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!

Those Places Thursday: Dr. David Sayers' Home in Bastrop, Texas

Above:  [R. L. Perkins Home Photograph #1], photograph, December 25, 1962; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth480175/m1/1/: accessed August 30, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Commission.

This house - or a part of it - was the home of Dr. David Sayers shortly after he came to Bastrop, Texas, in December 1851.  The Hall-Sayers-Perkins house at 1307 Church was originally a single story "dogtrot" - two rooms separated by an open breezeway hallway in the middle.  In 1961, evidence of wide fireplaces at the ends of each room were uncovered in the foundation, according to the historical marker application and a 1976 newspaper article.  This part of the house may date back to 1830, according to another newspaper article in 1992, and might be associated with early settlers John Jackson Tumlinson Jr. (an early Texas Ranger and Texas Revolution soldier), and Elisha Marshall Pease (an official in the Texas Republic, later a legislator and the 5th and 13th Governor of Texas), who apparently arrived in Bastrop in 1835. 

Tax records showed that Pease owned the property at least 1847-49, followed by John D. Hogan in 1850-58.  Constant K. Hall (buried in the fenced-in area at Fairview Cemetery with David Sayers) was also paying taxes on the property beginning in 1852 and continuing through 1866.

In 1851, two rooms were added with an L-shaped gallery, and it evolved into the Greek Revival style, with a front door with a transom and sidelights.  The work was done by N. B. (Napoleon Bonaparte) Tanner for Hall, who paid him $1400 in full on January 3, 1852.  This was about the time Dr. David Sayers moved into it, apparently renting the home at first and then purchasing it at a sheriff's sale around 1870.  The flooring is apparently hand-pegged and grooved heart of pine with homemade nails.

Below is a segment of an 1887 "bird's-eye view" of Bastrop.  The house is on the right-hand side of the intersection of Diagonal (now Church) Street and an unnamed street (now Buttonwood).  Diagonally across the intersection was the Bastrop Academy (established January 1852, and marked with a 2 below it on the map), which in 1856 became the Bastrop Military Institute, where Dr. Sayers sent his oldest sons (from his first marriage), Joseph (its first graduate) and William.  The Institute closed during the Civil War, but reopened in 1867 as the Texas Military Institute.  In 1869-70, Dr. Sayers served as its surgeon, but the school was moved to Austin in June 1870 and operated there until 1879.

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

Just two-tenths of a mile south, near the corner of Church and Spring streets, is the Calvary Episcopal Church, where David Sayers was a vestryman, and he and wife Inda provided one of the stained glass windows.  One block east and one block south from there, another two-tenths of a mile, at 1003 Main, was Dr. Sayers' medical office.

Tax records show Dr. Sayers lived here until his death in 1886, and his widow Inda in 1887, the year of her death.  The same tax records show their youngest child, Sam Scott Sayers was assessed for the property taxes 1894-6 and 1901 (records for 1888-1893, 1897-1900, and 1902-on are not available online).

Dr. Nathaniel Green Fowler, a dentist, bought the house in 1906.  In 1910, a second story was added and the house was given a Victorian look.  Major Robert L. Perkins Jr. and his wife Catrine bought the house in 1959, and applied for a historical marker in 1964.  It was added to the list of Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks in 1965.  The house is also on the National Register as of December 1978 as part of the Bastrop Historic and Architectural Multiple Resource Area.  Today the house can be rented for guest stays (click that link for interior views).

All of the black-and-white photographs in this post were taken December 1, 1969, and are part of the Texas Historical Commission's Historic Resources Survey Collection.  Check the captions for the dates on the color photographs.

Above:  Texas Historical Commission. [Sayers-Perkins House, (Front elevation)], photograph, December 1, 1969; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth675102/m1/1/: accessed August 30, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Commission.

Below:  Texas Historical Commission. [Sayers-Perkins House, (Front elevation)], photograph, December 1, 1969; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth676476/m1/1/: accessed August 30, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Commission.

Above:  The Hall-Sayers-Perkins House in Bastrop, Texas [22 May 2014] / 25or6to4 / CC BY-SA 3.0

Below:  Texas Historical Commission. [Sayers-Perkins House, (Front elevation)], photograph, December 1, 1969; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth674636/m1/1/: accessed August 30, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Commission.

The view above is from the corner of Church and Buttonwood streets, looking southeast, and shows parts of the house added in 1851 (lower level) and 1910 (upper level, entire house).

The view below is looking northeast at the property from the front of the house next door, just south of it.  Note the bay window on the first floor - this was eventually removed (definitely by May 2014, when the color photo further above was taken) and the fireplace originally in this location was restored.

Above:  Texas Historical Commission. [Sayers-Perkins House, (Front oblique)], photograph, December 1, 1969; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth673237/m1/1/: accessed August 30, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Commission.

Below:  Texas Historical Commission. [Sayers-Perkins House, (Side elevation)], photograph, December 1, 1969; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth675287/m1/1/: accessed August 30, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Commission.

© Amanda Pape - 2020 - e-mail me!

Tombstone Tuesday: Dr. David Sayers Family Plot, Fairview Cemetery, Bastrop, Texas

The grandparents and some of the siblings of my great uncle Philip Edgar Sayers Sr. are buried in the historic Fairview Cemetery in Bastrop, Texas, in Section E(B).

Philip's grandfather was Dr. David Scott, 1811-1886, a physician born May 27, 1811, at Reed Island Creek in Wythe County, Virginia.  He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania medical school on March 26, 1835.  Late in 1840, he moved to Grenada, Mississippi, and married Mary Thomas Peete (1821-1847).  They had two sons, Joseph Draper Sayers (1841-1929) and William Branch Sayers (1843-1898) - more on them in future posts.

According to a source published in 1899, David and his two sons moved to Bastrop County, Texas, in December 1851, where he continued his practice of medicine.

Above:  Illustration of Dr. David Sayers, 21 January 1899, for the inauguration of his son Joseph Draper Sayers as Governor of Texas.  Cain, Thomas C. The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 46, No. 46, Ed. 1 Saturday, January 21, 1899, newspaper, January 21, 1899; Bastrop, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth205431/m1/6/: accessed August 26, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Bastrop Public Library.

Below:  Obituary for Dr. David Sayers, July 10, 1886. Cain, Thomas C. The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 29, No. 27, Ed. 1 Saturday, July 10, 1886, newspaper, July 10, 1886; Bastrop, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth204952/m1/2/: accessed August 26, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Bastrop Public Library.

Here is his grave marker at Fairview Cemetery - this photo is courtesy Gail Davis from FindAGrave.  The flag in the background is in the plot for his son, Texas Governor Joseph Draper Sayers.

Detail from Dr. Sayers' monument - this and all following cemetery and grave marker photos are by Gerry Beathard from FindAGrave and are used with his permission.

This side (pictured above) reads,

"In memory of Dr. David Sayers, born May 27, 1811 Died July 2, 1886

The afflicted poor never appealed to him. in vain."

The symbol above appears to be the keystone emblem signifying a Mark Master Mason.

This side (pictured above) includes the classic compass symbol of Freemasonry and the words, "His desires were regulated and his passions kept within due bounds with all mankind."  This is a Masonic teaching associated with the compass symbol.

This side (pictured above) has the words, "His conduct was in harmony with the principles of morality and virtue," and the Masonic square at the top, which symbolizes morality.

The final side (pictured above) has the words, "His life exemplified truth, and adorned humanity and his death illustrated the Christian's faith," and what I think is the Masonic 24-inch gauge symbol at the top.


Below is a picture of the David Sayers plot in the Bastrop Fairview Cemetery.  As you can see, there are a number of other graves within the gated, fenced-in area.




The cemetery is now operated by the City of Bastrop, which sent me a guide to the graves in this area of Section E(B) (pictured below, click on the image to make it larger).  The fence for the David Sayers plot is represented by the green box below.  The purple box outlines the fenced area of the Joseph Draper Sayers plot, which I'll discuss in a future post.

Dr. David Sayers' second wife. Indiana "Inda" Scott Sayers, 1828-1877, is buried next to him.  They married on February 8, 1854, in Bastrop County. and had four children who survived into adulthood:  Jessie Alison Sayers (1859–1939), Elizabeth ("Lizzie" or "Lilly") Scott Sayers Sayers (1863–1918; yes, she married a Sayers), Thomas Green Sayers (1865-1910, Phil Sayers' father), and Sam Scott Sayers (1867–1935).  More about Jessie, Elizabeth, and Sam in future posts.




Here is Inda's obituary:

Austin Weekly Statesman. (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 16, No. 27, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 26, 1887, newspaper, May 26, 1887; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth278075/m1/5/?q=sayers: accessed August 26, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.

On the other side of Dr. David Sayers' obelisk are four markers for four Sayers children who died young.  David Sayers, 1861-1865, was likely the doctor's and Inda's firstborn son.

Family stories said Thomas Green Sayers had a twin sister - that must have been Kate, also born in 1865:

It's not clear who the next two Mary Sayers belonged to.  Dr. David Sayers' first wife Mary died in 1847, and he did not marry Inda until 1854.  Perhaps he had another wife between Mary and Inda, with two daughters by her?  Or perhaps these are the children of some other unknown Sayers who came to Texas.

The other graves within the fence include David's and Inda's children Jessie Alison Sayers and Sam Scott Sayers, Sam's wife Dot McLavy Sayers (more on these three in future posts), Inda's sisters Mary Elizabeth Scott (1826-1880) and Martha Scott Fourshee, as well as three apparently unrelated persons:  stagecoach operator Constant K. Hall (1818-1873), his daughter Kate K. Hall (1845-1863), and his father-in-law James Leverich Hedenberg (1790-1862).  There's an empty spot next to Kate that could have the unmarked remains of her mother, Constant's wife, and James's daughter Margaret Matilda Hedenberg Hall (c.1816-26 Feb 1895).  And Dr. Sayers may have purchased his home from Constant (C. K.) Hall.

© Amanda Pape - 2020 - e-mail me!