History of Oakland County Michigan a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, its principal interests / compiled from the official records of the county, the newspapers and data of personal interviews, under the editorial supervision of Thaddeus D. Seeley.

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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY

She was three years of age when she came with her parents to Central
Mine, Keweenaw county, Michigan, in which place she remained until
the death of her father in 1875, when, with her mother and sisters she
came to Pontiac. Mr. and Mrs. Sawyer have five children, as follows:
Lizzie Belle, born August 8, 1878, the wife of A. R. Stockwell of Pontiac; Mary Lucile, born April 12, 1880; Kate Eleanor, born November
18, I884; Joseph Satterlee, July 25, 189o and Thomas Dole, January
27, 1901.
The Sawyer family is one which has long been prominent in Masonry.
Col. Edward Sawyer, uncle of the subject, joined the fraternity at the
age of twenty-one years and was the second oldest Mason in the United
States when he died on February 2, 1885, aged ninety-seven years.
Joseph E. Sawyer was initiated May 27, 1870, in Pontiac lodge No. 21,
A. F. & A. M., of which he afterwards was master. He was exalted
in Oakland Chapter, R. A. M., January 29, I875, of which he became
high priest. On June 28, 1875, he became a member of Pontiac council
No. 3, R. & S. M., of which he was elected thrice illustrious master; on
March 7, I876, was knighted in Pontiac Commandery No. 2, Knights
Templar; on March 6, I877, he was elected prelate; in I880 he was
elected captain-general and eminent commander in I885. He is also
past chancellor of Pontiac lodge No. 19, Knights of Pythias, and has
served as district deputy grand chancellor and chairman of the committee
on foreign correspondence. The foreign correspondence reports of
Michigan for I890 and I89I, written by Mr. Sawyer, received much
favorable notice from the reviewers of other grand domains, of which
the following from the able pen of Hon. M. L. Stevens, who had written the report for Maine for many years and was universally acknowledged to be the ablest writer of such reviews in the United States, is a
fair sample. In reviewing the Journal of Michigan for I89I, he says:
"The Correspondence Report (Ioo pp.) is without exception the very
best, from any jurisdiction, which we have ever read. Brother Sawyer
has reached, almost at a bound, a degree of excellence as a reporter
which we have striven vainly for almost a score of years to attain. As
furnishing an accurate and thoroughly interesting bird's-eye-view of
what is going on throughout the order, he has no peer. The nearest
approach to his excellence was made by the lamented Dayton of Connecticut, in I884."
In the military branch of the Knights of Pythias, Mr. Sawyer has
held the rank of colonel since 1892 and served upon the staff of the
major general in the biennial encampments at Kansas City, Cleveland,
Washington, Indianapolis and Detroit. He is a venerable sheik of
Mecca Temple No. 56, D. O. K. K. and has filled that position since
the institution of the temple on May 5, I896, with the exception of one
year, when that office was held by Rev. Edward Collins of Detroit.
Mr. Sawyer is a member of the Protestant Episcopal church and
was for many years a vestryman of Zion church of Pontiac. He was a
lay reader under Bishop Harris and held services at various places in
Oakland county, and at Clintonville established a flourishing mission
in 1887.