Thomas and Mina were both born and raised in Bastrop County, Texas, where they married on 5 December 1888. Their oldest son, Thomas Green Sayers Jr. (13 May 1890 - 26 November 1973) was born in Austin, apparently while his father worked in the state comptroller's office, but the next two sons, Albert Fawcett Sayers (27 December 1892 - 25 October 1972) and Joseph David Sayers (24 August 1894 - 1 July 1938), were both born in Smithville, in Bastrop County.
Around 1898, the family moved to Houston. Thomas Sr. was a traveling auditor with the Southern Pacific Railroad for five years (around 1899-1903). The family did live in Jacksonville, Texas, in 1904, where son Ralph Segar Sayers (23 September 1904 - 31 January 1994) was born. Thomas Sr. served as an agent for the Texas and New Orleans Railroad (itself a part of Southern Pacific) and suffered a terrible fall while living there that it was thought he would not survive.
Above: McFarland, J. E. Cherokee County Banner. (Jacksonville, Tex.), Vol. 18, No. 9, Ed. 1 Friday, September 9, 1904, newspaper, September 9, 1904; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth507916/m1/5/?q=%22southern+pacific%22+%22+t+g+sayers%22: accessed August 3, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Jacksonville Public Library.
Below: The Houston Post. (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 25, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 3, 1910, newspaper, February 3, 1910; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth604650/m1/7/?q=sayers: accessed August 3, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.
Thomas Sayers Sr. went on to work as an auditor for the Kirby Lumber company in Houston when he died after a two-week bout with gastritis (according to the mortuary report, below), at age 44. His five surviving sons then ranged in age from 5 to 19. His tombstone, oddly, is incorrect about his year of death, and likely also wrong about the year of birth.
Above: The Houston Post. (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 25, Ed. 1 Sunday, February 6, 1910, newspaper, February 6, 1910; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth606131/m1/54/?q=sayers: accessed August 3, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.
The Sayers plot (name in tiles above) in the Washington Cemetery also includes markers for three children of Thomas Sr. and Mina who died as children. Jess A. Sayers (below) was born in 1897 and 1899. It's not clear if s/he was a boy or girl, but my guess would be a girl, as she had an aunt (subject of a future post) named Jessie Alison. On the 1900 Census, Mina is shown as having given birth to five children, with four surviving.
There were also two sons who died in their youth. John F. Sayers (above) was born in July 1896, according to the 1900 Census, which also shows him to be two years old (so 1897 may be correct). The census was taken on June 6 of that year, so he must have died after that. Sam S. Sayers (below) was born in 1906 and died in 1907. The 1910 Census shows Mina as having given birth to eight children with five surviving, so all of the children are accounted for.
An article in the February 16, 1900 El Paso Daily Times, written when Thomas Sr. was in that city on railroad auditing business, noted that "T G Sayers is a brother of Governor Sayers, but declares he is one member of the family that is out of politics altogether. Yet Auditor Sayers' friends say he can nurse a political boom with as much skill and discretion as any old political wheel horse in the state." Thomas Sr. served as chairman of the Dcmocratic Party Executive Committee for the 13th State Senatorial District in 1890, and was a candidate for district clerk in Bastrop County back in 1892.
More info on Thomas Sr.'s half-brother, Texas Governor Joseph D. Sayers, in a future post.
© Amanda Pape - 2020 - e-mail me!
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