Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/260

 SAY

SAYLES

including Col. T.W. HifiRinson's regiment, the first colored regiment ever regularly enlisted in the U.S. service. General Saxton was made com- mander of the Heaufort district, February, 18(53, and under protest superintended the colonization of the freedmen on deserted estates. He was married March 11, 1863, to Matilda Gordon, daugh- ter of Lewis and Rosanna Thompson of Philadel- phia. In January. 180.1. he was relieved of his other duties and made assistant commissioner of the refugees, freedmen and abandoned lands for the states of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. He was brevetted major-general of volunteers, Jan. 12, 1SG5 : and brevetted major, lieutenant- colonel and colonel, U.S.A., March 13, 1865, and brigadier-general, U.S.A., April 9, 1865. He was nmstered out of the volunteer service, Jan. 15, 1866. and returned to the quartermaster's depart- ment U.S.A. He was promoted major July 29, 1866. and was chief quartermaster on the frontier, 1866-67. of the 3d military district and depart- ment of the South, 1867-69 ; of the department of the Columbia, 1869-73, and was promoted lieu- tenant-colonel and department quartermaster- general June 6. 1872. He served in the depart- ment of the Lakes, 1873-75, department of Mis- souri, 1875-79, military division of the Pacific, 1879-83 ; was promoted colonel and assistant quartermaster-general, March 10, 1882, and was in command of Jeffersonville department of the quartermaster's department, 1883-88. He was re- tired by age limit, Oct. 19. 1888.

SAY, Benjamin, representative, was born in Philadelpliia, Pa., in 1756; son of Thomas Say (1709-1700). and grandson of William Say, an early Quaker settler in Philadelphia. His father was a prominent mercliant of Philadelphia ; treasurer of the society for the instruction of blacks ; a founder of the Pennsylvania hospital, and of the house of employment. Benjamin attended the Quaker schools, studied medicine in tlie Univer- sity of Pennsylvania, and became a well-known physician. He sympathized with the colonies during the Revolution, and was a member of the fighting Quakers. He was a representative in the 10th and 11th congresses, 1808-11, succeed- ing Joseph Clay, resigned. He was a founder of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, and its treasurer, 1791-1809 ; founder of the Penn- sylvania Prison society, and president of the Philadelphia Humane society. Ho is the author of: SpftKmodic Affrctions of the Ei/e (1792), and .4 Short Comijilation of the Extraordinary Life and Writings of Thomas Say Copied from his Manuscripts (1796). He died in Philadelphia, Pa.. April 23, 1^13.

SAY, Thomas, naturalist, was born in Phil- adelphia. Pa.. July 27, 1787 ; son of Dr. Benjamin Say (q.v.). He engaged unsuccessfully in the drup-

business, and devoted himself entirely to the study of natural history. He founded the Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia in 1812; took part in the scientific exploration of the islands and coasts of Georgia, and in 1819 joined Maj. Stephen Long in his famous expedi- tion to the Rocky Mountains, as chief geologist. In 1820 he went on another expedition under Long to explore the sources of the Mississippi river, making the wiiole botanical collection. He joined the socialistic community of Robert Owen at New Harmony, Ind., in 1825, and after the failure of the community remained there as keeper and agent. He contributed largely to the Transactions of the American Philosophical society, and the American Journal of Science ; and is tiie autlior of: American Entomology (3 vols., 1824-28); American Conchology. which he left unfinished, but which was completed and edited by William G. Binney in 1858. He died in New Harmony, Ind., Oct. 10, 1834.

SAYERS, Joseph Draper, governor of Texas, was born at Grenada, Miss., Sept. 23. 1841 ; son of Dr. David and Mary Thomas (Peete) Sayers. and a descendant of John Sayers, a major in the Continental army in the Carolina campaign. He removed with his father to Bastrop, Texas, in 1851, and attended Bastrop Military institute ; and in 1861 joined the Confederate army, serv- ing 1861-65, and reaching the rank of major. He was admitted to the bar in 1866 ; was a Democratic senator in the Texas legislature in 1873 ; chairmanof the Democratic state execu- tive committee, 1875-78, and lieutenant-governor of Texas, 1879-80. He was married in 1879 to Orline, daughter of Williams and Maria Walton of Bastrop, Tex. He was a Democratic representa- tive from the ninth and tenth districts of Texas respectively, in the 49tli-55th congresses, serving from 1885 to 1898, when he resigned his seat to become Democratic candidate for governor, and lie -was elected, and re-elected in 1900, serving, 1899-1903.

SAYLES, John, jurist, was born in Vernon, N.Y., Marcli 9, 1825 ; a descendant of John" Sayles, who emigrated from England in the ship Lion, with Roger Williams, in 1631, and settled on Providence Plantations, R.I., in 1645, where he married Mary, daughter of Roger Williams. John Sayles the younger attended the public schools of Oneida county ; graduated at Hamilton col- lege, LL.B. in 1845, and removed to Georgia, teaching school there and in Texas. He was ad- mitted to the Texas bar in 1846 ; practised at Brenham ; was a representative in the Texas legislature, 1853-55 ; and was appointed special