From the 1912 book Past and Present of Marshall County, Iowa, Volume 2, pages 848-849:

BENJAMIN SAWYER.
It is fact, although not easily explained, that wherever we find a man who hails from the Sucker state we discover one of the decidedly progressive men of the community, this being especially true in regard to agricultural pursuits. They seem to have learned well man's primal art of existence —farming— and are always up and doing. One such is Benjamin Sawyer, of LeGrand township, Marshall county, who was born in LaSalle county, Illinois, November 11, 1854. He is the son of Thore O. and Madalene (Govig) Sawyer, both natives of Norway, the former being born on January 7, 1818. They were married in 1843, and they came to LaSalle county, Illinois, in 1846. There the mother died in December, 1862, and in July, 1864, the father married Anna Anderson, who came with the family from the old country. The elder Sawyer moved to Marshall county, Iowa, in 1869 and here spent the remaining years of his life, dying on December 10, 1909, at the advanced age of ninety-two years. He settled on a good farm of one hundred and forty acres which he improved and on which he made a very comfortable living. He was a man whom everybody respected and was useful in his community. He was a Republican, but never aspired to public office. He belonged to the friends church. In his family were twelve children, nine of whom are living.

Benjamin Sawyer grew to maturity on the farm and was put to work in the fields when quite young. He was educated in the public schools of Illinois and in Marshall county, Iowa, and, applying himself very assiduously to his studies, gained a very good education. He was fourteen years old when he came to the latter county. He has devoted his entire life to farming, and has been very successful, being now the owner of one of the choice farms of Greencastle township, consisting of two hundred and forty acres three miles north of Gilman, which he has placed under excellent improvements and which has yielded a large income from year to year. Mr. Sawyer has, in connection with general farming, handled good grades of live stock. He has retired from active farming, having moved to LeGrand in 1903, where he has eleven acres of valuable land within the corporate limits and on which he has an attractive and substantial brick dwelling which is elegantly furnished and neatly kept and which is known to be a place of hospitality to the many friends of the family. He has been very successful as a business man, being of keen perception and sound judgment, and the straightforward and honest methods he has ever carried into his every-day life have won for him the confidence and respect of all classes. He was one of the principal organizers of the LeGrand Savings Bank, and is at present very ably and satisfactorily discharging the duties of president of this popular and sound institution.

Politically, Mr. Sawyer is a Republican, but he has never found time to take a very active part in political affairs, though his support can always be depended upon in furthering all laudable movements for the general good of his community and county. He is at present one of the trustees and a member of the local school board at LeGrand. Fraternally, he is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America at Gilman, Iowa.

On December 3, 1890, Mr. Sawyer was united in marriage with Bertha Huseboe, who was born in Norway on August 19, 1858. She is the daughter of Mathias and Helen Huseboe, who were early settlers of LeGrand township. To Mr. and Mrs. Sawyer two children have been born, Harriet M. and Theodore Myron, both graduates from the public schools and now both attending college, the boy at Grinnell College and the girl at Palmer College, where they are making excellent records in scholarship.