Oliver Sawyer
Oliver Sawyer, farmer, P. O. Kent, was born in Jaffrey, Cheshire Co., N. H., April 21, 1804; son of Uriah and Sally (Spafford) Sawyer, natives of Massachusetts, who settled in Brimfield Township, this county, in 1817, locating on Lot 20, part of the farm now owned and occupied by our subject, where they lived and died. The paternal grandfather of our subject was William Sawyer of Berlin, Mass., who had seven children: Amos [born March 17, 1769], Oliver [born April 17, 1773 or 1774], Asa [born August 2, 1775], Uriah [born May 24, 1778], Nabby, Polly and Hannah [baptized October 14, 1781], all now deceased. He (Grandfather Sawyer) and two brothers settled about 1740, on an elevated piece of land in Berlin, Mass., which has always gone by the name of "Sawyer's Hill." These three brothers lived and died there, and raised large families. Oliver Sawyer visited the spot in 1857, and found the local school was attended by about sixty scholars, over forty of whom were named Sawyer. Our subject's maternal grandfather was Job Spafford, also of Berlin, Mass. Uriah Sawyer had ten children, of whom eight grew to maturity: Oliver, Henry (deceased). Lockhart (deceased), Uriah (deceased), William B. (deceased), Benjamin F. (deceased), Sally (Mrs. John Walker) and Hannah. Our subject has always lived within half a mile of the old homestead, having when twenty-three years of age purchased the farm three- fourths of a mile south of his present residence, where he lived for over forty years. He has been twice married, on first occasion November 29, 1827, to Sophia, daughter of Asa and Eunice Sawyer, by whom he had four children; Luke (deceased), George L. (deceased), George L. (second) and Jane A. (deceased). Augiast 16, 1862, he married his second wife, Martha L. (Russell) Furry. Mr. Sawyer came back to the old homestead in 1862, where he has since resided with his only surviving child, George L., who is married to Mary J., daughter of Henry C. Chapman and grand-daughter of Constance Chapman, who settled in Brimfield Township, this county, in 1821, and who was a soldier of the Revolution. To George L. Sawyer and his wife have been born five children: Elam (deceased), Elmer, Sumner, Dora and Sophia. Our subject is the oldest living pioneer of the township; in politics he is a Republican.
From History of Portage County, Ohio, Warner, Beers & Co., Chicago, 1885