page_title: Joseph D. Sayers
section_title: Early years
hierarchical_section_title: Joseph D. Sayers / Early years
caption_attribution_description: English: Orline Walton
context_page_description: Joseph Draper Sayers was the 22nd Governor of Texas from 1899 to 1903. He also served in the Texas Senate, United States House of Representatives, and was the 18th Lieutenant Governor of Texas.
context_section_description: Joseph Sayers was born September 23, 1841 in Grenada, Mississippi to Dr. David Sayer and his wife Mary Thomas {Peete}.  His mother died in 1851, and soon after he moved to Texas with his father and younger brother, William. The family settled in Bastrop, where Sayers and his brother attended the Bastrop Military Institute.
  When the Civil War broke out, Sayers joined the Confederate States Army's 5th Texas Regiment, a cavalry unit led by General Tom Green.  He participated in the Battle of Valverde in New Mexico in February 1862, and was recommended for promotion for his bravery in capturing an artillery battery.  Later that year he returned to Texas with his regiment before being sent to Louisiana, where he was wounded in the Battle of Fort Bisland in April 1863.  His actions during that conflict led to his promotion to major, and he became Green's chief–of–staff.  Sayers was wounded again in April 1864 at the Battle of Mansfield.  After Green died at the Battle of Blair's Landing, Sayers became the assistant adjutant to General Richard Taylor.
  After the war ended, Sayers returned to Texas.  He opened a school and simultaneously studied law.  He was admitted to the bar and then formed a partnership with G. "Wash" Jones.
  He married Orline Walton, an amateur painter. The walls of their apartments at the Riggs were adorned with beautiful specimens of her work. She painted portraits of herself and her husband, and has also made copies of several of the celebrated pictures at the Corcoran Art Gallery, while her china painting was exquisite. Orline Walton was a native of Aberdeen, Mississippi. During her childhood, her father moved with his family to Bastrop, Texas. She was married to Hon. Joseph D. Sayers when he was Lieutenant-Governor of the State, and the first years of her married life were spent at Austin. She was a member of the Methodist church and interested in its benevolent and educational work.
caption: Orline Walton
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