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Tuesday, September 15, 2020

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 1934-36It 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!

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