In the beginning…

My sister and I often joke that it is a miracle of sorts that any of us alive here in the 21st century still have any cooperating brain cells. The Sawyers married the Rackliffs who married the Bachelders who married the Sawyers who married the Rackliffs who married the Sawyers…well you get the drift. We surmised long before the scientific community opined of late that marrying first cousins was not necessarily verboten unless you were carrying some recessive genetic disease. If it were true, we all would have IQs of around 40 at this point. We may not be geniuses – but we manage more than that. Quid pro quo.

Anyway – on to the topic at hand…

Margaret, Bessy (Tot) and Johanna Murray

This whole adventure started well before we got involved. Our little old Irish grandmother (Margaret Murray) decided that it was essential for her granddaughters to be members of the DAR. (Daughters of the American Revolution) So she set out to trace the heritage of her husband’s family – one John Sawyer who fought in the first naval battle of the Revolution (Machiasport, ME). This resulted in less about the Sawyer family and a great deal more about the Foss family, but it got her the proof she needed. Neither of us was particularly interested in the DAR – but when we had children (no girls – only boys) – they wanted to know about their ancestors so we began with Foss. It mushroomed from there to include our branches of the Rackliff, Bachelder and the Graves families of Maine.

The most information here is related to Sawyers, although the Bachelder family is equally robust. The Rackliifs are a bit more troublesome, as there a host of them in Maine but connecting the dots is difficult. We have much less about the Graves family as they arrived later (in 1871) and immediately moved to Texas to work in the mills. Although John Graves returned to Maine along with his father Augustus, William stayed in Texas and seems to have disappeared except in family anecdotal information.

A point of fact: The genealogy presented by Eleanor Sawyer (The Sawyer Families) which is available widely online is not correct as to the descendants of Oliver Sawyer. These folks were our immediate relatives and we do know who they were and their proper names. Eleanor contacted us for information but somehow the response never got included in the book.)

“Over the Hill” Sawyer

Nehemiah Sawyer married Rebecca Sawyer – daughter of John Sawyer of Machias, ME. (Revolutionary War soldier).

There is no record of Nehemiah in any form that can be found before the marriage. According to anecdotal wisdom, he was called “Over-the-Hill” Sawyer. This might be because he could have been either a prisoner/refugee who  escaped from New Brunswick or Nova Scotia during the time that the English had re-taken those areas from the French and were forcibly deporting French settlers. Many were sent South to New Orleans where they became Cajuns…and many escaped across the border into Maine. Nehemiah could very well have been one of those refugees who took the surname of his wife to elude capture.

The Great Expulsion

The British conquered Acadia in 1710. During the French and Indian War (1754–1763) British colonial officers, New England legislators and militia deported approximately 11,500 French settlers from the maritime region. Approximately one-third perished from disease and drowning. Many settled in Louisiana and some escaped to sympathetic villages in Maine as “prisoners” whose only crime was to refuse to sign unqualified alliance paper to the British Crown.

Spanish or Philippine American War?

Doc’s Spanish American War Service

Doc (Ernest Stanislaus Sawyer) actually served in the “Philippine American War” – not the “Spanish American War”. But his service papers, his pension and his gravestone all read “Spanish American War”. Now is that?

The Spanish American War lasted from late April to December 10, 1898 when it ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris between the U.S. and Spain. It lasted eight months. It was a global war, fought physically in the Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico and Cuba. And it was fought politically in the home countries as well as in diverse places such Egypt, and Hawaii. And – it is important to note – that in the Spanish American War the the Filipinos served as an active de facto, but unofficial, U.S. ally.

In contrast, the Philippine American War began on February 4, 1899 (a month and a half after the Spanish American War ended). It was a conflict local to the Philippines, fought between the U.S. and the Filipinos in the archipelago. The war lasted officially until 1902, though fighting did occur as late as 1906. Significantly, the war was fought between the U.S. and the Filipinos. Spain was not involved. It was a separate and different conflict from the Spanish American War.

So why were veterans who fought in the Philippines during the years 1898 – 1906 designated as Spanish American War veterans?

The confusion entered the picture at the outbreak of the Philippine American War. When the war broke out, the U.S. forces who were in the Philippines were basically the same forces which had fought in the Spanish American War. It was not understood at the time that the skirmishes were a prelude to a new, longer, bloody struggle. When the Spanish American War veterans who were now fighting against the Filipinos were wounded or killed, pensions were issued from the Spanish American War pension fund. It made sense. They were Spanish American War veterans afterall.

However, shortly, more troops arrived to fight in the action – tens of thousands more. These were men who joined after the Treaty of Paris was signed, and had no plans to fight Spain. Still, when they were wounded or killed, the government continued its procedure of issuing pensions from the Spanish American War pension fund. A new Philippine American War pension fund was never created. This was true for men who were involved in fighting as late as 1906, eight years after the Spanish American War ended!

Of course, to collect a pension, the paperwork must be filed correctly. The pensions were paid out of the Spanish American War Pension Fund, so the pension records had to read “Spanish American War.” In fact, all related government documents – including gravestones – followed suit. As a result, all of these government records list all Philippine American War veterans as “Spanish American War Veterans.”