Sayres, Irvin J.

SAYRES, PARROTT

Posted By: Janelle Martin - Volunteer (email)
Date: 2/22/2010 at 13:52:29

History of Hamilton County, Iowa, vol II, 1912, p.124

IRVIN J. SAYRS.

Irvin J. Sayrs has been a resident of Webster City for only five years but, although one of the more recent arrivals here, he has succeeded in establishing himself in a creditable position as a member of the bar and also as the secretary of the Hamilton County Abstract Company. He was born in the neighboring state of Illinois, his birth having occurred in Schuyler County, August 10, 1876. His parents were Francis M. and Hulda C.(Derry) Sayrs. His grandfather, Jonathan Sayrs, was a resident of Harrison County, Ohio, remaining there until after his marriage and the birth of two of his children. At an early day, however, he became a resident of Illinois, being one of the first settlers of Fulton County, where another child was added to the family circle — Francis M. Sayrs, who remained a lifelong resident of Fulton and Schuyler Counties. At the time of the Civil war he entered his country's service, becoming a member of the Thirty-sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry in response for troops to serve for ninety days. Later he reenlisted in the Eighty-fourth Illinois and continued with that regiment until the close of the war. In 1855 the Derry family, to which Mrs. F. M. Sayrs belonged, removed from Mason County, Illinois, to Kansas, settling on a homestead about forty miles south of Leavenworth. It was their intention to remain in that state, but on account of the border warfare that there prevailed and because of their strong advocacy of republican principles, they left that locality at the outbreak of hostilities between the north and the south, selling their homestead, comprising one hundred and sixty acres of prairie land and forty acres of timber land, for three hundred dollars. They then returned to Illinois by way of Iowa, being afraid to go through Missouri on account of the war and conditions thereby imposed. It was immediately after the war that Francis M. Sayrs and Hulda C. Derry were married.

The family home was maintained in Schuyler County, and Irvin J. Sayrs was a pupil in the public schools there and in the Rushville Normal College at Rushville, Illinois, He pursued his law course in Highland Park College at Des Moines and was graduated in 1901 with the degree of LL.B, After being admitted to the bar by the supreme court of Iowa he began practice in 1903 in Jewell, Hamilton County, and on the 1st of March, 1907, sought the broader field of labor offered by the county seat, removing to Webster City, where he has since continued in the practice of his chosen profession. His professional labors have been entirely satisfactory to his clients, who have found him painstaking and careful in the preparation of his cases and clear and logical in their presentation. He has been accorded a large practice and has also been the secretary of the Hamilton County Abstract Company since its organization.

At New London, Iowa, Mr. Sayrs was united in marriage to Miss Isabel M. Parrott, her father being J. E. Parrott, of Henry County, Iowa, who is now living at Lamar, Colorado. Polly Parrott, the grandmother of Mrs. Sayrs, came to Burlington, Iowa, when there were only four huts at that place. Our subject and his wife have one daughter, Bonita Maurine Sayrs, whose birth occurred on the 6th of July, 1905. Mr. Sayrs and his little family have a pleasant home at No. 521 Walnut street and during the period of their residence here they have gained many friends.

Mr. Sayrs belongs to Acacia Lodge, No. 176, F. & A. M.; Hope Chapter, No. 88, R. A. M. ; and Webster City Camp, No. 416, M. W. A. He also holds membership in the Congregational church and these associations indicate much of the nature of his interests and the rules that govern his conduct. Entering a profession where advancement depends entirely upon individual merit and not upon influence or any favorable external circumstances, he is working his way steadily upward and is gaining that success which is the merited reward of capability and persistency of purpose.