William Sawyer of Allentown
Sketch of a Well Known Producer of the Allegany Oil Field.
(from the Bolivar Breeze, Nov. 15, 1895. Transcribed by Stephen Sweet.)
It is always a pleasure to record the success of a self made man, and the writer takes pardonable pride in presenting lo the readers of the Breeze, a portrait and sketch of William Sawyer of Allentown, a well known producer of the Allegany oil field.
Mr. Sawyer is a native of Allegany county. He was born in the town of Wirt, January 19, 1846, and is therefore in his fiftieth year, the very prime of life. Mr. Sawyer had very little opportunity to attend school, in fact three months comprises all the time he spent in a school room. But he managed to secure a business education outside of the school room. When he was 22 years old, Mr. Sawyer went to Bradford and engaged in lumbering. When the oil excitement spread over McKean county, he became interested and opened up the Knox City field. In 1881 he came to the Allegany field and interested himself with Miner & Wellman of Friendship, under the firm name of Sawyer & Co. He located near Allentown. and has been then there ever since. The Sawyer farm has been a prolific producer of petroleum and Sawyer & Co. have prospered. Four years ago a small refinery was erected on their premises and when the market is low
they refine their own production.
Mi. Sawyer was married in 1868 in Miss Helen Withey of Wirt They have two sons, Stanley and Paul and one daughter, Miss Lena. Mr. Sawyer's father is still living at West Candor, Pa., hale and hearty at 78 years. Mr. Sawyer has four brothers living. Martin at Allentown, Marian at Richburg, Edward at Pittsburg, and Simon at Scio, and one sister, Mrs. Robert Early at Scio.
Mr. Sawyer is a progressive, wide a wake business man who has carved out a good name for himself,, and incidentally accumulated a competency by continually pegging away at whatever work be mapped out. He has demonstrated that the man who continually hustles is the man who gets to the front.
(Shown is a sketch of William Sawyer that accompanied this article from the Bolivar Breeze.)