My Farming Genes- Dempsey Sawyer

There is an interesting story of a boy named Dempsey,  who volunteered at the young age of 16 to serve 2 short stints of duty in the Tennessee State Militia during the War of 1812: one in 1812, and one in 1814. He drew a land grant in Middle TN for his service, and settled in what became known as Sawyer's bend of the Harpeth River. He happened to draw a beautifully scenic farmstead- full of rocky hills, with  a small, winding river subject to frightening floods in the spring season. That setting does not a plantation make. He and his many descendants were self-supporting subsistence farmers, who cooperated with neighbors to start a small school, a Presbyterian church, and a general store nearby in Ash Grove(a town known now only by a historical marker, and a wooden school building slowly rotting in an overgrown field) . His wife requested (and obtained) an 8-dollar-a month pension in 1879, when she was 82 and he had been dead for 19 years. She described him at the time of enlistment as "about 5 ft 4 inches in height, black hair, gray eyes, and fair complexion". No portraits of them have survived. The above is a sketch from a bad photocopy of a faded photo of his home, taken in 1967. The family actually kept a piece of the poplar log in which he cured meat, and I have the sliver of wood (with explanatory note from my great aunt) to this day. The land is out of family hands except for the last 5 acres, but at least we have our pack-ratting ancestors to thank for the memories we can share.