Education
Born in Brandon, Vermont, Sawyer attended the common schools and Millville (New York) Academy. He studied law.
United States representative politician
Born in Brandon, Vermont, Sawyer attended the common schools and Millville (New York) Academy. He studied law.
He moved to Albion, New York in 1845. Superintendent of schools for Orleans County, New York from 1848 to 1851. He was admitted to the bar in 1850 and commenced practice in Albion.
He was in the Justice of the Peace of Barre, New York from 1851 to 1862.
He served as prosecuting attorney of Orleans County 1862-1865. He served as judge and surrogate of Orleans County 1867-1883.
He served as delegate to several Republican State conventions. Sawyer was elected as a Republican to the Forty-ninth, Fiftieth, and Fifty-first Congresses (March 4, 1885 – March 3, 1891).
He served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Navy (Fifty-first Congress).
He was not a candidate for renomination in 1890. He resumed the practice of his profession in Albion, and died there September 5, 1898. He was interred in Mount Albion Cemetery.