Biography of William H. Sawyers - Summers Co. WV The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 602-603 WILLIAM H. SAWYERS. In the thirtieth consecutive year of his law practice at Hinton William H. Sawyers has accumulated achievements not only in his profession but in business affairs and politics, and is easily one of the most influential men in his section of the state. He was admitted to the bar at Hinton May 6, 1893, by Judges A. N. Campbell and Homer G. Holt of the Supreme Court of Appeals and Judge Frank A. Guthrie of the Kanawha Circuit. The old Norman French way of spelling the name was Sawtiers. In France they were Catholics, but became con- verted to the protestant faith through the reading of protestant literature, and they suffered exile to England. There is record of John Hacker, age seventeen, William Sawyers, age eighteen, and Robert Sheppeard, age twenty, who ran away from England and came to America in 1608 in Ye Hopewell, T. Babb was Master. These useful immigrants settled at "James Citty" in the Virginia colony, and it is from William Sawyers that the present branch of the family is descended. Sampson M. Sawyers, great-grandfather of the Hinton lawyer, served seven years in the American Army during the war for independence. He was under General Wash- ington. His half brother, William Sawyers, was a participant in the battle of Point Pleasant on the western side of the Alleghany Mountains in October, 1774. The grandfather of William H. Sawyers was Alexander Sawyers, who was a soldier in the battle of New Orleans under Jackson at the close of the War of 1812. Joseph A. Sawyers, father of the lawyer, was born in Alleghany County, Virginia, in 1840, and was a soldier in the Confederate Army in the artillery branch under Gen. George Carter. For a time he was under the command of Stonewall Jackson, and was in General Lee's army at Appomattox. He went through thirty-six major engage- ments and was once slightly wounded. He was a non-com- missioned officer. After the war and for many years he was a prosperous farmer in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, always voted for and supported the democratic ticket, and was a member of the Methodist Church. He died December 11, 1916. Joseph A. Sawyers married Cornelia V. Doss, a native of Franklin County, Virginia, and now living at the old Sawyers homestead in Greenbrier County. She was born in 1846, and all her married life has been spent in Greenbrier County. Her three sons are: William H.; Augustus, a farmer at the old homestead in Greenbrier County; and James L., a traveling salesman for Lewis Hubbard & Company of Charleston, living at Alderson. These sons finished their education in the home schools and in the Concord Normal School at Athens. William H. Sawyers graduated from the Concord Normal on July 2, 1891. Before he became a lawyer he taught seven terms of school, and at one time was principal of the Hinton High School. He completed his law course in West Virginia University at Morgantown in 1894, and he also attended the Columbian University at Washington during 1899-1900, while employed in the Department of the In- terior. He also was a student a portion of two years in the International School of Law and Diplomacy, whose Dean was Oliver W. Needham and whose staff of instructors and lecturers included Associate Justices Harlan, Brewer, Gray and John W. Poster. After his admission to the bar Mr. Sawyers began practice at Hinton, and his law business has brought him before all the courts, including the Local and Circuit Courts of his home state, and the Federal Courts of Rich- mond and Charleston. He has served a number of business interests and corporations as attorney and in other capacities, and has helped organize several banks. He has been secretary and attorney of record for three coal corpora- tions, the Piney Coal & Coke Land Company, the McCreery Central Pocahontas Coal Land Company, and the James T. McCreery Company. While a successful attorney without any financial interests in politics, Mr. Sawyers has given much of his time to public duty. He has served as mayor of Hinton, was police judge nine years, president of the Board of Education eight years, and as democratic nominee for the office of attorney general of the state in 1916 he came nearer to being elected than any democratic nominee for a number of years. He has been a delegate to every state conven- tion of his party since 1892, and was a member of the Democratic State Executive Committee for twenty-six years. Mr. Sawyers was editor of the Independent Herald of Hinton from 1895 to 1911, and individually owned the newspaper and plant from 1901 to 1911. His editorials, which were widely copies, were models of a fine literary style, and were equally accepted whether in the field of political argument or in humorous comment on affairs. In 1907 Mr. Sawyers married Josephine McCreery, daughter of J. T. McCreery. They have two children, Frederick W. and Thomas M. Mr. Sawyers is a Presbyterian, is a Lodge, Chapter and Knight Templar Mason, a member of Wheeling Consistory of the Scottish Rite, Beni-Kedem Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Charleston and is also affiliated with the Elks and Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Submitted by Valerie F. Crook **************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. 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