The following article was written for the "St. Louis Presbyterian," and published by request. It is a copy from the newspaper clipping now (February, 1895) in possession of D. F. Sayre, Esq., Fulton, Wisconsin. Evidence shows it to have been undoubtedly written by Rev. J. G. Bergen, pastor of the Madison, N. J., Presbyterian church. The reverse side of the clipping shows that it was published in 1856 (during the Frémont and Dayton campaign), in a Morristown, N. J., newspaper: I found the church of Madison to consist of about two hundred members, two hundred families, and over twelve hundred souls. It had a strong and able bench of Elders, on whom I could lean for prayer, counsel and aid; and an active Board of Trustees, who relieved me from the burden of worldly concerns. Ephraim Sayre, a man of about seventy years, strongly marked with what in that part of the country was technically called "mother wit," stood at the head of the eldership, and from his laconic remarks I learned more of practical pastoral wisdom than from any other man. He was a frank-speaking man — out with his first thoughts - which, in him, as in most men of his temperament, were ordinarily his best thoughts. Sometimes he was too dogmatical with his brother elders, on which occasions he would close with his last argument," at any rate, I am the oldest and ought to know best"; this he often would deliver with so much seriousness as to make it gravely amusing. He was a man whose piety and hospitality were strongly marked. His house had long been called "the minister's tavern." It was the first I had entered in that congregation. He was the deacon through whom Dr. Finley had introduced me to the people; and on account of his plainness of manners I had greatly misjudged him on first sight. It was at his house I spent two weeks solus, in my first winter among that people, my young companion being at her father's house in Monmouth; doubtless, as the day approached when I expected to go for her. my pleasurable anticipations were strongly expressed; and as I took my seat in the gig the old gentleman said: "If you should lose your wife, you would n't miss her so much as I would if I were to lose mine." I took the reins, saying to myself, "Strange, strange. How can a man that was once young make such a remark?" But the longer my companion was spared to me the more I subscribedi to the sentiment of the elder; and now that, after forty years' companionship it has pleased God to call me to the trial, I acknowledge the truth and wisdom of the remark, while I endeavor to bow in submission. He was a warm-hearted Christian, sure to be at the prayer-meeting, and when there, in the spirit of prayer, with deep and humble confession of sin, thankful acknowledgment of God's mercies, and fervent supplication for the young, often accompanied with overflowing tears which would induce him on some occasions to say, "My friends, pardon me; I know it is a weakness; I know there is no religion in tears, yet I thank God I can weep." In revivals of religion he used to say to young converts who were in the employ of others: "Remember your time belongs to your employers; don't give them occasion to say you neglect your duty or business to them by your constant going to meetings or late staying. Rise earlier, work more diligently; one duty must not crowd out another; don't give occasion to the wicked to reproach your religion." In his latter days he became very deaf, so that he could scarcely hear anything in the sanctuary; and yet, as long as he was able, he filled his place, and said he would go if he could not hear a word, for it was God's house, God's ordinance, and he liked to be there. In his last long confinement he used to say: "Bless God for my eyes" - the Bible was his constant companion, but his memory was almost gone with his hearing, and he would say: "At any rate, I feed as I go along." When I stood by the bedside of that dying, good man, and when to a mourning church I preached his funeral sermon 'midst a vast concourse of people from the surrounding country, I felt, in some measure, as the sons of the prophet did as they exclaimed when Elijah was removed from their sight: "My father! my father! the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof! OLD MAN OF THE PRAIRIE. Deacon Ephraim Sayre died October 24, 1819, in his seventy-third year. His widow died January 3, 1840, in her eighty-ninth year. CHILDREN. 689* SARAH,6 b. April 1, 1773; m. Cyrus Richards. 690 MARY, b. Sept. 1, 1775; m. Jan. 23, 1796, Calvin Howell, who died March 30, 1850, aged 88 years, 4 months, and 12 days. She died Oct. 9, 1807. CHILD. ELIZA HOWELL,7 m. Benjamin Cook. CHILD. Ellis Cook,8 d. aged 13 years. 691* ARCHIBALD,6 b. April 28, 1776; m. Martha Sayre (647). 693 DANIEL,6 b. Feb. 20, 1780; d. April 6, 1801, unmarried. 694* JAMES CALDWELL,6 b. Nov. 11, 1781; m. Elizabeth P. Hamilton. 695 HANNAH,6 b. Feb. 15, 1784; d. Feb. 1, 1805, unmarried. 696* BAXTER,6 b. March 16, 1786; m. Feb. 15, 1809, Elizabeth (Betsy) Kitchell. 697 JOSEPH S.,6 b. June 16, 1788; d. Sept. 10, 1789. 698 PRISCILLA,6 b. July 8, 1791; m. James Cromey in Lexington, Ky., Aug. 18, 1855; d. Nov. 8, 1878. 699* DAVID AUSTIN,6 b. March 12, 1793; m. Abby V. Hammond. LINE OF EPHRAIM, DANIEL,3 JOSEPH.2 5 267a EPHRAIM SAYRE, born 1738; married Mary Meeker, daughter of James Meeker, according to Littell's "Early Settlers." The Westfield church. records say that Ephraim Sayre married Mary Davis, June 30, 1762. Probably Mary Davis was a widow and her maiden name was Meeker. She died August 7, 1797, in her fifty-eighth year. He married again, Jane, who died December 19, 1823, in her seventy-ninth year. Littell, in mentioning the sons of Ephraim (89), omits this son. His identity as a brother of David (268) and William (271) is demonstrated by a comparison of the signatures of the latter as they appear on the records at Trenton, where William witnesses his brother David's will in 1776, acts as executor of his brother Ephraim's will in 1804, and signs his own will in 1823, the three signatures being evidently by the same hand. Ephraim was a farmer in Elizabeth, N. J., on the road to Crane's Mill (Cranford), and member of the church there. Two Ephraims appear as subscribers towards the support of the church at the time of the Revolution. He died July 22, 1804. His will mentions his wife Jane, his son Ephraim, his daughter Mary, granddaughters Hannah and Susan Miller, and Elizabeth, daughter of David Williams. His brother William was named as executor. CHILDREN. 699a EPHRAIM,6 m. Elizabeth He was a farmer in Elizabeth, and died prior to Sept. 20, 1823. The will of Robert Clark, of Rahway, dated 1811, styles Ephraim Sayre his grandson. It is probable that he married a granddaughter of Clark. CHILDREN. I BENJAMIN W.7 Sept. 20, 1823, he was living in Lincoln Co., Ga., and conveyed his interest in the land in Union Township, Essex Co., N. J., which his grandfather Ephraim had left to his son Ephraim, Jr., during the latter's lifetime. 2 JOSHUA CLARK, of Pittsburg, Pa., in 1823 gave a power of attorney to Mary Sayre to dispose of his interest in his grandfather's property. 3 MARY,7 m. Ezra Hand. 4 HANNAH.7 699b ELIZABETH,6 m. David Williams. He was a soldier of the Revolution. He died Aug. 1, 1841, in his eighty-fourth year. She died April 28, 1848, in her eighty-sixth year. 269 DANIEL SAYRE married Anna Runyon, daughter of Richard and Jane Van Court Runyon, who was born October 27, 1747, and died April 2, 1773, and was buried in the First Presbyterian churchyard in Elizabeth, N. J. He probably died in 1781, when his father was appointed administrator on his 701* JAMES, b. May 26, 1771; m. Jan. 30, 1796, Deborah Dunham. 271 JOSEPH SAYRE, born about 1748, near New Providence, N. J., married, about 1770, Rebecca Neely, whose father or brother was probably Wm. Neely. She died in 1832. He was a minute-man during the Revolution, and was at the battle of Monmouth. Letters from descendants of Thomas, the oldest son, say that he remembered his mother sitting in the dooryard and crying as the guns of the battle of Monmouth were heard, because her husband was in the battle. He was a farmer, and removed at the close of the Revolution to the vicinity of Redstone, now Fayette County, Pa., but which section was at that time claimed by Virginia. He died, about 1830, in Preston County, Va. CHILDREN. 702* THOMAS,6 b. Nov. 9, 1773; m. Isabel Martin. 709 DANIEL,6 b. 1786; d. about 1813, unmarried. 710 EPHRAIM,6 b. 1788; m. Rachel Haney. 274 JOHN SAYRE, born June 4, 1738, at 58 Broad Street, New York City; married, in Philadelphia, September 28, 1758, Mary Bowes, daughter of Francis Bowes and Rachel Chevalier, who was born in Trenton, N. J., March 5, 1739. She was his stepsister, his father having married her mother April 8, 1751; her first husband died in Philadelphia, December 3, 1749. He was educated at King's (now Columbia) College, N. Y., and became a clergyman of the Episcopal Church. Rev. Rufus Emery, of Newburgh, N. Y., in an address delivered January 13, 1892, in Christ Church, Warwick, N. Y., thus speaks of Mr. Sayre: Two years after the death of Mr. Watkins - that is, in 1767 - the Rev. John Sayer was appointed by the society to the Newburgh Mission and parts adjacent. Mr. Sayer did not live in Newburgh, but back in the country, at a place called Bellomont, preaching alternately at Newburgh, Otterkill, and Wallkill. He obtained charters for three parishes, St. George's in the county of Ulster, St. Andrew's in the precinct of Wallkill, and St. David's in the county of Orange. The charter of St. George's is now in the possession of that Parish, that of St. Andrew's is entered on the Parish Record, both bearing date July 30, 1770, and that of St. David's is recorded in the office of Secretary of State at Albany, in the Book of Patents, dated July 31, 1770. Mr. Sayer did not confine his labors to his three stations, for he says in a letter to the Society in 1773 that he "officiates at Warwick, a place 20 miles from his residence, once a month on week-days, and once in three months on Sundays, though it be no part of his mission, and that |
