When he arrived in West Gwillimbury in 1829, 25-year-old Robert Sawyer had nothing. He shrugged off his lack of means and went about making something of himself.
When Robert died five decades later, he could proudly say that he succeeded: he boasted a prosperous farm, a devoted wife, a large brood to carry on his name, and the respect of his neighbours.
It was a life well lived.
Robert Sawyer was the son of Robert Sawyer Sr. and Joanna Hale, born Oct 21, 1804, in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England. He had a very modest upbringing and as a young man embarked on a career as a haberdasher, a Victorian term for a salesman dealing in buttons, ribbons and zippers. He would wander the city, going home-to-home, hoping to earn some coins from these modest items. It was a hard life with little prospect for improving himself.
Taking a page from thousands of others before him, Sawyer elected to emigrate in search of better opportunities. In 1829, he boarded a ship heavy with Yorkshire migrants headed for Canada. It was a fortuitous voyage for Sawyer, and not merely because he was bound for a new country where he could better himself.
Among the mass of humanity was the family of Richard Towse. Sawyer met their acquaintance during the lengthy crossing and became smitten with Richard's 17-year-old daughter, Monica. We don’t know if the attraction was mutual, but what we do know is that Sawyer was persistent in wooing her. He agreed to hire on with the Towse family as a labourer on the farm they would establish in West Gwillimbury, all to be near Monica and win her hand.
Whether he wore her down or had her heart all along, Sawyer eventually succeeded in his courting. The two were married on March 31, 1833. Their first child, Alfred, was born the following year.
By 1835, Robert had earned enough money to purchase a 100-acre farm comprising Lots 17 and 18, Concession 15, West Gwillimbury. He proved to be an excellent farmer, and a good thing too as the dinner table soon became crowded with children. There would eventually be 14 in total — family lore says seven had brown eyes like their father, seven blue like their mother.
The last child, Anne, was born in 1860 when Monica was 47, an advanced age for childbearing in those days. Monica must have been a remarkably strong woman because she survived all of the births and lived until the ripe age of 94.
The same year that Anne was born the family moved to a new property on the 15th Line. We’re not sure what compelled the move, but it wasn’t financial hardship because Robert built a large, brick home here.
Robert was still residing here when he passed on April 24, 1882. He was buried at St. Paul’s Anglican Cemetery in Coulson’s Hill.
