Lemuel SAWYER, Congress, NC (1777-1852)

SAWYER, Lemuel, a Representative from North Carolina; born in Camden County, near Elizabeth City, N.C., in 1777; attended Flatbush Academy, Long Island, N.Y., and was graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1799; attended the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia for a time; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1804 and commenced practice in Elizabeth City, N.C.; member of the state house of commons in 1800 and 1801; elected as a Republican to the Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Congresses (March 4, 1807-March 3, 1813); elected as a Republican to the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Congresses (March 4, 1817-March 3, 1823); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1822 to the Eighteenth Congress; elected as a Jacksonian to the Nineteenth and Twentieth Congresses (March 4, 1825-March 3, 1829); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1828 to the Twenty-first Congress; department clerk in Washington, D.C., until his death in that city on January 9, 1852; interment in the family burying ground at Lambs Ferry, Camden County, about four miles from Elizabeth City, Pasquotank County, N.C.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present