and in his political views is a Republican, and previous to the formation of that party was an old line Whig. He is one of the leading members of the Masonic fraternity. The mother of our subject died in Lee Centre Township in 1837, and was the first of the early settlers here who died. Her husband moved to Marshall County, Ohio, and there died in 1872. This couple were the parents of eleven children, ten of whom grew to mature years. Three of the sons were in the late war; Joseph, who was killed outright; George W. met his death at the siege of Vicksburg, and Alonzo died in Marshall County, Iowa, during the war.

  The 1904 History of Lee County, Bardwell, p. 821, calls him an original Republican, having voted for John C. Freemont in 1856.  He was a mason since 1859.

1. ↑ Obituary - AMBOY NEWS, Amboy, Ill, 20 January 1905
   DARIUS SAWYER PASSED AWAY SUNDAY EVENING
   When Darius Sawyer died, at his home on Jefferson Ave., in this city, on Sunday last, it probably meant the passing away of Lee County's earliest settler.
   He was born in Waterbury, Vermont, April 17, 1816, and at the time of his death lacked but two months of being eighty-nine years of age.
   When a babe his parents moved to Ohio, where his boyhood years were spent, and in the spring of 1835 the family moved further west settling in Lee Center, where they arrived on the 17th day of March. Here, two years later, the mother of the family died at the age of forty-five years and was the first woman to be buried in the Lee Center Cemetery.
   Mr. Sawyer was married to Miss Sophronia Parker, and to this union ten children were born, two of whom died in early life, one died in the army and the remaining seven survive, but are so far scattered, that only two of them were able to be present at the funeral. Mrs. Sawyer died in July 1883.
   Mr. Sawyer's early home, like that of many others in Lee County, was a log cabin, with dirt floor, and blankets for doors and windows. Most of the neighbors were Indians, but white settlers continued to come, the village grew, a post-office was established by President Jackson. It then took twenty-five cents to bring a letter from Pennsylvania, and as quarters were sometimes very hard to procure, mail frequently remained a long time in the office. Mr. Sawyer saw the Indian tepee torn away and its place taken by the palatial farm residence. He saw the swamps, that were the home of innumberable wild fowl turned into some of the richest farm land in the state.
   He saw the cradle and flail thrown aside to give place to the self binder and threshing machine. He saw the ox team disappear before the railroad train. Indeed the changes in his nearly seventy years of life in Lee County would be hard to state.
   A few years ago he purchased a residence on Jefferson Ave., and moved from Lee Center. Until a few weeks ago he was hearty and active but when taken down with illness it was soon seen that he could not long survive.
   The funeral services were held in the Methodist church of this city, being conducted by Reverend N. R. Hinds, the interment taking place in Lee Center cemetery, and being in charge of the Lee Center lodge of Freemasons of which the deceased had long been a prominent member.
   
   Cemetery also known as Woodside Cemetery, Lee Center Township - Sec 7, on Green Wing Rd off Inlet Rd. Buried with Darius and his wife, Sophronia are Isabella and a Jennie.
2. ↑ Company Muster-In Roll. Des Moines, IO. Info: born, Illnois, age 27 years, occupation, farmer, when enlisted, Aug. 11, 1862, where, Marshalltown, IO, for what period, 3 years, eyes, hazel, hair dark, complextion, dark, height 5 ft. 8 in. Bounty paid $25, permium paid $2.00