Nathaniel Sawyer was born to Daniel and Anne (Clnkscale) Sawyer in 1867. He had four siblings: Simeon, Naomi, Rebecca, and Lucillius. He attended public schools in Chillicothe, Livingston County, Missouri before attending Drake University for two years.

In early adulthood, around 1887, Sawyer moved to Topeka, Kansas, and spent the following 34 years teaching in Topeka public schools, including at Lane, Madison, Monroe, and Washington. Sawyer was a founding member of the 1913 Topeka chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and served as its acting President at one time. He was an active opponent to the expansion of segregation in Kansas schools, helping to defeat a 1918 legislative bill that would have allowed communities with as few as 2,000 people to segregate their public schools.

Nathaniel Sawyer married Grace Ann Smith in 1898. They had seven children: Annabel, Alta, Daniel II, Nathaniel II, Nathella, Charles and Charline (twins), and Eugene. Nathaniel Sawyer died in August 18, 1922 at the age of 55. He is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery alongside his wife, who died on January 16, 1936 at the age of 61.

Annabel Sawyer was the oldest of the Sawyer children. Born in 1899, she went on to become a teacher and later taught for the Kansas Vocational School (KVS).

Alta Sawyer was born in 1900. Like Annabel, she enrolled at the Kansas State Teacher's College in 1917, seeking a degree in mathematics. After graduation in 1922, she was offered a teaching position by the University of Kansas. After her first marriage and subsequent divorce, she met Aaron Douglas. The two married in 1925 and would remain married until Alta's death in December 1959.

Daniel Smith Sawyer II was born in 1903 and was in poor health at a young age, suffering from asthma. Around 1935, he married Fayetta "Cyrene" Smith, and would go on to have 6 childen: Constance, Daniel Smith III, Grace Anne, Cyrene, Mary Belle, and Sophia. Like his father Nathaniel, he would go on to be a part of an NAACP branch and have some involvement with the Brown v. Board of Education cases.

Nathaniel Sawyer II was born in 1904, but died within 5 months.

Nathella Sawyer was born in 1905, and was described by her sister Annabel as "extremely competitive." She graduated from the University of Kansas in 1925 (1922-1925) and went on to teach. She later met Frank Bledsoe, whom she married in June 1930. Afterwards, she fulfilled a dream to become a social worker.

Charles and Charline Sawyer, the twins, were born in 1906. Annabel describes them as inseperable, "always together, always a team."

The youngest, Eugene Sawyer, was born in 1911.