The Hissem-Montague Family

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This next part of the family, heirs of William Heysham of Philadelphia, is famous for the 19th century industrialist, Robert Heysham Sayre, the founder and manager of Bethlehem Steel Company, a marriage in the White House, a connection with Alger Hiss, and the Dean of the National Cathedral. It ranks amongst those family's who count themselves as the aristocracy of America. It need not be said that any relationship my family may have to them is a distant one.

Ann is the matriarch of this line. She was the second daughter of Captain William Heysham born with this name, the first dying at the age of 20 months. The second Ann was born on 25 January 1765 in Philadelphia, just as her father was becoming politically active in the run-up to the American Revolution. Little is known of her early life. As the daughter of a well-to-do merchant, but still a woman, she would have had a limited education. She probably received a basic grammar school education, but her place was in the home. I should hasten to say that in that era this was no slight. The amount of work required to raise a family and keep house was extensive and could easily consume the entire labor of one woman. At her mother's knee Ann would have learned how to run a household, manage servants and tradesmen, keep accounts, educate her children in manners and morals, and mix in better society.

The revolution began at Lexington and Concord when Ann was only 10 years old. The family would have suffered some privation. Trade, and her father's income, was restricted by a British blockade and many imports, like the finer fabrics and other fancy goods, were no longer available. There is no indication, however, that starvation ever stalked Philadelphia. When Ann was 12 years old the British army occupied the city, which must have been a frightening experience for the girl, especially as her father would have been marked as a traitor. As a consequence the family may have fled into the country for a time, though I have no evidence of that. When the war ended in 1783 she was 18 years old.

Ann is a witness and heir, along with her mother and sister, to the will of Susannah Cumming of Philadelphia. The will is signed 17 November 1789 and proved on 26 April 1791.

"Cumming, Susannah. (Late of City of Phil'a.) Mooreland, Co of Philad'a. Widow. Signed Nov. 17. 1789. Son- Joseph. Nieces- Margaret Craft and her Daughter Maria. Nephew- James Craft. Friends- Mrs. Mary Heysham and her Daughters Mary and Ann, Katharine, Mary, Phibe, and Rachel Comley, James Mounteer. James (Son of Joshua Comley). Exec. Joseph Cumming, Robert Heysham, William Heysham Senr. Witnesses- Joshua Comly, Ann Heysham. Prov'd. Ap. 26. 1791."

Ann is mentioned in Volume 78, page 313 and Volume 154, page 107, of the Ten "Series" of the Pennsylvania Archives. I have not seen nor read this reference.

In 1792, at the age of 27, she married Dr. Francis Bowes Sayre (1765). Per the "Marriage Record of Christ Church, Philadelphia 1709-1806," the marriage was recorded on 10 April 1792. As you'll see below, it may have actually occurred on 9 April in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Francis was born on 9 September 1765 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Some sources claim his birthplace was Bellmont, Ulster county, New York, though I don't think his father was in that area until later, in 1769. His father, the Reverend John Sayre, was a minister in the Church of England and a staunch Loyalist. When Francis was a young boy the Sayre family moved into the backcountry of New York state where Reverend Sayre serviced four nascent churches. On the eve of the American Revolution, and perhaps as a result of conflicts with the independent farmers of New York, they suddenly moved to Fairfield, Connecticut where Reverend Sayre became the rector of the Trinity Church. They were still living there when the British burnt the city. Francis was 13 years old at the time. Subsequently the family removed to New York City, a British stronghold. When the British abandoned the city at the end of the war, John Sayre moved his family to Nova Scotia, and then to New Brunswick, where he died soon after on 5 August 1784. Francis was 18 years old at the time.

From Abstracts of old Series I, Sunbury, New Brunswick, Petitions 1765-1823 :

"1785 - John Sayre and Francis B. Sayer, ask to relinquish their lot in Oromocto and have land in Maugerville. Also Benjamin Brawn, caveat against J. Sayre's application for No.51 in Maugerville."

Reverend Sayre's wife, Mary Bowes Sayre, returned to America with the family, settling in Bloomsbury, New Jersey. There is a village of Bloomsbury north of Trenton, but I think this refers instead to Bloomsury Court, an estate in Trenton, New Jersey. As you'll read below, it was owned by Colonel John Cox whose wife, Esther Bowes, was the sister of Mary Sayre, and Francis Bowes Sayre's Aunt. I suspect they took in the family of the widow Mary Bowes Sayre until she could get on her feet again.

Francis would have been about 18 years old when he came to Bloomsbury with his mother. "He pursued his medical studies in the University of Pennsylvania, and received the degree of Bachelor of Medicine in 1788." - from "History of medicine in New Jersey, and of its medical men, from the settlement of the province to..." by Stephen Wickes. This probably occurred under the guidance and with the financial support of the family's 'protector,' Dr. John Cox.

The following references show Francis' attendence at lectures in Philadelphia. From "A History of the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania," by Joseph Carson, M.D. Scrapbooks, 1706-1875, 6 volumes. List of manuscript contents:
- Pennsylvania Hosipital, Board of Managers, admission ticket for Francis B. Sayre, 24 February 1787, 1 item.
- Lecture admission ticket for Francis [Bowes] Sayre, 1 November 1787. 1 item.
- Certificate of lecture attendance for Francis Bowes Sayre, 13 June 1788. 1 item.
- Certificate of lecture attendence for Franics B. Sayre, 15 June 1788, 1 item.
Francis would have been 21 to 22 years old at the time of these lectures.

"In this year he was a resident of New Jersey, as he was then, May 6, 1788, admitted to membership in the New Jersey Medical Society." - from "History of medicine in New Jersey, and of its medical men, from the settlement of the province to..." by Stephen Wickes. This was the first such society incorporated in the country.

On 11 January 1789 Francis' mother, Mary Bowes Sayre, died at Bloomsbury at the age of 50. From A History of St. Michael's Church" by Hamilton Schuyler, 1926, "Names and Inscriptions on Tombstones and Tablets in St. Michael's Churchyard," Appendix O.

"Sacred to the memory of
Mrs. Mary Sayre
Relict of the
Rev. John Sayre
who
departed this life
11th January, 1789
in the 50th year of her age." (on outer wall of Church.)

"He [Francis Bowes Sayre] was advanced to the degree of Doctor of Medicine, 1790." - from "History of medicine in New Jersey, and of its medical men, from the settlement of the province to..." by Stephen Wickes. This degree was from the University of Pennsylvania. Francis' dissertation is on file at the Bernard Becker Medical Library of the Washington University School of Medicine. Titled "An Inaugural Dissertation on the Causes Which Produce a Predisposition to Phthisis Pulmonalis, and the Method of Obviating Them," by Francis Bowes Sayre, of Trenton, 1790. However, in the catalogue of the medical school his residence is given as Pennsylvania.

He first practiced medicine in Crosswicks [Cresswick], New Jersey, southeast of Trenton.

In 1792 Francis married Ann Heysham, of Philadelphia. From the marriage records of Christ Church, recorded in the Pennsylvania Archives, 1709-1806, Second Series, Volume 8, Christ Church:

"1792, April 10, Sayre, Francis Beawes [sic], and Ann Heysham."

On 6 April 1792, just three days before he married, Francis had bought a plantation in Crosswicks, New Jersey of 60 acres on the south side of Crosswicks Creek - from a deed recorded at Mount Holly, deed book 6, folio 209. Crosswicks creek, running west northwest, feeds the Delaware river, entering below Trenton. The south side would put Francis' estate into Burlington county. After marrying in April 1792, Ann and Francis probably lived on this 'estate.' Their first child, William Heysham, was born in Bordentown, which is just down the creek a few miles. Bordentown is a small town directly on the Delaware river, south of Trenton. It was also the home to one of Francis' cousins, the patriot Stephen Sayre.

A Francis B. Sayre is mentioned in the June 1793 Tax List for Chesterfield township, Burlington county, New Jersey. The Crosswicks plantation was in Burlington county.

At the end of the summer 1793 the Yellow Fever returned to Philadelphia. In response to a request by the Mayor, 16 of the 26 Fellows of the College of Physicians met to discuss what should be done. These included Adam Kuhn, John H. Gibbons, and Benjamin Rush. Doctor Sayre's attempts to treat the illness are addressed in "Bring out Your Dead: The Great Plague of Yellow Fever in Philadelphia in 1793" by J. H. Powell, 1993,

"Dr. Francis Bowes Sayre of Crosswicks in Jersey described the case of a woman he had lost who showed numerous petechi on various part of her skin, and asked Rush's opinion. A few days later her husband was seized, and Sayre wrote again, pleading for guidance as he had "exhausted the catalogue of tonics, stimulants and antiseptics."

"When he [Dr. Jabez Gwinnup, born 1773] lacked two months of the age of twenty-one [1794], he was examined for license by the Board of Censors at Burlington, for two days, and came near being rejected by reason of youth. His license is signed by Francis Bowes Sayre, M. D., and two Justices of the Supreme Court of New Jersey." - from "A Medical History of the County of Warren 1765-1890" [Warren Co, NJ] by the Historical Committee of the Warren County District Medical Society, 1890.

The will of Ann Baldesgui, wife of Joseph Baldesgui of Bordentown, New Jersey, [Estate in Northampton Co.] and Philadelphia, dated 19 July 1796, names Mrs. Sayre [Point Breeze] as a friend. Later in the will an Elizabeth Sayre is mentioned as a witness. Elizabeth was the wife of Stephen Sayre, of the Pointe Breeze plantation. This was a cousin of Francis.

Ann's father, Captain William Heysham, died in October 1797. His will was probated in Philadelphia on 1 November 1797, mentioning his children William, Robert, Mary Gibbons and Ann Sayre. Dr. Sayre is listed as both a son-in-law [William's other son-in-law, John H. Gibbons, had predeceased him] and an executor, along with the two sons.

On 10 May 1798 Francis sold the Crosswicks plantation in New Jersey. A note below indicates that Francis was "lured to Philadelphia to practice" by Dr. Benjamin Rush.

In August 1798 Dr. Benjamin Rush formed a group of thirteen physicians, his students and followers, into the Academy of Medicine of Philadelphia. This was probably in response to Rush's stormy relations with and departure from the College of Physicians, of which Dr. John H. Gibbon was a Fellow. In his "An Account of the Bilious Yellow Fever As It Appeared in Philadelphia in the Year 1798," the last paragraph points to the dichotomy of opinion that caused the acrimony:

"There were two opinions given to the public upon the subject of the origin of this fever; the one by the academy of medicine, the other by the college of physicians. The former declared it to be generated in the city, from putrid domestic exhalations, because they saw it only in their vicinity, and discovered no channel by which it could have been derived from a foreign country; the latter asserted it to be "imported, because it had been imported in former years."

Dr. Sayre was the Academy's Secretary and signed, on 8 August 1798, an address to the Board of Managers of the Marine and City Hospitals of the port of Philadelphia, in reference to the Yellow Fever that was again afflicting the city - Memoir of Dr. William Currie. I suspect Dr. Sayre had been one of Rush's students while attending the University of Philadelphia. Note that Dr. John Cox listed Dr. Rush as a witness in his will.

One of Benjamin Rush's backward looking remedies was bleeding. Dr. Francis Sayre pointed out that bleeding was not new. It was only new in this country because "pestilential diseases..., till very lately, have been almost strangers to us." Of his 16 yellow fever patients, he had sent 3 to the hospital and treated 13 with varying degrees of bleeding, up to 70 ounces in one case. All those he bled had been cured or were convalescent. Sayre called for other physicians to candidly report on their practice - from "Gazette of the United States," 7 October 1797. See also Chapter 12 of Arnebeck, below.

Dr. Sayre's observation on the disease are mentioned in "An Account of the Bilious Yellow Fever As It Appeared in Philadelphia in the Year 1798" by Benjamin Rush. See Yellow Fever.

Yellow Fever had returned to Philadelphia in 1797-1798. Dr. Rush was relatively successful in treating it, however the failures of his remedies were as apparent. Two friends, whom he presumably helped treat, died. One of his apprentices, a boy from Georgia, died. In addition Drs. Otto, Sayre, Cooper and Proudfit, bleeders all, were ill. Cooper and Sayre would die. Dr. Rush was said to have "lured Sayre to Philadelphia to practice." - from "Destroying Angel: Benjamin Rush, Yellow Fever and the Birth of Modern Medicine," Chapter 14, by Bob Arnebeck. See Destroying Angel.

Francis Bowes Sayre died in Philadelphia on 2 September 1798 at the age of 32 of Yellow Fever while engaged in "acts of benevolence" among the poor.

Dr. James Milnor, in his "Memoirs," speaks of "my ever-to-be-lamented friend, Dr. Francis Bowes Sayre, who fell a glorious martyr to his philanthropy."

"He died in 1798, intestate. Letters of administration on his estatae were granted by the Probate Court of Philadelphia to Ann Sayre and Robert Heysham [his brother-in-law]. A bill of his administrator's accounts has two or more entries of the indebtedness of the estate to an agent for "collecting debts in New Jersey." The inventory of his effects showed a handsome sum, and that he lived in good style for that period; that he was a married man, cultivated, and of refined tastes." - from "History of medicine in New Jersey, and of its medical men, from the settlement of the province to..." by Stephen Wickes.

Francis was buried in the Christ Church burial ground on the corner of Fifth and Arch streets. His original tombstone, from "Tombstone Inscriptions from Christ Church," 1864, read:

LXXXV
In remembrance of
FRANCIS BOWES SAYRE M.D.
who departed this life
on the 2nd day of September 1798
Etat 32 years.

"In remembrance of Francis Bowes Sayre, M.D., beloved physician, Born Sept 9 1755, son of John Sayre & Mary Bowes. Died of yellow fever in Philadelphia - Sept 2 1798, bravely caring for his patients in the epidemic. This memorial erected by his great-grandson Francis Bowes Sayre in 1938."

"Adjoining tombstones, one to Francis Bowes, another to Andrew Reed, allow the inference that he was closely allied to Col. Bowes Reed, who was a man of note in New Jersey, whose remains lie in the churchyard at Burlington."

"Though Dr. Sayre died in early manhood, the few memorials which we have gathered concerning him assure us that he was a man of culture and high promise. In the records of the New Jersey Medical Society, he is noticed as contributing a paper on "An extraordinary case of Syphilis, together with the powerful effects of the herb perfolium, or thoroughwort, in the cure of the same." He was also appointed one of the committee "to revise the rules of the institution, and report a code of laws and regulations for the future government." Dr. Rush, in his account of the yellow fever in Philadelphia, 1797 and 1798, notices him as one of the reliable practitioners of that time. He became a victim of the fearful epidemic in 1798. The True American and Commercial Advertiser of Philadelphia, for Tuesday morning, August 28, 1798 has the following: "The number of new cases reported for the forty-eight hours ending yesterday morning at one o'clock, were One Hundred and Eleven, by twenty-three physicians. Drs. Sayre and Church included." The ambiguity of the last line is removed by the report September 1: "..Dr. Sayre is on the recovery."

"On Saturday we informed the public that Dr. Sayre was on the recovery. Apparently he was so; but that favorable appearance was only the forerunner of dissolution, as is frequently the case in this insidious disease. We have therefore this day to deplore the loss of Dr. Francis Bowes Sayre, who died yesterday morning. His services in the cause of humanity (to which he has gloriously fallen a martyr) will ever be indelibly impressed on the number of his indigent fellow citizens, who, by his persevering assiduity in his profession, have been rescued from the grave . . . that previous to his the attack he had above one hundred patients under his care . . . The loss of Dr. Sayre . . . is particularly distressing at this time, when so many of our physicians have quit their posts . . . " - from "History of medicine in New Jersey, and of its medical men, from the settlement of the province to..." by Stephen Wickes.

Ann Heysham Sayre lived on for another 25 years, raising her fatherless son and daughter. She appears to have lived with her son, William Heysham Sayre, following him as he moved from Philadelphia to the wilds of central Pennsylvania. Ann's obit: The National Gazette Tuesday, 15 April 1823:

"Died. On the 3rd inst. at the residence of her son in Roaring Creek Valley, Columbia County, Pa., Mrs. Ann Sayre, widow of the late, Dr. Francis Bowes Sayre, late of this city."

Ann's children were,
(22) William Heysham Sayre (1794)
(22) John Cox Sayre (1795)
(22) Mary Elizabeth Sayre (1797)

He was born in Bordentown, New Jersey on 17 May 1794. William's father subsequently died in 1798 from Yellow Fever while treating victims of the epedemic in Philadelphia. William was only 4 years old at that time. I suspect that, as was the case with his widowed grandmother, relatives helped his mother, Ann Heysham, in the aftermath of this family disaster. However, Ann's father was already dead at this time, as was her brother, William P. Heysham. There was also the family of Mary Heysham Gibbon that needed support. Robert Heysham may have provided some support, though as a Deputy Naval Officer, his income was more secure than plentiful.

The image to the right is from the flyleaf of a book of poetry and apparently shows the book's ownership. It reads, "Wm. H. Sayre, March the 19th, Phila. Academy 1805." Nice handwriting, huh? I believe they refer to this as copperplate script or English Roundhand, which William would have learned in this academy. William was about 11 years old in 1805. This Philadelphia Academy is not the more famous Philadelphia Academy of Art nor that of Natural Sciences. Dr. James Abercrombie D.D. founded the Philadelphia Academy (later called the Episcopal Academy) in 1800 and was its sole director from 1803 to 1817. He was also the Assistant Minister of Christ Church and St. Paul's. The course of study at this academy was of "the various branches of English literature," including public speaking, the classical, and mathematics.

"During the years of Abercrombie's leadership the academy became well known in Philadelphia for the excellence of its academic program as an English academy . . . The purpose of the Philadelphia Academy then, as it was revealed in the plan of the academic program of the institution and in Abercrombie's charges [annual addresses], was to introduce to students studies which would prepare them for immediately assuming a place in the business life of their city or for continuing their studies at the university level." - from "The Speech Theory of James Abercrombie" by Ernest Eugene Hall

William "was educated in New Brunswick" - from the "Encyclopedia of Contemporary Biography, of Pennsylvania" by the Atlantic publishing & engraving Company, 1890. I originally thought this could only refer to the college there, now known as Rutgers University. I had also hoped to prove that he went to the medical school there in emulation of his father. However the timeline simply would not work. As you'll read below, already by 1818, at the age of 23, William had completed a five year apprenticeship, set up a business of his own in Philadelphia, failed, and was preparing to leave town for new prospects. The limited time available meant this education could have been, at most, at the prepatory school colocated with the college. I now suspect that William went to New Brunswick to attend Queen's Grammar School, the prep school for Queen's College. He was probably sent to this remote location, 25 miles northeast of Trenton, because he had Sayre relatives there with whom he could room, and who could watch over him. They may have even funded his education. Remember that the Sayre's had been amongst the original founders of Elizabeth, New Jersey, just twelve miles northeast of New Brunswick.

Queen's College and the Grammar school were open from 1807 to 1812, or from the time William was 13 to 18 years old. At the outset of the War of 1812 the college was closed and did not re-open until 1825. After finishing the Grammar school William returned home where, I imagine, some concerned relation arranged an apprenticeship for him.

After leaving New Brunswick William moved to Philadelphia where he served a mercantile apprenticeship of five years in the counting-house of Thomas P. Cope & Sons. Since he left Philadelphia in 1818, this could be no later than 1812-1818, or from the age of 18 to 23 years old. Clearly William did not complete a collegiate course of study in New Brunswick.

William married Elizabeth Kent on 25 June 1816 in Morristown, Morris County, New Jersey. This may have been while he was still an apprentice with Thomas Cope or just as he started out in his new business. Since William was in Philadelphia at the time, I suspect he may have met Elizabeth earlier, perhaps while going to school in New Brunswick. Morristown is in northern New Jersey, about 35 miles northwest of the campus at New Brunswick. Her father, Rodolphus Kent, came from Waterford, Ireland. William and Elizabeth would have 10 children, only four of whom survived to adulthood.

Per the "Encyclopaedia of Contemporary Biography of Pennsylvania, Volume II," Elizabeth was the daughter of Rudolphus Kent. He came to America in 1784 from Waterford, Ireland, settled in New Jersey, and married Sarah Tuthill at Morristown, New Jersey, in the same year. Per the tax lists, he was living in Hanover township, Morris county, New Jersey in 1795-1796. I have other records that indicate he may have lived in Philadelphia originally. The R. [Rudolphus] Kent of Mauch Chunk, who developed the Fountain Hill area of South Bethlehem, where Williams' son, Robert, built one of the first homes, was probably his son.

After this auspicious apprenticeship in one of Phiadelphia's premier shipping firms, William became engaged in the 'queensware' business in Philadelphia, under the firm of Cook & Sayre.

"Cook & Sayre, china and glas • merchts. 276 High
. . .
Sayre William H. mercht. 276 High & 142 S. 10th" - from "The Philadelphia Directory" of 1817

The firm of Cook & Sayre clearly had a short and unhappy duration because in about the year 1818 William moved to Columbia county, in central Pennsylvania. The story as I now discover it, from "Forging America: The History of Bethlehem Steel," is that, while William had made "handsome profits" in the shipping trade, I suppose that means he was a queensware importer, the depression that following the War of 1812 sank his business and drained away almost all of his money. Since the Panic, as it has been called, did not peak until 1819, William must have been one of the first to 'go to the wall,' indicating the frailty of his young company during the boom years.

In about 1818 William and his wife retreated to the only holding they had left, a small farm Elizabeth Kent had inherited in Columbia County, Pennsylvania. William's mother, Ann Heysham Sayre, came with them and lived there until her death in 1823. William lived in the Roaring Creek valley. Roaring creek was a tributory of the Susquehanna, joing that river, from the southeast, just about where the town of Bloomsburg was located. Bloomsburg, on the north shore of the river, was a small village, just starting to grow. Here William retreated to the farm his wife had brought into the marriage.

I haven't been able to find William in the 1820 census. In 1828, after ten years farming, and probably hating it, William moved to Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania entering the service of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, which was soon to open its canal, then nearly completed, between Mauch Chunk and Easton.

William Sayre was placed in charge of the boating accounts, collection of tolls, etc., and continued in this position until his health failed in 1865. He probably worked at the 'Weigh Lock,' as did his son as described below, where the barges were weighed and tolls assessed.

In the 1830 census of Mauch Chunk, Northampton county, Pennsylvania as W. H. Sayre. In the household was one boy under 5, Robert?, 2 boys 5 to 10, Francis and ?, one man 30 to 40, William H., 2 girls uner 5, Elizabeth and ?, 1 girl 10 to 15, Mary, 1 woman 20 to 30, ?, and one woman 30 to 40, Elizabeth Kent Sayre.

William was a devoted churchman. The first Episcopal Lay Worship services in Mauch Chunk were held in 1829 by William H. Sayre. It wasn't until 1835 that the church got its own clergyman. William was also one of ten people to sign the church's Articles of Association in 1835. Until 1852, when St. Marks church on Race street in Mauch Chunk was completed, left, the parishoners worshipped in various local churches and public buildings, often in Mr. Sayre's residence. The congregation grew quickly and a new church, left, was finished in 1869.

William had become friends with a young carpenter and canal boat captain from Mystic, Connecticutt, Asa Packer, who had helped build the Episcopal church. Their families socialized together, and both Sayre and Packer had leadership roles in the St. Mark's Church. Packer would become significant later in the development of the career of William's son, Robert Heysham Sayre.

In the 1840 census of Mauch Chunk, Northampton county, Pennsylvania as W. H. Sayre. in the household were 1 boy under 5, ?, 1 who was 5 to 10, William, 1 10 to 15, Robert, and one 15 to 20, Francis, and a man 40 to 50 years old, W. H. There were 2 girls who were 5 to 10, Anna and Catherine, and 2 who were 15 to 20, Elizabeth and Mary [?], and a woman 40 to 50 years old, Elizabeth Kent Sayre. They also had a "free colored woman," aged 24 to 36, who was a servant.

Elizabeth Kent Sayre died in Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, on 10 January 1849. In the 1850 census of Mauch Chunk, Carbon county, Pennsylvania as William H. Sayre, a 56 year old clerk, born in New Jersey. His home was valued at $5000. Living with him were his children, Francis R. Sayre, a 28 year old clerk, and the twins, Anna & Catherine, 16. His sons, Robert H. and William, were already living on their own.

In the 1860 census William was a 66 year old Clerk, living with his daughter, Anne E., 25, who was called a housekeeper, in East Mauch Chunk. He had no real estate and only $200 of personal property. His entry directly follows that of his son, Francis, so I assume they lived next to, or near to, each other.

William died on 20 May 1872, 5 years after his retirement, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In addition to the three sons and three daughters shown below, William and Elizabeth had another daughter born probably about 1820. The picture below is from Theodore Banta's "The Sayre Family." I'm not certain whether this is of our William, or his son.

On 4 July 1876 the original bell of St. Mark's church was cracked during the celebration of the centennial of American independence. Instead of simply replacing the cracked bell with a new one, the parish embarked on a plan to install a chime of nine bells. Each bell was given by or in memory of a prominent member of the parish. Bell number one was presented by Asa Packer. Bell number four was donated by Robert Heysham Sayre in memory of his father, William:

"In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. In memory of William Heysham Sayre, one of the founders, and for twenty years a warden of St. Mark's Parish; and also of his wife, Elizabeth Kent Sayre; and of their children and children's children who sleep in Christ. A tribute of affection from Robert H. Sayre, A.D. 1876."

From the Mauch Chunk cemetary burial list:

William Heysham Sayre, born 17 May 1794, died 29 May 1872, 78 years old, spouse of Elizabeth Kent.
Elizabeth Kent Sayre, born 17 May 1796, died 10 January 1849, spouse of William H. Hayre nee Kent.

Julie Linn Sayre, born 11 May 1829, died 12 October 1830, 1 year 5 months, daughter of William H. and Elizabeth Kent Sayre.
Julie Rosalie Sayre, born 3 August 1836, died 5 May 1837, daughter of William H. and Elizabeth Kent Sayre.
Charles Eugene Sayre, born 23 July 1838, died 2 February 1841, aged 7, son of William H. and Elizabeth Kent Sayre.

Mary Elizabeth was born on 17 April 1817 in Philadelphia. She was probably named for her aunt, below. She married John P. Cox [no relation to Dr. John Cox above], who had been born in England. They were married by the Reverend J. M. Rogers of Trinity Church, Easton, Pennsylvania. However, they were married in Mauch Chunk, on 24 June 1841. In church records she is clearly denoted as the daughter of Wm. H. Sayre.

ELizabeth's husband was John Pound Cox. A native of England, he was Superintendent of the Pennsylvania and New York Canal & Railroad and an officer of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. His biography is included in the "Encyclopaedia of Contemporary Biography of Pennsylvania," Volume II, which I have not seen. In what appears to have been his last assignment, John was the Superintendent, in 1869, during the construction of the 96-mile railroad line along the Susquehanna River from Wilkes-Barre to Waverly, New York. It was constructed on the tow-path of the old canal right-of-way. Later the canal was filled in and a second line constructed.

In the 1870 census of Towanda, Bradford county, Pennsylvania as John P. Cox, a 55 year old rail road superintendent. He had $50,000 is real property and $40,000 in personal property. Living with him were his wife, Mary E., 53, and children Edith M., 19, Annie, 17, and John S., 16.

John died suddenly in the latter half of 1870. He was replaced as superintendent of the railroad by R. A. Packer, the son of Asa Packer.

In the 1880 census Mary E. Cox, now a widow, was living in the same Fountain Hills neighborhood as her brothers, William and Robert. She was 63. Living with her were Edith, 29. Annie S., 27, and John, a 25 year old chemist.

Mary died on 26 August 1901. She was, in later life, a resident of South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Both she and her husband were Episcopalians. They had 5 children, of which I know the following:
(24) Walter E. Cox (1844), born in Mauch Chunk, in 1844. Walter stayed in the family business and was an assistant engineer for the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company in his turn. He married Georgiana Wetherill, in Philadelphia, the daugther of Samuel and Sarah (Chattin) Wetheill, natives of Philadelphia.
(24) Mary Elizabeth Cox (c1848). She married Lieutenant Colonel Henry B. McKean of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The Colonel, a Civil War veteran, 6th Regiment of Pennsylvania Reserves, died in 1903. Mary died on 3 September 1935 at the age of 87.

His middle name may be Rudolphus, after his maternal grand-father. He was born on 21 October 1822 in Columbia county, Pennsylvania. In 1838, only 16, he went to work for the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, succeeding his father as a clerk. He later succeeded his father as Senior Warden of St. Mark's Church in Mauch Chunk. He did not take part in his brothers' financial success.

In the 1850 census Francis, 28 year old clerk, was single and living at home with his father in Mauch Chunk, Carbon county, Pennsylvania.

Francis married Harriet Probasco Wooley [Woolley] on 1 October 1851. She was born on 5 May 1823.

In the 1860 census he was 39 year old Clerk, living in East Mauch Chunk, with real estate valued at $500 and personal property of $500. He was living with his wife, Harriet, 36, Kate, 8, Louisa, 6, Charles, 4, and Anna, 8/12. Also living with them was Martha M. Griffith, 15, of New Jersey, and Mary Griffith, 3, of Pennsylvania.

In the 1870 census he was 48 years old. His occupation was "Collector at the Weighlock," see below. His wife was Harriet, aged 46. His children were Kate, 18, Louisa, 15, and Anna, 10. Directly opposite downtown Mauch Chunk was Lock No. 1 of the Lower Grand Division of the Lehigh Canal, and about a quarter mile below that was Lock No. 2, which included the Weighlock. Those employed by the canal and the attendant industries that grew up around it were the first permanent residents of East Mauch Chunk, a suburb on the other side of the Lehigh river. They were called "East Chunkers" [lovely].

In the 1870 census of was Francis R. Sayre, a 48 year old "Collector at Weigh Lock." Living with him were his wife, Harriet, 46, and children Kate, 18, Louisa, and Anna, 10. I don't see Charles, who would have been 13. Perhaps he was away at school. There was a Martha Griffith, 25, who, though unidentified, was clearly a relative. Note below in the 1910 census she was living with Anna Sayre and was identified as her cousin. I'll assume that means that Francis' wife was Harriet Griffith.

In the 1880 census Francis was 58 years old, a Clerk for the Canal company, living in Mauch Chunk. Living with him were his wife, Harriet P., 56. Charles E., 23, a son [where was he in 1870?], who was a railroad clerk, and Anna F., 20. Martha M. Griffith, now 35, was still living with him.

Francis' wife, Harriet, died on 24 January 1885.

In the 1900 census of Mauch Chunk as Francis, widowed, a 78 year old "Canal Fee Collector." Living with him was his daughter Anna, a 40 year old "capitalist [!]," Martha Griffith, 55, and Catherine Smith, a 47 year old widow.

In 1909 St. Mark's was the recipient of a credence table as a memorial to Mr. & Mrs. Francis Sayre. This may be Francis R. Sayre, but its not certain. From the Mauch Chunk cemetary burial list:

Francis Rodolphus Sayre, born 1 October 1821, died 15 April 1908, 86 years old, spouse of Harriet Probasco Wooley, son on William H. and Elizabeth Kent Sayre.
Harriet P. Wooley Sayre, born 5 May 1823, died 24 January 1883, 59 years old, spouse of Francis R. Sayre.

She was born on 23 June 1852. She lived at home with her father through 1870. She married Robert Smith on 12 September 1878. Theodore Banta calls him Robert Heysham Sayre Smith. I'm not sure what that means. He was born in MOntrose, Pennsylvania on 2 April 1856 and died on 22 July 1891. In 1900 Kate was back home, now a widow and living with her father in Mauch Chunk. She had no children.

She was born on 30 September 1854 and lived at home with her father through 1870. She married Asa Packer Blakslee on 29 April 1880. He was born on 13 November 1854, a nephew of Asa Packer, the railroad magnate, via the family of Asa's wife. They had a daughter, Louis Foster Sayre Blakslee.

He was born on 20 September 1857 and became a railroad clerk. In the 1880 census as Charles E. Sayre, a 23 year old railroad clerk living in Mauch Chunk with his parents.

He married Caroline Haner [Hance] Brown. She was born in Bordentown on 7 October 1859, the daughter of Ezra and Sarah Brown. In the 1910 census of the 8th Ward of Philadlephia as Charles Eugene Sayre, a 53 year old dealer for a Coal Wholesaler. Living with him was his wife, Caroline Brown, 50. They had been married in 1895. They had no children. From the Mauch Chunk cemetary burial list:

Charles E. Sayre, born 20 September 1856, died 22 November 1915, spouse of Caroline Haner Brown, son of Francis R. and Harriet P. Wooley Sayre.
Mrs. Caroline Haner Sayre, born 7 October 1859, died 30 January 1952, the spouse of Charles E. Sayre, daughter of Ezra and Sarah Brown.

Theodore Banta calls her Anna Frances. She was born on 9 November 1859 and lived at home with her father through 1900. She was probably named for her aunt, Anna Fatzinger Sayre, below. In the 1910 census of Mauch Chunk, a single wowamn, aged 50. She was living on Broadway Street. Her cousin, Martha M. Griffith, aged 60, of New Jersey, was living with her. I suspect she inherited her father's house. From the Mauch Chunk cemetary burial list:

Anna Frances Sayre, born 9 November 1859, died 22 February 1933, 73 years old, the daughter of Francis Rudlphus and Harriet Probasco Wooley Sayre.

Referred to in later life as "introspective, visionary, deeply religious, organized, detail-oriented and interested in all things, from his asparagus patch to the writings of the ancient Romans. He was gifted at knowing how to connect technologies." Probably the richest man produced by any of the family's discussed here. See also The Diary of Robert Heysham Sayre.

He was born on 13 October 1824 on the family farm in Columbia county, Pennsylvania, the second son of William H. Sayre. The family moved to Mauch Chunk when Robert was 4 years old. He attended the public school in town, the latter years under the tutelage of James Nowlin, known as 'an able mathematician.' At the age of 8 he lost his right eye while whittling.

Robert Sayre left school in 1840 and joined his father at Lehigh Coal & Navigation, which then lent the 16 year old, under the direction of Andrew A. Douglas, civil engineer, to the Morris Canal & Banking Company in New Jersey to help upgrade its canal, the conduit for iron ore coming into Pennsylvania.

Early in January 1841 a flood occurred in the Lehigh river, partially destroying the Lehigh Canal between White Haven and Easton. Mr. Douglas and his corps were transferred to the Lehigh and engaged for two years in rebuilding the canal.

He spent the winter of 1842 in Bradford County, 85 miles to the north, tending to mules that towed the boats on the canal. The mules were idle in winter because ice always shut down the waterway. After that, Sayre focused on the company's rail lines, in which cars rode downhill by gravity and were pulled up the tracks by mules and later by steam-driven inclined planes. He showed so much skill as a surveyor and builder, he became supervisor of all of the company's rail operations.

Subsequently, under the charge of Edwin A. Douglas, Chief Engineer of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, young Robert was detailed to make the surveys and build the famous Back-Track Railroad between Mauch Chunk and Summit Hill, the 'Switch-Back Railroad,' and the inclined planes into Panther Creek Valley, to drive the several tunnels therein, to more largely develop the coal mines of the company, and to erect the necessary breakers and machinery for preparing the coal. He also had charge of all the railroads and inclined planes, and the transportation of the coal over them from the mines to Mauch Chunk.

Robert married Mary Evelyn Smith of Montrose, Pennsylvania on 15 April 1846. She was on 11 July 1824. They had nine children, five of whom, one son and four daughters, survived.

In the 1850 census of Mauch Chunk at Robert H. Sayre, a 25 year old engineer. Living with him were his wife, Mary, 29, and daughter, Mary, 1.

In 1851, while thus engaged he was sought out by Asa Packer, who had known him as a boy. Judge Packer, who had been a friend of Rober's father, William H., offered him the position of Chief Engineer of the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill & Susquehanna Railroad, later known as the Lehigh Valley, extending from Mauch Chunk to Easton. Robert was only 27 years old.

From "Forging America: The Story of Bethlehem Steel":

"Part of Packer's confidence in his new right-hand man had to do with attitude. Like other professionals of the era, Sayre saw himself as an agent of progress whose purpose was to serve civilization by spreading the wonders of technology. He was handsome and powerfully built, but had lost the sight in his left eye when, at the age of 8, he poked himself with a knife while whittling a stick. Like his father, he was religious. The faith he practiced extended to his work, which he approached with missionary fervor, as if God had called on him to excel as a civil engineer."

"He collected and read books on history, literature and travel, always striving to improve himself. He could see the big picture and yet pay attention to details. For decades, he carried a diary in his pocket, every day penciling in at least an entry on the weather. ''When I got up this morning,'' he wrote on Dec. 27, 1894, ''there was 5 inches or more of snow on the ground; Sleighing quite good."

"But he wasn't always strait-laced, as he noted during a business trip to Wilkes-Barre in 1867: ''Evening at Hotel and made a fool of myself I drank too much wine in the eve, which caused many great mortifications and grief'' when he was hung over the next day."

"Building the Lehigh Valley Railroad tested Sayre's ability to organize a project and see it through. Years later, he recounted the obstacles he and his men faced: ''A single track from Easton to Mauch Chunk; iron of an inferior quality the best of which we could at that time avail ourselves; track laid without ballast; not a single coal, freight, or passenger car of our own; no shops, no depots worthy of the name in fact, nothing but the track and four locomotives."

In May 1852, after spending over eleven years in the service of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, Robert commenced surveys for the Lehigh Valley railroad, and the same fall the work of construction was begun and prosecuted to completion. Early in the fall of 1855, after the railroad began regular service, Asa Packer, who preferred to hobnob with investors in Philadelphia and New York, made Robert the railroad's Chief Engineer and General Superintendent, a position he retained until November 1883.

One of his decisions he made was to move the road's headquarters from the remote Mauch Chunk to South Bethlehem, the site of a key railroad junction between the Lehigh and North Pennsylvania railroads. He later built his home in the Fountain Hill neighborhood on the western edge of town.

During this period he was, in addition to his other duties, in charge of building the Lehigh & Mahanoy Railroad, extending from Black Creek Junction to Mount Carmel, with its various branches opening up, to a connection with the Lehigh Valley, the Mahanoy coal field. He also built the Penn Haven & White Haven Railroad from Penn Haven to Wilkes-Barre, reaching the great Wyoming coal field. Subsequently, both of the before named roads, together with the Beaver Meadow Railroad and Coal Company and the Hazleton Railroad and Coal Company, were consolidated with the Lehigh Valley system.

In 1858 Robert moved his family into a Gothic Revival mansion, the first to be built in what is now the Fountain Hill National Historic District of south Bethlehem. The home is now a Bed & Breakfast.

In 1867 he took charge of the construction of the Pennsylvania and New York Canal and Railroad, virtually an extension of the Lehigh Valley from Wilkes-Barre up the valley of the North Branch of the Susquehanna river to the State line near Waverly, New York, where it connected with the New York & Erie Railway, making direct communication in connection with the Erie from Wilkes-Barre to Buffalo. At Buffalo he built the Buffalo Creek Railroad, and the necessary facilities for transfer of coal from cars to vessels on the lake.

During the fall of 1868 it was determined, on the part of the general officers and employees of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, to present to Robert Sayre, its Superintendent and Engineer, some valuable token of the high regard in which they held him, and of their thorough appreciation of the faithful manner in which he had ever discharged the manifold duties of his responsible situation. On 24 December 24 the Committee in charge, in company with other friends of Mr. Sayre, repaired to his residence in South Bethlehem. Assembled in his parlor, Mr. John Taylor, General Freight Agent, presented on behalf of its donors, a very handsome and costly service of silver plate, accompanied with the following address:

"Sir:--The officers and employees of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company have deputed us their Committee to present to you this token of their appreciation of your worth as a Superintendent, your skill as an Engineer, and your ability as a railroad man. In your profession, you stand to-day without a superior. You have been identified with the Lehigh Valley Railroad from its inception. Under your hands it has grown to be a successful institution. In all times of trial and adversity you have stood by it with the fidelity and steadfastness of a hero. You have lived sir, to see the success of your labors. The road which modestly aspired to connect Mauch Chunk with Easton, has, under your guidance, entered the vast anthracite regions of the Lehigh, Schuylkill and Wyoming, and continuing its course northward up the Susquehanna to the State line, it will enter, at no distant day, the competing list for the tonnage of the Great West. Thus stands the success of this worthy undertaking a perpetual memorial of your fidelity, skill and judgment. Recognizing these things, the officers and employees of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company have deemed it fitting to give them expression by this testimonial, as well to your great skill and judgment, as to your uniform kindness and consideration to all those under you or with whom you have come in contact."
Hon. Asa Packer.
John P. Cox.
Wm. H. Sayre, Jr.
and others.
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, December 24, 1868.

Robert's wife, Mary Evelyn, died on 31 may 1869. He married again, on 12 January 1871, to Mary Bradford, the widow of Senator Brodhead of Pennsylvania and the niece of the Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi. She was born in Mississippi on 15 August 1825. She brought him two sons, by her first marriage. They had no children together.

In the fall of 1872 Robert Sayre commenced the construction of the Easton & Amboy Railroad, which was an extension of the Lehigh Valley road from the Delaware river at Easton to the sea at Perth Amboy, where very extensive docks, piers and shipping facilities were erected for the transfer of coal and other commodities from cars to vessels. More than 2,500,000 tons of freight are handled here annually. In 1883, the Vanderbilts, with other capitalists of New York, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, determined to build the South Pennsylvania Railroad between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. Mr. Sayre was offered the position of President and Chief Engineer; he accepted, and commenced the work of construction during the following year. This line embraced some unusually heavy work, but it was attacked and prosecuted with vigor; the masonry for the bridge across the Susquehanna at Harrisburg, more than four thousand feet in length, was erected in one season. Seven principal mountain ranges were to be penetrated with tunnels averaging one mile in length. This work, with many of the heavy sections between the tunnels, was well advanced, when, after an expenditure of about $5,000,000, the whole work was suspended and remained so for some time.

Robert, while in the active prosecution of construction of the South Pennsylvania Railroad, remained a Director of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and upon the suspension of work on the former road he was elected Second Vice-President of the Lehigh Valley Company, and charged specially with the oversight of all of their traffic by rail and water lines, and of the engineering department.

During those busy years Robert found time to devote to the important subjects of good, permanent way and rolling stock. He was an early advocate of iron bridges and commenced replacing the wooden structures on the road in 1857. He commenced the use of steel rails in 1864, and was among the first to use steel-tired driving wheels and fire boxes of steel in the construction of locomotives. He caused to be built in 1867, for use on the mountain grade, two locomotives of the Decapod type with five pairs of drivers and truck. The "Consolidation" type, quickly to become the favorite heavy engine, originated on the Lehigh Valley Railroad. It was designed by Division Superintendent, A. Mitchell. Robert, in conjunction with John Fritz, Esq., Superintendent of the Bethlehem Iron Company, designed and introduced the angle fish bar now which came into general use. He also designed cutting the rail ends at an angle so as to form, when laid, a continuous bearing for the wheels. He appreciated early the importance of a heavier section of rail to meet the rapidly increasing weight of engines and cars, and designed the seventy-six-pound section now in use on the Lehigh Valley and other roads.

There were a number of iron plants in the South Bethlehem region, and the railroads needed iron for locomotives and cars, and in the form of rails to repair and extend their lines. However, the local furnaces didn't make rails. They made pig iron, which was sent elsewhere to be cast into products or turned into wrought iron for rails and other shapes.

Robert was one of the promoters and first stockholders of the Bethlehem Iron Company, of which corporation he was Director for twenty-five years and the General Manager for a further fifteen. He did not retire from this position until 1899.

Robert was one of the originators of the Pioneer Mining & Manufacturing Company, of Alabama, and a Director from its organization; also of the Nescopee and Upper Lehigh Coal Companies in Pennsylvania, of the Bethlehem South Gas and Water Company, of the E. P. Wilbur Trust Company, of South Bethlehem, and various other minor corporations. Robert was one of the five persons named by Judge Asa Packer in his will as trustees of his estate. He was a charter member of the Board of Trustees of Lehigh University, and Chairman of the Executive Committee. Referring to the value of his services to Lehigh University, Bishop Stephens, on University Day, June 24, 1869, made this emphatic and graceful testimony:

"I must mention one name deserving on this occasion special commemoration. I mean Robert H. Sayre. Next to Judge Packer the University is indebted to him, not only for his deep and thoughtful interest in the institution, but for the gift to it of one of the essential elements of its instruction and success--the Astronomical Observatory. This building was erected at the sole expense of Mr. Sayre, and contains an equatorial, a zenith sector, an astronomical clock, a meridian circle, a prismatic sextant, and other needed instruments, constituting an important addition to the practical teaching of astronomy and geodesy. The gift reflects special credit upon the large minded and liberal donor, whose name it will bear as the 'Sayre Observatory' as long as the University itself shall stand, and of that we say Esto Perpetua."

Robert was also a charter member of the Board of Trustees of St. Luke's Hospital, South Bethlehem, and a member of the Executive Committee; a member of the Executive Committee of Bishop Thorpe School for Young Ladies, South Bethlehem, and has been Treasurer of the Board of Diocesan Missions of Central Pennsylvania since the organization of the Diocese.

He belonged to the Episcopal Church, was one of the founders of the parish of "The Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem--South," and had been a vestryman since its organization.

Robert's second wife, Mary, died on 23 April 1877. Then he married Helen Augusta Packer, the widow of Rollin H. Rathburn, on 15 April 1879. She was the daughter of Robert W. Parker and the niece of his associate Asa Packer. They had no children together.

In the 1880 census of South Bethlehem, Northampton county, Pennsylvania as Robert H. Sayre, a 54 year old Superintendent Engineer of the Lehigh Valley Rail Road. Living with him were his wife, Helena A., 40, and children, Robert H. Jr., a 28 year old Assistant Superintendent of the B. I. [Bethlehem Iron] Company, Ruth May, 14, Robert Rathburn, a 20 year old stepson, a lear [?] agent, and Walter R. Rathburn, another stepson, 14.

Helen died on 10 June 1880. Robert's fourth wife was Martha (Patty) Finley Nevin whom he married in 3 May 1882. She was born 6 December 1844 in Mercersburg, Franklin county, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Reverend John Williamson Nevin, LL.D, 1803-1886, and Martha Jenkins. They had three sons, two of whom survived.

In the 1900 census of South Bethlehem as Robert H. Sayre, a 75 year old Vice President of a Railroad. Living with him was his wife, Martha, 54, and children John N., 16, and Francis B., 15.

Robert died on 5 January 1907 [4 January per the New York Times], aged 83. Martha died on 15 August 1918 in Siasconset, Massachusetts. Note that Robert was succeeded at Bethlehem Steel by the great Charles M. Schwab. From the Mauch Chunk cemetary burial list:

Mary Evelyn Sayre, born 11 July 1824, died 31 may 1869, first spouse of Robert H. Sayre, nee Smith.
Charles White Sayre, born 23 July 1846, deid 10 April 1848, 1 year 8 months, son of Robert H. and Evelyn Smith Sayre.
Anna Catherine Sayre, born 18 December 1850, died 12 August 1852, 1 year, 8 months, 24 days, the daughter of Robert H. and Everyln Smith Sayre.
Francis Rodolphus Sayre, born 27 September 1859, died 24 March 1864, 4 years 6 month, son of Robert H. and Evelyn Smith Sayre.
Anna C. Sayre, died 24 August 1861, 9 months, 11 days old
May Ellen Sayre, born 24 January 1862, died 3 March 1864, 2 years 2 months, daughter of Robert H. and Evelyn Smith Sayre.

The towns of Sayre, Pennsylvania and Sayre, Oklahoma are both named after Robert. His biography is contained in the:
- "American National Biography," 24 volumes, edited by John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, New York, Oxford University Press, 1999.
- "Dictionary of American Biography," Volumes 1-20, New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1928.
- "The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography," Volume 5, New York, James T. White & Co., 1891.
- "Who Was Who in America," A component volume of "Who's Who in American History, " Volume 1, 1897-1942, Chicago, A.N. Marquis Co., 1943.

His children were,
(24) Charles White Sayre (1846), born on 23 January 1846, died 10 April 1848
(24) Mary Eliza Sayre (1849), born on 3 February 1849, married 10 June 1873 to William H. Chandler, Professor of Chemistry and Libraries of Lehigh University
(24) Anna Catherine Sayre (1850), born 18 December 1850, died 12 August 1852
(24) Robert Heysham Sayre Jr. (1853)
(24) Elizabeth Kent Sayre (1854), born on 1 December 1854, married 1 June 1876 to Albert Newton Cleaver, a coal operator in South Bethlehem
(24) Jennie Weston Sayre (1857), born 2 October 1857, married 15 October 1879 to James Fitz-Randolph, son of Ex-Governor Theodore F. Randolph of New Jersey.
(24) Francis Rodolphus Sayre (1859), born on 27 September 1859, died 3 March 1864
(24) Ellen May Sayre (1862), born 24 January 1862, died 24 March 1864
(24) Ruth May Sayre (1864), born 11 May 1864, married 15 October 1884 to Robert Packer Linderman, a grandson of Asa Packer. He was President of the Bethlehem Iron Company, President of the Lehigh Valley National Bank, and a coal operator. (24) John Nevin Sayre (1884)
(24) Francis Bowes Sayre (1885)
(24) Cecil Nevin Sayre (1886)

The son of Robert and Mary Evelyn Smith, he was born on 5 January 1853 in South Bethlehem, Northampton county, Pennsylvania. He was employed by the Bethlehem Iron Company. In the 1880 census of South Bethlehem, Northampton county, Pennsylvania as Robert H. Sayre Jr., a 28 year old Assistant Superintendent of the B. I. Company, living at home with his parents. Bethlehem Iron Company became Bethlehem Steel in 1899.

He married Harriet Elizabeth Hillard on 28 December 1880. She was the daughter of William Stinson Hillard and Ruth Ross Butler, born on 9 September 1855 in Wilkes Barre, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania - from the "Genealogy of the descendants of John Kirk" by Miranda S. Kirk Roberts. They lived in South Bethlehem.

On 7 October 1884 the Grand Opera House and the Union Hall of Lehigh had burned. As a result leaders of the community decided to organize a fire department, which became known as the Lehigh Hook and Ladder Company. Robert Jr. was its first President.

In the 1900 census of Fountain Hill, Lehigh, Pennsylvania as Robt H. Sayre Jr., a 47 year old Superintendent of [?]. Living with him are his wife, Harriet, 44, and son, Robert H. Sayre 3rd, 7.

His children were,
(25) Robert Heysham Sayre III (1893)

He was born on 15 May 1893 in South Bethlehem, the son of Robert H. and Harriet Elizabeth (Hillard) Sayre. He married Marie Bright Riggs on 3 December 1921 in Baltimore. She was born on 22 December 1898, in Baltimore, the daughter of Jesse B. and Charlotte (Symington) Riggs - from "The Riggs Family of Maryland" by . He died on 6 September 1969. He is buried in the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, Churchville, Hartford county, Maryland. Marie died on 8 July 1990 and was buried next to her husband.

His children were,
(26) Harriet Elizabeth Sayre (1923)
(26) Robert Heysham Sayre IV (1926)
(26) Lawrason Riggs Sayre (1927)

She was born on 1 September 1923. 1942 - "Bel Air, Md. Nov. 14 -- Mr. and Mrs. Robert Heysham Sayre 3d of this place have announced the engagement of their daughter, Harriet Elizabeth, to Richard Cunningham Noyes, son of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Simpson Noyes of New Haven, Conn. Miss Sayre was graduated from Chatham hall in 1941 and is now attending Connecticut College. She is a debutante of this season. Mr. Noyes, an alumnus of Phillips Exeter Academy, expects to be graduated from Yale next year. He is a member of the Berzelius Society there." - from the New York Times.

He was born in Baltimore on 6 March 1926. He now lives in Little Compton, Rhode Island. He married Nancy Grinnell, of Marion, Massachusetts. I have a Robert Heysham Sayre who is referenced in Standard & Poor's Register of Corporations, Directors and Executives, 1984, 1987, 1991, 1993.

His children were,
(27) Robert Heysham Sayre V (1959)

He was born on 30 July 1959 on the island of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. From an article published in 2013,

"Robert Heysham Sayre IV, 87 [1926], a retired beef farmer and his son, Robert Heysham Sayre V, a retired veterinarian came to Jim Thorpe the week of Sept. 23 in search of the heritage of their patriarch, Robert Heysham Sayre.

Robert Heysham Sayre (1824-1907) was a major engineer and industrialist during the blossoming of America's Industrial Revolution. His achievements include: the Backtrack for the Switchback Gravity Railroad, the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and the Bethlehem Iron Works-forerunner of Bethlehem Steel.

The father and son knew little about their family heritage until this information became readily available on the Internet. "I found an article online in the Carbon County Magazine while researching our history," explained Sayre V. "It was about a relative, Norman Scarpulla, who was able to locate the stone house that William Sayre, Robert Sayre's father, lived in."

In 1829, William Heysham Sayre, frustrated with farming, moved from Columbia County, Pennsylvania to Mauch Chunk to work for the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company as the locktender at the Weigh Lock-Canal Lock 3 on the Lower Division of the Lehigh Navigation System. He and his wife, Elizabeth Kent Sayre, and their children later moved to the stone locktender's house near the lock.

Robert Heysham Sayre was about five years old at the time, and as a boy helped take care of the mules that towed the canal boats. He attended the public schools at Mauch Chunk, and then entered the engineering corps of the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company.

In 1841, he helped repair the canal, which had been partially destroyed by a freshet in the Lehigh River. Under the direction of LC&N chief engineer Edwin A. Douglas, he was assigned to oversee the engineering of the canals and railroads.

In 1852, he was appointed chief engineer of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and in 1855, he was appointed general superintendent. In 1882, he was elected president and chief engineer of the South Pennsylvania Railroad. He returned to the LVRR as second vice president charged with the care of its transportation lines and engineering. He was elected vice-president and general manager of the Bethlehem Iron Company.

He was named in the will of Asa Packer as one of the five trustees to manage his estate, and he and his brother, William, were appointed trustees of Lehigh University and St. Luke's Hospital.

Robert Heysham Sayre had four wives and eleven children. His first wife, Mary Evelina Smith, gave him eight children, the fourth child being Robert Heysham Sayre, Jr., who became the grandfather of Robert Heysham Sayre IV, and the great-grandfather of Robert Heysham Sayre V. Robert Heysham Sayre V is unmarried and may be the last of the Robert Heysham Sayre dynasty.

After reading the article and speaking with their relative, Norman Scarpulla, they decided to retrace his steps and go on a history tour of Robert Heysham Sayre's heritage with stops at the Sayre Mansion in Bethlehem; in Sayre, Pennsylvania where Robert Heysham Sayre build a Lehigh Valley rail yard, and Jim Thorpe-then Mauch Chunk-where he grew up and cut his teeth on engineering projects.

While breakfasting at the Inn at Jim Thorpe, the Sayres met John Drury of the Mauch Chunk Museum. He arranged for a tour of the remains of the lock house and the Weigh Lock, to which he also invited Jack Sterling and Steve Hlavka of the Mauch Chunk Historical Society.

They visited the remains of the lock house and the Weigh Lock at the northern end of the Delaware & Lehigh Trail, just below the Jim Thorpe Treatment Plant. The lock house had been identified by documentation from Scarpulla in the form of a note in a family bible written and signed by Robert Heysham Sayre that read as follows:

"On the night of the 6 June 1862, occurred a terrible freshet in the Lehigh River. I then lived in the Stone house on the Canal near the Weigh Lock."

He went on to describe how the flood washed into the basement of his home where his books were stored. He managed to bring some books to the main floor, placing them on a parlor table before evacuating.

When he returned, only this prayer book survived. This became an incentive to move to Bethlehem, where his work had been taking him. In Bethlehem, he built a mansion that remains one of the city's finest historic buildings.

In a second document, taken from a 1914 History of the Sayre family, Scarpulla noticed the following words, "Soon after Mr. (William) Sayre went to Mauch Chunk, he was made Deputy Postmaster. In 1837, his office was moved to the Weigh Lock, on the canal below the town, and in June 1838, he removed with his family to the stone house midway between the town and the Weigh Lock."

Sterling had researched the house, looking at old maps and period photographs. Between the description in the writings, maps and photographs, there he found the remains of a house precisely where the Sayre house was said to have been located.

Parts of the stone walls of the basement and main floors remain. Although now overgrown, the house once held a commanding view of the Lehigh River and afforded easy access to the Lehigh Canal. It was for that reason that the home was so vulnerable to the waters that rose to 30-feet above normal. The 1862 flood destroyed the upper Division of the Lehigh Canal and inundated downtown Mauch Chunk in several feet of water.

On a side note, Robert H. Sayre was married four times. His second wife, Mary Bradford, was the niece of Confederacy president Jefferson Davis. Jessie Woodrow Wilson, daughter of president Woodrow Wilson married Francis Bowes Sayre at a White House ceremony. Francis was the third child from the marriage to his fourth wife, Martha Finley Neven of Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. Sayre's brother, the Reverend John Neven Sayre officiated at the wedding." - from "In Search of Heritage" in the "Times News Online" of 28 September 2013

He was born on 19 October 1927. 1953 - "Harrisburg, Pa., March 7 -- Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Stanton Herman Jr. have announced the engagement of their daughter, Miss Alice Jane Herman, to Lawrason Riggs Sayre, son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Heysham Sayre of Leighton, Bel Air, Md. Miss Herman attended the Katharine Sweeney Day School in Harrisburg and Hood College in Frerick, Md. She is a member of the Junior League of Harrisburg. Mr. Sayre attended the Gilman Country School in Roland Park, Md., and was graduated from the Pomfret (Conn.) School and in 1950 from Yale College. He returned recently from Korea, where he served as a first lieutenant with the Marine Corps." - from the New York Times.

The son of Robert and Martha Finley Nevin, he was born on 4 February 1884 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and died in September 1977 in Nynack, New York. One of two sons of a "captain of American industry" whose family was engaged in the development of the steel industry and railroads. Their maternal grandfather was a clergyman who became a college president. John and his brother Francis had a privileged childhood. They were sent to boarding schools and summer camps. Nevin studied at Princeton and graduated in 1907. Having decided to enter the ministry, he studied at the Union Theological Seminary in New York for two years. He finished his graduate work at the Episcopal Theological School at Cambridge in 1911 and was promptly ordained. He subsequently did missionary work in China.

John Nevin officiated at his brother's wedding to the daughter of President Wilson in a ceremony at the White House in 1913. He benefited from his brother's subsequent diplomatic career, gaining access to Presidents Wilson and Roosevelt and other prominent persons, such as General Douglas MacArthur and Emperor Hirohito.

The next few years were an exploratory period during which he considered a career in education, missionary work or the ministry. While working at Princeton in 1914, he heard a lecture on Christianity and war which prompted him to examine the teachings of Jesus on the use of force and the love of enemies. It became clear that Jesus was an "unequivocable pacifist" and that he "totally rejected war." Sayre never doubted that conclusion which became a guiding principle for the rest of his life.

A self-described "peace apostle whose life has been devoted to the waging of peace and opposition to war." He joined the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) in December 1915, only weeks after the American branch was organized. These events defined the course that his life took. He became Secretary of the International Society of Reconciliation. He also served with the YMCA about 1917 in France, as did his brother, Francis. His broad interests often involved him in working with other organizations. He participated in the founding of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and served on the Board of Directors from 1918-1928.

Feeling an urge to preach, he responded to the call to the pastorate of Christ Episcopal Church in Suffern, New York which he served during the war years 1915-1919. The congregation of this village church did not curtail his freedom to uphold a strong pacifist position. Nevertheless after the war ended, he felt a call to be an "evangelist to youth and other parishes". He resigned his pastorate in 1919 to become one of the founders of the Brookwood community school which was conceived by a group of members of the FOR for the purpose of "training builders of the new world". He taught there until 1921 when Brookwood became a "workers' college" under new leadership.

He first married Helen A. Bangs. In February 1922 he married Kathleen Whitaker. She was a young English woman who came to America in 1916 with her widowed mother. They were Christian pacifists who found the pro-war spirit in English churches and society to be intolerable. Kathleen took a business course and then offered her services at the FOR office where she was promptly engaged by Norman Thomas. John Nevin, in writing his memoirs half a century later, devoted a chapter to "Companions in the Faith". He said that she was "first and foremost" in an international group of comrades. That same year he became editor of "The World Tomorrow," a pacifist journal published by the Fellowship Press, and continued in the position until 1924. He had been writing for the publication since its beginning in 1918. He returned to journalism in 1940 when he edited Fellowship magazine for five years while serving as co-secretary of the FOR with A.J. Muste. Kathleen was on born 21 May 1884 and died in January 1982.

The significance and influence of Sayre's life work are summarized by John M. Swomley, a colleague of Sayre on the national staff of the FOR from 1940-1960 and its executive secretary 1953-1960. He wrote a biographical series titled "John Nevin Sayre: Peacemaker" for Fellowship magazine, 1977-1979. The following excerpt is taken from the beginning of the first article published November 1977:

"John Nevin Sayre was one of the great figures of the American peace movement. He lived an unusual life, dedicated fully to world peace. He invested himself and his fortune in movements for radical but peaceful change. He was the associate and advisor of men and women who became more famous, but who could hardly be said to have had more influence. In many respects, the Fellowship of Reconciliation as an organization is an ongoing tribute to his unswerving commitment and intelligent leadership. For fifty-two years he served the Fellowship in various capacities. No other person during that period, which spanned four wars, made a greater continuous world-wide contribution to the cause of world peace."

His children were,
(25) Heather Sayre (c1925)
(25) Faith Sayre (c1926)
(25) William Whitaker Sayre (1927)

He was born on 31 August 1927 and died in 1981. Married a Rakel.

The son of Robert and Martha Finley Nevin, he was born on 30 April 1885 in South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Francis studied at Williams College, graduating in 1909. In that same year he went to work with Dr. Wilfred Grenfell at his mission in Labrador, New Foundland. He then attended Harvard Law school, earning an LL.B. in 1912.

In 1913 Francis became an assistant to District Attorney Whitman in New York. The same year he married Jessie Woodrow Wilson, the daughter of President Woodrow Wilson. The wedding was held on 25 November 1913 in the White House, Washington D.C., and was officiated by his brother, the Reverend John Nevin Sayre. A full page of the Washington Post was dedicated to the wedding. An example from the Washington Post, 26 November 1913:

"White House Bride and Her Husband Hope to Escape Limelight in Simple, Modest Home at Williamstown, Mass. Bridegroom has had some Thrilling Adventures in the Northland.

Apart from the interst that naturally attaches to a wedding in the White House, the marriage yesterdy of Miss Jessie Woodrow Wilson and Francis Bowes Sayre emphasized conspicuously a union of two personalities, bred with the same ideals, and devoted to the same purpose, a life of Christian usefulness.

It was not only congeniality of disposition, but mutaulity of interest-a serious enthusiasm for social service-which first drew the two young people together less than two and a half years ago. The preceding years were occupied by each in training for a work of sociology, and yesterday's wedding is but a milestone in the life road which the two have chosen, for it means a simple,modest home in the academic quiet of Williamstown, Mass., where ambitions for social uplife and continued study may be nourished without the glare of a national limelight.

Mr. Sayre is 28 and Mrs. Sayre is 24. Both are of the same height, tall, and blonde. Mr. Sayre of Notable Family.

The Sayre family is one of the oldest in this country, dating back to 1634, and resident for the most part in Pennsylvania. Robert Heysham Sayre, father of Francis, died in 1907 in his eighty-fourth year. He had built the Lehigh Valley Railroad and was laster assistant to its president. He had founded and was general manager of the Bethelhem Steel Works. He was president of the board of trustees of Lehigh University.

The mother, Mrs. Martha Finely Nevin Sayre still lives at Lancaster, Pa. She has lived recently with the groom-to-be in New York, as her other son, John Nevin Sayre, a Princeton graduate, is doing missionary work in China. Mrs. Sayre's father was a theologian, John Williamson Nevin, who was president of Franklin and Marshall College. She is descended from Hugh Williamson, of North Carolina, one of the framers of the Constitution. Her brother was the late Robert J. Nevin, head of the American Church at Rome, Italy, and Ethelbert Nevin, the composer, was her cousin.

Was Busy at College

Mr. Sayre went to Williams College, in 1905, and finished his course in three and a half years. He was graduated in 1909 at the head of his class and won the Phi Beta Kappa key, a trinket symbolical of merit, which his bride also won in her college days. He managed the football team, organized the Good Government Club to study municipal government, and took trips with members of that club to sociological institutions to study child labor and other problems of social welfare.

He went as the personal assistant to Dr. Wilfred T. Grenfell to do hospital work along the coast of Labrador in 1909, and it was in those days when young Sayre joned him in holding services on the rocks for the Labrador fishermen, that an affection and close friendship developed, which was reflected in the selection of Dr. Grenfell as best man at the wedding.

Was Secretary to Peary

When returning from the Grenfell camp in 1909, Sayre missed his steamer, but found the arctic ship, ROOSEVELT, with Peary aboard, at Battle Harbor, and acting as secretary for the explorer. At another time, in Newfoundland, he tramped 100 miles in ten days with a friend. They could not keep the route planned, and, after much suffering from black flies in the forest underbrush, reached the habitation of a friendly hermit, exhausted from want of food and rest.

Sayre's companion on this expedition was Do. DeWitt Scoville Clark, jr., of Salem, Mass., one of the ushers at the wedding.

Once the same two traveled 2,300 miles down the Yukon River, in Alaska. And when they got to Nome they wanted to get to Siberia across the Bering Strait. Most folk them them it couldn't be done, but they set out in a 15-ton schooner which they happened to pick up, and after a thrilling adventure in a deep fog, hauled up against Asia. Sayre got as far north as 86 degrees.

The President's second daughter, the bride, has been so absorbed in her work . . ."

In 1914 Francis began work as Assistant to the President of Williams College, Williamstown. In January 1915 his son, Francis Bowes Sayre Jr., was born in the White House. At right is Francis with his son, Francis Jr., and his father-in-law, President Wilson, looking on. In 1916 Francis created a course in international law which was funded by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He taught his course for two years.

In June 1917 Francis left Williams College to serve in the war effort. He served briefly with the YMCA in France, then accepted a teaching position at the Harvard Law School. In 1923 he was asked to serve as Advisor in Foreign Affairs to the King of Siam and in 1925 he was appointed as U.S. Ambassador to Siam.

In 1932 Francis returned to Harvard to direct the Harvard Institute of Criminal Law and was a State Commissioner of Correction. In 1933 his wife, Jessie, died suddenly, suffering from complications of appendicitis. Later that year President Roosevelt appointed him Assistant Secretary of State, a position he held until 1939. His successor was Sumner Welles.

In 1937 Francis married Elizabeth Evans Graves and Williams College awarded him an honorary degree. In 1939 Francis became the High Commissioner to the Philippines, the last to hold that position. He was forced to escape from Corregidor in a submarine after the Japanese invasion in 1941. He then became Financial secretary to Williams College.

In 1947 he was appointed as U.S. Representative to the United Nations Trusteeship Council and served as its President. In 1952 he retired from public service and returned to the Far East to serve as President of the House of Deputies of the Episcopal Church of America in Japan.

Francis Sayre had been Alger Hiss's boss in the Far Eastern Division of the State Department. He testified for the defense at the second trial, saying that a number of the documents placed in evidence came not from his (and Hiss's) office, as was asserted by Whittaker Chambers, but from a different section of the State Department, the Trade Agreements Division, where Julian Wadleigh, who admitted passing documents to Chambers, worked. Sayre also testified before the grand jury in New York, but he had been out of the country, and was unable to appear until after Hiss had been indicted. Nonetheless, Sayre made a strong defense of his former assistant. Whittaker Chambers at one time claimed that Sayre was connected to the Communist underground, but dropped those charges later.

Francis died on 29 March 1972 in Washington, D.C. His children were,
(25) Francis Bowes Sayre Jr. (1915)
(25) Eleanor Axson Sayre (1916)
(25) Woodrow Wilson Sayre (1919)

He was Born in January 1915 in the White House, the last child to be born in that place. He did not grow up there, but visited the White House often as a child and his name appears on a plaque in the building. He lived in Siam, now Thailand, with his diplomat father and attended school there. He then attended a boarding school in Switzerland. The family summered in Martha's Vineyard where Dean Sayre learned his love of the place.

He attended Williams College and then studied at the Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He then enrolled in the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge. After his ordination Francis served as assistant minister at Christ Church, on Harvard Square, and assisted at Trinity Church in Boston. He had his own parish in Cleveland. Later he served a four year stint as a chaplain in the United States Navy. This was during World War II and he was stationed on the USS San Francisco in the Pacific.

He met his future wife during the war years. He married Harriet Taft Hart, the daughter of Admiral Thomas C. Hart, and granddaughter of Admiral Willard H. Brownson. Harriet graduated from Vassar College, with a degree in history in 1944. She lived with her family in China, in 1939, while her father commanded the Asiatic Fleet. Harriet worked for the OSS in Washington, during WWII, prior to her marriage. She was involved in research, regarding the feasibility of a Manchurian army.

Francis was a Reverend Minister and the Dean of the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. When he arrived in 1950 the church was only half built. It was he that raised the money and supervised the construction to complete the church. He retired to Martha's Vineyard. Their children are Jessie Sayre Maeck of Lexington, Massachusetts, Thomas Hart Sayre of Raleigh, Harriet Sayre-McCord of Durham, known as "Happy," and Francis Nevin Sayre of Falmouth, Massachusetts, known as "Nevin." The next generation includes Kalyan Deck Sayre, Dean Sayre, and Solvig Sayre.

She was born in March 1916. As the daughter of a diplomat she received her early schooling in Siam, France, England and Switzerland, as well as the United States. She was a graduate of Radcliffe College and was an assistant curator on the staff of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. A well known art expert and an accepted authority on the works on the artist Goya. On 22 February 1963 she launched the ballistic missile submarine WOODROW WILSON. Her brother, the Reverend Francis B. Sayre, Jr., Dean of the Washington Cathedral, delivered the dedicatory prayer at the launching of this ship. She now lives in Cambridge.

He was born in 1919. He was a Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University, near Boston, Massachusetts. Known as Woody, he had a reputation as an eccentric and a rabble rouser. Among his students, he was a highly respected and popular educator. His tremendous physical and mental energy were more than his academic life could contain, and he had a burning desire to make his mark on the world in dramatic ways. He had previously climbed Denali in 1954 and later Mt. Whitney in "superalpine" style, and in 1962, at 42 years of age, determined to climb the North Face of Mt. Everest. He did so with a team of four financed privately by Sayre for $12,411.59. They reached 25,500 feet without oxygen or porters. The book "Four Against Everest," an expedition documentary, was written by Woodrow Wilson Sayre and published in 1964. There is also a 16mm silent film of the 1962 expedition shot by the author. His small groups achievement is credited with inspiring many amateurs to take up mountain climbing. Woody died on 16 September 2002, at the age of 83.

The son of Robert and Martha Finley Nevin, he was born on 15 August 1886 (or 1888?) and died in 1889.

From the Proceedings and Collections of the Wyoming, Pennsylvania Historical and Geological Society, Vol Xll, Page 179 : Elizabeth Kent Sayre was born on 17 September 1826 in Columbia County, Pennsylvania. Her parents were William Heysham Sayre and Elizabeth Kent. According to Theodore Banta she married William Reed, a coal operator, on 17 September 1846. They had four children.

He was born in 3 March 1831 in Mauch Chunk, Carbon county, Pennsylvania, the son of William H. and Elizabeth Kent Sayre. He was educated at the public schools of Mauch Chunk and at the age of 17 entered the employ of Edward Leisenring, a merchant of that town. In the 1850 census of Mauch Chunk as William Sayre Jr., a 19 year old clerk living in the home of John [garbled] Leisenring, a merchant. He afterward had charge of a store for James McLean at Summit Hill, Pennsylvania.

In 1852 he entered the employ of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, when Judge Asa Parker was making surveys for it, and remained with the company until his death, a total of 57 years. He wrote the first tickets for the use of passengers, and was the first Passenger Agent, Paymaster, General Agent and President's Assistant. When the Lehigh Valley railroad formed the Lehigh Valley Coal Company to take charge of its coal interests William was placed in charge of this department and was Vice President at the time of his death.

In the 1860 census of Mauch Chunk, Carbon county, Pennsylvania as William Sayre, a 30 year old clerk. Living with him was his wife, Anna [?], 24, and a daughter, Nelly, 1. They were living in the "Mansion House." The "inn keeper" was George Hopper.

Christopher Brooks, trib@tributaries.org, writes that "William Heysham Sayre married Elizabeth Mitchell Brooks. Banta indicates this occurred on 17 June 1858, but what then of Anna? Elizabeth was of Philadelphia, a descendant of Captain Thomas Brooks." A biography of William's claims that he married Elizabeth in 1858. Elizabeth was born on 10 August 1830 in Philadlephia. She was the daughter of James Emery Brooks, of New Hampshire, and Mary Chambers, of Philadelphia. This sounds like the marrige of a "made man," not that of the clerk of 1860. She died on 6 January 1897.

The residence of William H. Sayre, on the southwest corner of Third and Wyandotte Streets, was erected in 1862 in the Fountain Hill District of South Bethlehem. This was the first house built on the Hill after it had been laid off into streets. By the way, it was Rudolphus Kent, William's cousin, who bought and developed this tract in the 1850's. In 1866 William Heysham Sayre, Jr. delivered an address at the formal opening of Lehigh University. William, along with his brother, Robert, was on the Board of the Bethlehem South Gas and Water Compnay, organized in 1867. He was clearly a rich man, but doing what? I suppose he was in business with his brother, Robert. There are two bills from 1871 from the Pennsylvania and New York Canal and Railroad Company, signed by William H. Sayre, as 'President Assistant.'

In the 1880 Federal census William, the 49 year old Assistant President of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, was living in the 1st Ward, South Bethlehem, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Elizabeth, 49, daughter Clara B., 18, son William H. Jr., 14, and his sister, Annie F. Sayre, 46. She appears to have been a spinster. In 1883 a W. H. Sayre, Jr., of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania took a Cook's tour of eight weeks across the continent to California and back.

In the 1900 census of South Bethlehem, Northampton county, Pennsylvania as William Sayre, a 69 year old Vice President of a Coal Company. He was a widow by this time. Living with him was his daughter, Clara B., 38, and sister, Annie F., 66.

William Heysham Sayre died on 7 April 1909, aged 78 - from the New York Times obituary. In addition to William Jr., below, their children were Clara B, a daughter born in 1861.

"William H. Sayre, first vice president of the Lehigh Valley Coal Company, died on the morning of April 7th at his home in South Bethlehem, Pa., at the age of seventy-eight.

Mr. Sayre was a son of the late William H. Sayre, and was born in Mauch Chunk. He had been associated with the railroad for many years prior to the formation of the coal company n 1870, at which time he became head of that department." - from "The Retail Coalman"

The following are their children who did not achieve adulthood. From the Mauch Chunk cemetary burial list:

Ellen Sayre, born 23 March 1859, died 20 December 1860, 1 year 8 months, daughter of William H. and Elizabeth Mitchell (Brooks) Sayre, Jr.

1936 - "Bethlehem, Pa., Dec. 13. -- Miss Clara Brooks Sayre, daughter of the late William Heysham Sayre, whose brother, the late Robert Heysham Sayre, was one of the builders of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, died here today at the age of 74. Miss Sayre, who was interested in all civic projects, was active in the work of the Procathedral Episcopal Church of the Nativity, of which her father was a warden for many years. She was the founder of the Bethlehem Auxiliary of the Pennsylvania Marine Association, and a member of the Woman's Club, the Lehigh Valley Southern Society and the Woman's Council of the Boys Club." - from the New York Times.

He was born on 17 September 1865 and died in 1921. In the 1880 Federal of South Bethlehem, Northampton county, Pennsylvania as William H. Jr., 14, living with his parents. Of New York and West Palm Beach.

He was a graduate of the engineering school at the Lehigh University at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. His thesis, published in 1886, was "Errors of the Indicator." A railroad engineer, he was involved in the engineering of of the Hazelton branch out of Delano in 1886. This was his first assignment, he would have been 21 at the time. His biography is included in the "Encyclopedia of American Biography, New Series, Volume 4," New York, of The American Historical Society. It includes a portrait.

"William Heysham Sayre Jr., son of Elizabeth (Brooks) & William H. Sayre" married Elizabeth [Knight] Bartholomew, of Glen Ridge, New Jersey, on 24 February 1898. She was born on 28 October 1871, the daughter of Augustine Bartholomew and Ella Pomeroy. - from "An historical and genealogical account of Andrew Robeson of Scotland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania."

William was the manager of the International Contracting Company of New York.

William died on 6 January 1921.

"William H. Sayre, president of the American Abrasive Metals Co., died suddenly at his home in Glen Ridge, N. J., on January 6, 1921, from a severe heart attack. Mr. Sayre was born at Mauch Chunk, Pa., in September 1865. He was graduated from Lehigh University as a mechanical engineer in 1886. Beginning his practical experience in railroad building in the Northwest, in which he became associated with John B. McDonald, Mr. Sayre later became well known as president of the International Contracting Co., executing many important dredging contracts in New York and other harbors and being called upon to act as a consulting engineer on the Cape Cod Canal. He was among the first to apply electric welding commercially, organizing the Federal and the Anthracite Electric Welding Companies. In the safety engineering field he was known for his development of the American Abrasive Metals Co., of which he was president until the time of his death. Mr. Sayre was a member of the American Society of Safety Engineers and was instrumental in its successful reorganization. He became a member of The American Society Of Mechanical Engineers in 1911 and served on its Boiler Code Committee, in which he was especially interested." - from the "Transactions of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers," Vol. 43, 1921

He was born on 21 November 1898. 1926 - "Miss Anne Morson Stuart [the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Francis Lee Stuart of Essex Fells, N.J.] is engaged to Austin Bartholomew Sayre and Miss Lee Stuart to Mr. Sayre's brother, William Heysham Sayre. The fiances are sons of Mrs. William Heysham Sayre of Essex Fells, formerly of Bethlehem, Pa. There will be a double wedding on Nov. 27 in St. Peter's Church, Essex Fells" - New York Times

William Heysham Sayre, the son of William Heysham Sayre and Lee Stuart, was born on 1 April 1933 in Montclair, New Jersey. He has a BA from Lehigh University 1958 and a postgraduate degree from Harvard Business School 1976. He married Eleanor deVore on 18 June 1955.

1954 - "Ambler, Pa., June 12 -- Mr. and Mrs. Weber deVore have announced the engagement of their daughter, Miss Eleanor deVore, to William Heysham Sayre 5th, son of Mr. and Mrs. Sayre 4th of Ralston, N.J. Miss deVore is studying at the Universtiy of Pennsylvania. Mr. Sayre, who attended Lehigh University, is stationed with the Army at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Md." - from the New York Times.

I have a William Heysham Sayre who is in Standard & Poor's Register of Corporations, Directors and Executives, 1984 edition, volume 2, as well as the 1987, and 1991. He's also in Who's Who in America, 1984-1991, and Who's Who in Finance and Industry, 1989. Assistant treasurer Fidelity Bank, Philadelphia, 1962-1966, assistant vice president, 1966-1970, vice president, 1970-1973, senior vice president, 1973-1975. Executive vice president Fidelity Bank N.A., since 1975, senior credit officer, since 1982.

His children are,
(27) Carolyn Sayre Beldon
(27) Catherine Sayre Brooks
(27) Robert deVore Sayre
(27) William Heysham Sayre VI

She was born on 31 January 1900. 1933 - "The engagement has been announced of Miss Elizabeth Knight Sayre, daughter of Mrs. William Heysham Sayre of Essex Fells, N.J., and the late Mr. Sayre, to Victor Frederick Hasenoehrl, son of Mrs. William Ford Upson of Merrano, Italy, and the late Professor Friedrich Hassenoehrl, Austria. Miss Sayre was graduated from Wellesley. Mr. Haseneohrl attended the Theresianum in Vienna and was graduated from Carnegie Institute of Technology." "The bride's cousin, the Rev. John Nevin Sayre of New York, performed the ceremony" - New York Times

He was born on 14 November 1901 in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. He entered Haverford College in 1919 and left in the middle of the year. His address at the time was 181 Ridgewood Avenue, Glen Ridge, New Jersey - from "Biographical catalog of the matriculates of Haverford College."

1926 - "Miss Anne Morson Stuart [the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Francis Lee Stuart of Essex Fells, N.J.] is engaged to Austin Bartholomew Sayre and Miss Lee Stuart to Mr. Sayre's brother, William Heysham Sayre. The fiances are sons of Mrs. William Heysham Sayre of Essex Fells, formerly of Bethlehem, Pa. There will be a double wedding on Nov. 27 in St. Peter's Church, Essex Fells" - New York Times

First name Francis for his grandfather, Francis Stuart? He died on 26 February 2013.

"Age 85, of Delray Beach, FL and formerly of Winnetka, IL and Rumson, NJ, passed away on February 26, 2013. Stuart grew up in Essex Fells, NJ, the son of Austin Bartholomew and Anne Rives Sayre. He graduated from Episcopal High School of Alexandria, VA, Dartmouth College and the Tuck School of Business. For many years a management consultant, he joined the family business, American Abrasive Metals Co., in the late 1960's. Stuart was a longtime member of Rumson Country Club, Seabright Lawn Tennis and Cricket Club, Seabright Beach Club, Eastward Ho!, and the St. Andrews Club in Delray Beach. He served as Warden of St. George's by-the-River Episcopal Church in Rumson. Stuart was an avid golfer, bridge and tennis player, a fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants, a lover of Cape Cod, cheap chardonnay and expensive Scotch, and a connoisseur of big band music. Husband of the late Nancy Bond Sayre, Stuart is survived by his children, Stephen B., S. Carter, and Anne E. Sayre; his grandchildren, Abigail, Gordon, William and Lucas Sayre, and his brother Austin Sayre, Jr. In recent years, he found great happiness in his loving relationship with Ann (Boo) Sutton, with whom he lived in Florida." - from "The Palm Beach Post" of 3 March 2013

Of American Abrasive Metals Company of Irvington, New Jersey. This company was founded by William Heysham Sayre Jr. in 1911. American Safety Technologies Inc. is the successor-in-interest.

Austin Sayre was born on 6 September 1955. He lives in Madison, Indiana. He married Martha Jane Brackenridge in 1989.

"Martha Jane Brackenridge and Austin Bartholomew Sayre 3d were married yesterday at the Reformed Church in Bronxville, N.Y., by the Rev. Theodore Fritsch, a United Church of Christ minister. The bride is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Bruce Brackenridge of Bronxville and Bonnieux, France. Mr. Sayre is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Sayre Jr. of Westfield, N.J.

Mrs. Sayre, an assistant vice president and business manager at Sotheby's New York, graduated from Bronxville High School and Trinity College in Hartford. Her father is a group executive at J. P. Morgan & Company. The bride is a granddaughter of the late Sir Alexander Brackenridge, a Knight Commander of the British Empire, and Lady Brackenridge, of South Orange, N.J., and Larkhall, Scotland.

Mr. Sayre, an information system programmer analyst at A.T.&T. in Morristown, N.J., graduated from Phillips Academy and Wesleyan University. His father is an officer of the American Abrasive Metals Company in Irvington, N.J. " - from the "New York Times" of 19 November 1989

"Mr. and Mrs. Ronald A. Louis of Westfield, N.J., have announced the engagement of their daughter. Robin Ann Louis, to Peter Henning Sayre, son of Mr. and Mrs. Austin B. Sayre also of Westfield.

A spring wedding is planned. Miss Louis, an alumna of Dartmouth College, is the publicity and promotion field representative of New England for M-G-M/U.A. and will be based in Boston. Her father is network systems and product planning manager with the Morristown, N.J., office of the Western Electric Company Inc., a division of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company.

Mr. Sayre, a magna cum laude graduate of Yale College, is on leave of absence from the Rutgers Medical School while studying for a doctoral degree in immunology at the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. His father is president of the American Abrasive Metals Company Inc., a coatings manufacturing concern in Irvington, N.J." - from the "New York Times" of 19 September 1982

She was born on 24 November 1905. 1931 - "Announcement has been made of the engagement of Miss Sylvia Sayre, daughter of Mrs. William Heysham Sayre of Essex Fells, N.J., and the late Mr. Sayre, to George Leonard Boveroux of New York, son of Mrs. George Leonard Boveroux of San Francisco and the late Mr. Boveroux. Miss Sayre attended the Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr, Pa. Mr. Boveroux attended the University of California." - New York Times

Anna and Catherine were twins born on 3 March 1834 in Mauch Chunk. Living at home with their father in the 1850 census of Mauch Chunk. Catherine died on 8 June 1859. In the 1860 census Anne F. Sayre, 25, was living with her father, William H., in East Mauch Chunk and called a housekeeper. In the 1880 of South Bethlehem, Northampton county, Pennsylvania Annie F. Sayre, 46, was a spinster living with her brother, William. She never married.

From the Mauch Chunk cemetary burial list:

Anna Fatzinger Sayre, born 2 March 1834, died 29 September 1907, 73 years old, the daughter of William H. and Elizabeth Kent Sayre
Catherine Irwin Sayre, born 2 March 1834, died 8 June 1859, the daughter of William H. and Elizabeth Kent Sayre, twin sister of Anna F. Sayre.

Francis and Ann's second son, he was born on 1 August 1795 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He died on 23 August 1801, just after turning 6 years old. His father was listed as a friend of Dr. John Cox, of Philadelphia, on the latter's will. That Francis named his son after the old man is a sign of their close affiliation and, perhaps, a reflection of the debt Francis owed him.

Was this also, however, an indication of Francis' ambivalent feelings about his own father? Francis named his first son in honor of his father-in-law, William Heysham. He named his second son in honor of the family's protector, John Cox. Had he planned to wait for a third son to honor his own father? Or, was there something about his father that embarassed him? Franics, the son of a noted pacifist and Tory, had married the daughter of a patriot and lived in the capital, at that time, of the new republic. There was much about his father's life that would not play well in that environment. I think it is important, too, that the Reverend Sayre died when Francis was a teenager, an age renowned for its ambivalence, if not down-right opposition, in regards to parents [the Mark Twain quotation jumps to mind]. The Reverend Sayre had faced many setbacks. His backwoods New York congregations had rejected him for his Tory views. In Connecticutt he had once fled his congregation for protection and later, having returned, been unable to spare his community from British retribution. At the end of the war he had been forced to flee the country and died soon after. Might his son's memories of his father been dominated by the man's shortcomings? If the Reverend had died earlier, I think Francis would have remembered a father who, as with most young sons, was an infallible god to him. If the Reverend had died later, Francis might have had the time and maturity to put his father's life in perspective, learning to appreciate the stubborness that cost him everything as strength of purpose.

She was born on 27 October 1797 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She was perhaps named for Francis' mother, though Francis also had a sister by that name, born in 1771. She died on 26 August 1801, at the age of 4, and just three days after her brother, John Cox. This sounds like an infectious disease.

Steve Hissem
San Diego, California