| Portrait of Louisa Brayton Sawin, the first teacher in Madison [Dane County, Wisconsin]. She was born in the town of Wilna, Jefferson County, New York, 3 May 1816. In 1835 he and his wife and four children moved to Cleveland [Cuyahoga County, Ohio] and lived there until 1837, when he came to the Territory of Wisconsin, via lakes to Milwaukee, and then with ox teams to Aztalan, Jefferson County. Louisa received a good education in her eastern home, and her services were sought as a teacher, and in 1839 she was employed by Mr. A.A. Bird to come to Madison [Dane County, Wisconsin], and in the spring of 1839 she commenced the first school ever taught here. It was held in a log building, which had been erected for a dwelling, and the furniture was made of slabs, with underpins for legs. Holes were bored in the logs and pins inserted and a slab laid in served as a desk for the larger pupils to write on. Louisa's salary was only $2 a week, and she paid $1 of it for board. Later she taught at Jefferson [Jefferson County, Wisconsin]. There her schoolhouse was one side and her boarding place on the other side of the river, and she journeyed back and forth in a canoe.
She was married 25 January 1843, to George Sawin, a native of New York State and a builder by trade. At the time of their marriage he engaged in business in LaPorte [LaPorte County, Indiana] where he continued until 1847, when they moved to Watertown [Jefferson or Dodge County, Wisconsin?], and continued his business there until his death, in 1852. After his death Mrs. Sawin returned to her father's home and resumed teaching. She was engaged in the occupation of teaching until fifty years of age. Mrs. Sawin had two children, namely: Albert and Maria. The former died in the late war in Company F, Twenty-ninth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. Maria is the wife of George W. Bird. She died in 1917. |
![Portrait of Louisa Brayton Sawin, the first teacher in Madison [Dane County, Wisconsin]. She was born in the town of Wilna, Jefferson County, New York, 3 May 1816. In 1835 he and his wife and four children moved to Cleveland [Cuyahoga County, Ohio] and lived there until 1837, when he came to the Territory of Wisconsin, via lakes to Milwaukee, and then with ox teams to Aztalan, Jefferson County. Louisa received a good education in her eastern home, and her services were sought as a teacher, and in 1839 she was employed by Mr. A.A. Bird to come to Madison [Dane County, Wisconsin], and in the spring of 1839 she commenced the first school ever taught here. It was held in a log building, which had been erected for a dwelling, and the furniture was made of slabs, with underpins for legs. Holes were bored in the logs and pins inserted and a slab laid in served as a desk for the larger pupils to write on. Louisa's salary was only $2 a week, and she paid $1 of it for board. Later she taught at Jefferson [Jefferson County, Wisconsin]. There her schoolhouse was one side and her boarding place on the other side of the river, and she journeyed back and forth in a canoe.
She was married 25 January 1843, to George Sawin, a native of New York State and a builder by trade. At the time of their marriage he engaged in business in LaPorte [LaPorte County, Indiana] where he continued until 1847, when they moved to Watertown [Jefferson or Dodge County, Wisconsin?], and continued his business there until his death, in 1852. After his death Mrs. Sawin returned to her father's home and resumed teaching. She was engaged in the occupation of teaching until fifty years of age. Mrs. Sawin had two children, namely: Albert and Maria. The former died in the late war in Company F, Twenty-ninth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. Maria is the wife of George W. Bird. She died in 1917.](http://images.wisconsinhistory.org/700099990553/9999009076-l.jpg "Louisa M. Brayton Sawin")