Friday's Faces from the Past: Jessie Alison Sayers, 1859-1939

Jessie Alison Sayers (1859-1939) was the aunt of my great uncle Philip Edgar Sayers Sr. (1901-1972), and half-sister of Texas Governor Joseph Draper Sayers (1841-1929).  She is a fascinating person in her own right.

Jessie was born February 2, 1859, in Bastrop, Texas, the oldest child of Dr. David Sayers (1811-1886) and his second wife Inda Scott Sayers (1828-1877).  She attended Bastrop public schools and graduated from the Virginia Female Institute (now Stuart Hall School).

She taught in the primary department at Austin High School and at West Austin Public School from at least 1885 to at least 1890, along with her older sister Lillie (Elizabeth Scott Sayers Sayers, 1863-1918).  A June 12, 1884 article in the Austin Weekly Statesman indicates Jessie taught in Austin public schools in 1883 and 1884 as well.  In 1888, she taught grade 6 at West Austin. 

In 1892 and 1893, Jessie was back in Bastrop teaching.  In April 1894, she was too ill to read her own paper on "Language" at the Middle Texas Teachers Association meeting, in which she essentially was a early proponent of integrating reading and writing across the curriculum.

By 1897, she was back at the West Austin School.  She apparently took courses at the University of Texas in Austin in 1898 and 1900.  In 1900, she was teaching arithmetic at Austin High School. 

Jessie appears in the 1900 Census living in the Texas Governor's mansion with her half brother and his second wife, Lena Walton Sayers.  An article about the governor on page 3 of the March 3, 1900 Galveston Tribune stated:

"A pretty pink and white 'den' just across the hall from their apartments is occupied by the governor’s sister, Miss Jessie Sayers, who makes her home at the mansion. Well known as one of Austin’s most intellectual women, she holds a position of trust in the public school."

In 1903, Jessie was appointed first assistant in mathematics at the Southwest Texas Normal Institute in San Marcos.  She remained there for the next 25+ years.

Above:  Jessie Sayers' photo on page 11, 1907 Pedagogue yearbook, Southwest Texas State Normal School.

Below:  Jessie Sayers' photo on page 12, 1912 Pedagogue yearbook, Southwest Texas State Normal School.

Jessie appears to have been a rather popular instructor.  In the 1906 yearbook, she is listed as an honorary member of the Gypsies girls basketball team.  In 1917, she served on the advisory board of the campus YWCA.  She also wrote the original words to the school song, the Alma Mater.  The November 11, 1911 issue of The Normal Star, the school newspaper, had this quote on page 3:  

"Some teachers can teach nine subjects very well, but when it comes to explaining 'Mathematics Miss Jessie Sayers has other teachers skinned a country block. A Freshman."

The General Register of the Students and Former Students of the University of Texas published in 1917 lists her as a student in the College of Arts in 1911, but not earning a degree there.  On June 7, 1916, Jessie was awarded a bachelor of science degree in education from Columbia University in New York City, as well as a teacher's college diploma there as a teacher of mathematics.  The alumni directory lists her as a member of the class of 1915, though, and she apparently did some graduate work there as well.

Above:  Jessie Sayers' photo on page 13, 1914 Pedagogue yearbook, Southwest Texas State Normal School.

Below:  Jessie Sayers' photo on page 23, 1920 Pedagogue yearbook, Southwest Texas State Normal School.

It's not clear when Jessie retired.  One source says 1933, another says 1937.  She is last mentioned as faculty in the 1928 yearbook (the year she turned age 69), but is still mentioned in The Normal Star as involved in college-related activities through 1934.  A girls dormitory, built in 1936, was named for her.

Jessie died at age 80 on March 25, 1939, at 326 West Hopkins in San Marcos (which still stands and is an inn), the same house she'd been boarding in since at least the 1920 Census (although numbered 338 then).  She is buried in the Dr. David Sayers family plot in Section E(B) at Fairview Cemetery in Bastrop.

Above:  Jessie's death certificate, from "Texas Deaths, 1890-1976," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GB9F-S4ZV?cc=1983324&wc=9THK-L23%3A263835801%2C268207301%2C268210101 : 22 July 2014), Death certificates > 1939 > Vol 028, certificates 013501-014000, Mar, Harris-Jefferson counties > image 136 of 554; State Registrar Office, Austin.

Below:  Sayers Hall in the 1945 Pedagog yearbook of Southwest Texas State Teachers College.

Above:  Sayers Hall on page 18, 1954 Pedagog yearbook, Southwest Texas State Teachers College.

Below:  The new Sayers Hall (on the left) opened in 2014.

The original Sayers Hall, which cost $125,000 to build, was demolished in 1975 to make way for the Education Building.  A new Sayers Hall opened in the Fall of 2014.

"The First Seventeen: The Story of the 1903 Faculty," on pages 29-30 of Fifty Years of Teacher Education, 1901-1951:  The Story of Southwest Texas State Teachers College, had this to say about Jessie Alison Sayers:

"None of her students will forget Miss Jessie A. Sayers, witty, keen, alert, exhibiting a thoroughness in scholarship and expecting in return perfect recitations."


© Amanda Pape - 2020 - e-mail me!

Tombstone Tuesday: Sayers Siblings

The David Sayers plot in Section E(B) at the Fairview Cemetery in Bastrop (photo above courtesy Gerry Beathard) has the graves for two more of the children of David and Inda Scott Sayers.  One of those children is the youngest, Sam Scott Sayers (1867-1935, photo below courtesy Gerry Beathard).  Sam served in the Texas General Land Office (GLO) in Austin from 1900 through 1935, and as its Chief Clerk from September 12, 1929 until his death.  Prior to his work with GLO, he was deputy county clerk in Bastrop County.

Below is a tribute to Sam Scott Sayers printed in the Report of the Commissioner

of the General Land Office 1934-36.  It notes that in his first 28 years as an abstract clerk, he compiled 28 volumes of "Abstracts of Texas Land Titles," which are the base for the GLO's land grant database today.

Below is Sam's death certificate.

"Texas Deaths, 1890-1976," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9B9H-SRHJ?cc=1983324&wc=9TH6-L29%3A263835801%2C267974101%2C268026101 : 22 July 2014), Death certificates > 1935 > Vol 062, certificates 030501-031000, Jun, Taylor-Wichita counties > image 174 of 527; State Registrar Office, Austin.

Buried next to Sam is his wife, Nora Buchanan "Dot" McLavy, 1877-1901.  Sadly she died less than two years after their marriage (on February 27, 1900, in Bastrop County).  They had no children and Sam never remarried.  He moved to Austin shortly after her death.  (Photo courtesy Gerry Beathard and used with his permission.)

Finally, on the other side of Sam is his sister (who outlived all her siblings), Jessie Alison Sayers (1859-1939), who never married nor had children.  More on this interesting woman in a future post.  (Photo courtesy Gerry Beathard and used with his permission.)

The plot map below shows where Sam, Dot, and Jessie are buried in the David Sayers fenced area, marked by the green box.  Their half-brother, Governor Joseph D. Sayers, and those in his fenced area (marked in purple below) were discussed in a previous post.




Two of the children of Dr. David Sayers and second wife Inda Scott Sayers are not buried in this plot.  One is son Thomas Green Sayers, buried in Houston and discussed in an earlier post.  The other is daughter Elizabeth ("Lizzie" or "Lilly") Scott Sayers Sayers, 1863-1918.  She attended the Colorado Institute in Bastrop, earning a certificate of proficiency in mathematics in 1879, and taught there in 1883.  She attended the Sam Houston Normal Institute (teacher training) in Huntsville in 1882 and 1886.  She taught in the primary department at Austin High School and at West Austin Public School from 1884 to 1890, along with her older sister Jessie.  In 1888, she taught grade 5 at West Austin. 

On October 20, 1890, in Bastrop County, Texas, she married her first cousin, widower Nicholas Albert Sayers (1845-1912) of Wythe County, Virginia.  However, in the 1900 and 1910 censuses, they are in Pulaski, Virginia.  After Nicholas' death in 1912, Lizzie apparently moved back to Texas and in with her sister Jessie in San Marcos.  She died there in 1918, but is buried next to her husband in the Oakwood Cemetery in Pulaski.  They had no children.  Here are their grave markers:

photos above and below courtesy Cindy Akers at FindAGrave.

Here is Lizzie's death certificate:

"Texas Deaths, 1890-1976," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9B9C-SV29?cc=1983324&wc=9THV-SP6%3A263835801%2C265476901%2C265538501 : 22 July 2014), Death certificates > 1918 > Vol 053-059, certificates 026285-029350, Jun-Jul, San Augustine-McLennan counties > image 2781 of 3385; State Registrar Office, Austin.

© Amanda Pape - 2020 - e-mail me!

Sibling Saturday: Happy 90th Birthday to My Aunt!

Jo Ann Guokas, either as an eighth grader, freshman, or sophomore 

at Incarnate Word Academy, Houston, Texas, 1944-1945-1946

© Amanda Pape - 2020 - e-mail me!

Those Places Thursday: Governor Sayers House, Bastrop, Texas

The original part of this house was the home of Joseph Draper Sayers from 1868 to 1899.  The  Governor Sayers' House is at 1703 Wilson in Bastrop, Texas.

Above:  Texas Historical Commission. [Gov Joseph Sayers House, (W Elevation)], photograph, April 1, 1977; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth935843/m1/1/: accessed September 9, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Commission. From the Texas Historical Commission National Register Slide Collection.

A Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) report completed in 1936 says:

"The original house consisted of four rooms, a hall and two porches. At an unknown later date an addition consisting of Kitchen, Bath, and Service Porch
was added to the rear of the house. This addition was made by moving two outbuildings and connecting them to the house; these were probably not original outbuildings because they have no architectural value. The rear porch was also enclosed, to form another bedroom. The other outbuildings and the fences have been remodeled, added, and moved and have no architectural value.

The house stands on the original site and was built in 1868. It is not believed that an architect's services were used in the building of the house, and the builder's
name is unknown. A Captain Knowles felled and stripped the walnut used in the house, and he might have been the builder."

This report also notes that Sayers owned the house until November 15, 1899 (during his first term as governor).  Captain Knowles was probably William Wadsworth Knowles, who was in the area from at least 1855 to at least 1883.

A 1975 HABS supplement describes the house as "Wooden frame with clapboarding, 50'4" (three-bay front) x 50'6"...low gabled roof...Center hall plan with rear ell."  The house was nearly twelve feet tall from floors to ceilings.

Note that all the references to the address in the 1934 photographs and plans below are wrong; the actual address is 1703 Wilson Street.

Below are two views of the front of the house, as viewed from the west, from 1934 and from 1969.

Above:  Historic American Buildings Survey, L.C. Page Jr., Photographer, March 20, 1934, WEST ELEVATION (FRONT). - Governor Joseph D. Sayers House, 1903 [sic] Wilson Street, Bastrop, Bastrop County, TX. Photo from Survey HABS TX-33-C-5. From Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (HABS TEX,11-BAST,1-3; https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.tx0150.photos/?sp=3 accessed September 9, 2020).  Public domain. No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government.

Below:  Texas Historical Commission. [Governor Sayers House, (Front elevation)], photograph, December 1, 1969; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth672154/m1/1/: accessed September 9, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Commission.  From the Texas Historical Commission National Register Slide Collection.

According to an April 1975 data sheet within the Texas Historical Marker application (page 5), the hall was removed in 1937 (combining the front parlor and entry hall into a single larger room), and a utility room and bathroom were added in 1968.  Roof materials were cypress shingles originally; composition now.  "All materials for the house came from within Bastrop County. The walnut from Walnut Creek and the pine from the Lost Pines Belt."

The house has "Brick piers 10" x 10", 3 [actually 4] walnut fireplaces and 3 brick chimneys. Walnut ceilings random width unpainted in living, dining room and S. W. bedroom. Front doors handmade walnut. Hand hewn pine beams under floors. Wainscot of hand pressed pine painted cream in living, dining room and S. W. bedroom."

Below are two views of the front oblique of the house, as viewed from the southwest, from 1934 and 1969.

Above:  Historic American Buildings Survey, L.C. Page Jr., Photographer, March 13, 1934, VIEW FROM SOUTHWEST. - Governor Joseph D. Sayers House, 1903 [sic] Wilson Street, Bastrop, Bastrop County, TX.  Photo from Survey HABS TX-33-C-5. From Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (HABS TEX,11-BAST,1-2; https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.tx0150.photos/?sp=2 accessed September 9, 2020).  Public domain. No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government.

Below:  Texas Historical Commission. [Governor Sayers House, (Front oblique)], photograph, December 1, 1969; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth676306/m1/1/: accessed September 9, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Commission. From the Texas Historical Commission National Register Slide Collection.

The National Register Nomination File (for December 1978, as part of the Bastrop Historic and Architectural Multiple Resource Area) describes the house as a "1-story simple Greek Revival residence with pedimented portico on 4 square columns, cornice with returns at sides, corner pilasters, central paneled walnut doors with 3-light [pane] sidelights and 8-light [pane] transom."

Many of these details can be seen in the two photographs that follow, closeups of the front entrance, the first from 1934 and the second from 1969.  Note also the doorbell centered between the two panels of the left front door - more on that in a bit.



Above:  Historic American Buildings Survey, L.C. Page Jr., Photographer, March 20, 1934, DETAIL OF ENTRANCE (WEST ELEVATION). - Governor Joseph D. Sayers House, 1903 [sic] Wilson Street, Bastrop, Bastrop County, TX. Photo from Survey HABS TX-33-C-5. From Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (HABS TEX,11-BAST,1-4; https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.tx0150.photos/?sp=4 accessed September 9, 2020).  Public domain. No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government.

Below:  Texas Historical Commission. [Governor Sayers House, (Entrance detail)], photograph, December 1, 1969; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth672162/m1/1/: accessed September 9, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Commission.  From the Texas Historical Commission National Register Slide Collection.




It is fortunate that this house was part of the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), a program begun in 1933 to document the architectural heritage of the United States.  Technical drawings were done of the house in 1934, including a floor plan at that time.  As can be seen from the cover sheet below, the original house was an L-shape.

Above:  HABS TEX,11-BAST,1- (sheet 0 of 4) - Governor Joseph D. Sayers House, 1903 [sic] Wilson Street, Bastrop, Bastrop County, TX. Measured drawing from Survey HABS TX-33-C-5. From Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (HABS TEX,11-BAST,1-; https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.tx0150.sheet/?sp=1 accessed September 9, 2020).  Public domain. No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government.

Below:  HABS TEX,11-BAST,1- (sheet 1 of 4) - Governor Joseph D. Sayers House, 1903 [sic] Wilson Street, Bastrop, Bastrop County, TX. Measured drawing from Survey HABS TX-33-C-5. From Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (HABS TEX,11-BAST,1-; https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.tx0150.sheet/?sp=2 accessed September 9, 2020).  Public domain. No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government.

In the plan above (click on the image to make it larger), you can see the four original rooms in an L-shape - parlor with fireplace at the corner, with dining room and bedroom above with fireplaces sharing a chimney, hall in the center with its front entry porch, and a bedroom with a fireplace to the right.  The dining room has a built-in walnut china cabinet, to the left of the fireplace as you look at this plan.

As noted above in the 1982 Texas Historical Marker application, one wall of the hall was removed in 1937 to make the parlor into one larger room, and sometime before 1982, the remaining porch was glassed in.  The application also notes that the porches have random width tongue-and-groove pine floors and ceilings.

A porch ran along the inside of the L (on the back side of that), and part of that porch was walled in sometime before 1934 to create another bedroom.  The plans also show a cistern in a shed off the back side, but does not show the kitchen and bath addition at the top of the L, which also happened before 1934.  Both the cistern shed and that addition are visible in the photo below.  The addition in the photo, so obviously tacked on, may have been remodeled, as a new utility room and bath were added somewhere to the house in 1968.

Above:  Historic American Buildings Survey, L.C. Page Jr., Photographer, March 13, 1934, VIEW FROM SOUTHEAST. - Governor Joseph D. Sayers House, 1903 [sic] Wilson Street, Bastrop, Bastrop County, TX.  Photo from Survey HABS TX-33-C-5. From Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (HABS TEX,11-BAST,1-6; https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.tx0150.photos/?sp=6 accessed September 9, 2020).  Public domain. No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government.

Below:  Historic American Buildings Survey, L.C. Page Jr., Photographer, March 13, 1934, VIEW FROM NORTHWEST. - Governor Joseph D. Sayers House, 1903 [sic] Wilson Street, Bastrop, Bastrop County, TXPhoto from Survey HABS TX-33-C-5. From Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (HABS TEX,11-BAST,1-1; https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.tx0150.photos/?sp=1 accessed September 9, 2020).  Public domain. No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government.

The HABS drawings are full of wonderful little details about the house.  Note the second drawing below (sheet 3 of 4), which has a very detailed representation of the front door bell, which was still in place in 1982.

Above:  HABS TEX,11-BAST,1- (sheet 2 of 4) - Governor Joseph D. Sayers House, 1903 [sic] Wilson Street, Bastrop, Bastrop County, TX. Measured drawing from Survey HABS TX-33-C-5. From Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (HABS TEX,11-BAST,1-; https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.tx0150.sheet/?sp=3 accessed September 9, 2020).  Public domain. No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government.

Below:  Above:  HABS TEX,11-BAST,1- (sheet 3 of 4) - Governor Joseph D. Sayers House, 1903 [sic] Wilson Street, Bastrop, Bastrop County, TX. Measured drawing from Survey HABS TX-33-C-5. From Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (HABS TEX,11-BAST,1-; https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.tx0150.sheet/?sp=4 accessed September 9, 2020).  Public domain. No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government.

Below are the north and south side elevations of the house.  The north elevation photo is from 1934, matching the plans.  The south elevation photo is from 1969, and with the trees, it is hard to tell what changed in the 35-year interim.

Above:  Historic American Buildings Survey, L.C. Page Jr., Photographer March 20, 1934 NORTH ELEVATION. - Governor Joseph D. Sayers House, 1903 Wilson Street, Bastrop, Bastrop County, TX.  Photo from Survey HABS TX-33-C-5. From Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (HABS TEX,11-BAST,1-5; https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.tx0150.photos/?sp=5 accessed September 9, 2020).  Public domain. No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government.

Below:  Texas Historical Commission. [Governor Sayers House, (Side elevation)], photograph, December 1, 1969; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth672707/m1/1/: accessed September 9, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Commission.  From the Texas Historical Commission National Register Slide Collection.  This is the south elevation.

Various sources say Joseph had the house built for his first wife, Ada Walton, who he married in 1868.  According to a March 13, 1886 article in the Bastrop Advertiser, "Rumour has it on Joseph and Ada's wedding night, the young bride took her diamond engagement ring and carved her name on the window ledge of the master bedroom."

Above:  HABS TEX,11-BAST,1- (sheet 4 of 4) - Governor Joseph D. Sayers House, 1903 [sic] Wilson Street, Bastrop, Bastrop County, TX. Measured drawing from Survey HABS TX-33-C-5. From Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (HABS TEX,11-BAST,1-; https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.tx0150.sheet/?sp=5 accessed September 9, 2020).  Public domain. No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government.

Below:  Klein, Stan & Yancey, Michael D. [Governor Sayers House, (West elevation)], photograph, December 21, 1976; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth676447/m1/1/: accessed September 9, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Commission.  From the Texas Historical Commission National Register Slide Collection.

The wrought-iron fence in front of the house dates back to at least 1940, and was visible in a May 2011 Google Map Street View.

Below is a segment of an 1887 "bird's-eye view" of Bastrop - click on it for a larger view.  The Governor Sayers' House is towards the left at 1703 Wilson.  This drawing indicates that the kitchen/bath/service port addition on the rear of the house might have been there by 1887, as well as the cistern shed.  Tax records indicate this house was (and is) located on Farm Lot 3, while his father Dr. David Sayers' home, at 1307 Church, on the right-hand side of the intersection of Diagonal (now Church) Street and an unnamed street (now Buttonwood) was and is on Farm Lot 1.

Above: Augustus Koch (1840–?). Bird’s Eye View of Bastrop Bastrop County Texas 1887, 1887. Lithograph, 16.6 x 22.9 in.   Lithographer unknown. Bastrop County Historical Society.  From  http://www.birdseyeviews.org/zoom.php?city=Bastrop&year=1887&extra_info= and https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_map-Bastrop-1887.jpg

© Amanda Pape - 2020 - e-mail me!

Tombstone Tuesday: Texas Governor Joseph Draper Sayers, and His Brother

The most famous ancestor of my great uncle Philip Edgar Sayers Sr. is his (half-) uncle, Joseph Draper Sayers (1841-1929).  The photo above was provided by Hodson Sayers.

In his illustrious career, Joseph was Governor of Texas (1899-1903), a United States congressman (1885-99), Lieutenant Governor (1879-81), chairman of the Democratic state executive committee (1875-8), and a Texas state senator for then-District 26, representing Bastrop and Fayette counties (1873). 

After his service as governor, Joseph was chairman of the state Industrial Accident Board (now the Texas Workers' Compensation Commission) 1913-5, a regent of the University of Texas in Austin in 1916, a member of the Board of Legal Examiners 1922-6, and a member of the Board of Pardon Advisors from 1927 until his death on May 15, 1929.

Joseph was born born at Grenada, Mississippi, on September 23, 1841. the first child of Dr. David Sayers (1811-1886) and his first wife Mary Thomas Peete Sayers (1821-1847).  After moving to Bastrop with his father and younger brother William in December 1851, Joseph attended the nearby Bastrop Military Institute, and was its first graduate.  He joined the Confederate Army in 1861, reaching the rank of major in 1864 and serving on the staff of General Thomas Green (for whom his father named his first post-war son, Philip Sayers Sr.'s father, Thomas Green Sayers, 1865-1910).

After the war, Joseph studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1866.  He partnered with George Washington (Wash) Jones in Bastrop for ten years.  He was also an active Mason, serving as Grand Master of Masons in Texas June 1875 to June 1876.

Above:  Joseph Draper Sayers in July 1862.  Warner, Harry T. Texans and their state; a newspaper reference work, book, 1918; Houston. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth41332/m1/15/?q=Sayers: accessed September 7, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Amon Carter Museum.

Below:  an undated carte de vista of Joseph D. Sayers as a young man in Bastrop, Texas, probably between 1865 and 1873.   Part of the Prints and Photographs Collection of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission; public domain.  Cropped and enlarged here.

Above:  J. D. Sayers in 1892, during his service in the US House of Representatives.  From Daniell, Lewis E. Personnel of the Texas State Government: With Sketches of Representative Men of Texas. Maverick Printing House, San Antonion, Texas, 1892, after page 180.  Same photo used in Murlin, Edgar Lewis. An Illustrated Congressional manual; the United States Red Book. Albany, J. B. Lyon, 1896, illustration after page 224.  Public domain, also found here.

Below:  The Governor Sayers plot at Fairview Cemetery, Bastrop, Texas, about June 2012.  Photo by and used with permission of Gerry Beathard. 

Governor Sayers is buried between his two wives, Ada Walton Sayers (1846-1871), who died three years after their marriage in 1868, and her sister, Orline "Lena" Walton Sayers (1851-1943), who he married in 1879.  Both marriages were childless.  Others buried in the fenced-in plot include the Walton sisters' mother, Maria L. Acee Walton (1825-1886) and their brother James F. Walton (1844-1884).

Above:  Tombstone of Joseph D. Sayers in Section E(B) in the historic Fairview Cemetery, Bastrop, Texas.

Below:  Texas historical marker on the gravesite.  Both photos by Curtis D. Craig of FindAGrave.

Above:  Former Texas Governor Joseph Draper Sayers (1841-1929) in 1920. Part of the Prints and Photographs Collection of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission; public domain.

Below:  Orline "Lena" Walton (Mrs. Joseph Draper) Sayers (1851-1943) in 1895. From Hinman, Ida. The Washington Sketch Book, Hartman & Cadick, Printers, 1895: Washington (D.C.), page 18-19. Public Domain, Also at https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61698079

Below are photos of Joseph and his younger full brother William Branch Sayers, who also served in the 13th State Legislature, as a House member representing the then-27th District (Gonzales, Caldwell, and Guadalupe counties).

Above:  Joseph Draper Sayers, representing the 26th Texas Senatorial District, and

Below:  William Branch Sayers, representing the 40th Texas House District.

Both as pictured in the Pictorial Monogram of the State Government of Texas 1873 (DeGolyer Library, SMU, Lawrence T. Jones III Collection), also on display on the ground floor elevator vestibule, east wall, of the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas.

William was also in the Texas House for the 14th Legislature, January 1874 to April 1876, when Hays County was also part of his district.  William was born February 22, 1843, in Canton, Mississippi, the second child of Dr. David Sayers and the last for his mother Mary Thomas Peete Sayers.  Like his brother, William attended the Bastrop Military Institute, served in the Confederate Army (in Terry's Texas Rangers), also attained the rank of major, and studied law after the Civil War.

William settled in Gonzales, and opened the banking firm Miller & Sayers with his law partner James Francis Miller in 1868.   He married Adele Lockhart in 1874.  They had two sons, James Draper Sayers Jr. (1875-1930), who attended the US Naval Academy and was married but childless, and William Branch Sayers Jr. (1876-1919), who had two sons who never married nor had children.  One of those sons likely left the following four photos found in an estate sale.

William Branch Sayers died on February 24, 1898, and is buried in the Masonic Cemetery in Gonzales, Texas, along with his wife, their two sons, and their sons' wives.

Above:  William Branch Sayers (1843-1898), taken at the studios of William H. Curtis in San Antonio, Texas, between 1892 and 1898.

Below:  Adele Lockart (Mrs. William Branch) Sayers (1853-1913), taken at the Clarence Curtis Deane studio at 306 Preston in Houston, Texas, between 1884 and 1888.  Her maternal uncles were Francis Richard Lubbock, Governor of Texas, 1861-63, and Thomas Saltus Lubbock, for whom the Texas city and county were named. 

Above:  William Branch Sayers Jr. (1876-1919), while attending the Virginia Military Institute in Lexingon, Virginia.  He was a member of the Class of 1898 (although he did not graduate) and was manager of the gymnastics team there in 1896-97.

Below:  Henrietta "Etta" Reaves (Mrs. William B. Jr.) Sayers (1885-1968), in a photo taken at the Isaac Newton Rothwell studio at 107 W. Commerce Street in San Antonio, Texas, around 1896-1901.

Governor Sayers had a dormitory (pictured below) at Texas State College for Women (now Texas Woman's University) named for him, as he signed into law the legislation creating the college.  The three-story fireproof brick building with 92 rooms serving 202 students, opened in September 1928 and was demolished in 1982.  A family housing apartment building in the Lowry Woods student housing complex that opened in August 2005 is named Sayers Hall.

TSCW Sayers Hall, photograph, Date Unknown [but between 1928 and 1982]; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth21633/: accessed September 6, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Denton Public Library.

© Amanda Pape - 2020 - e-mail me!