Isaac Sawyer Evans (1836-1900)

Isaac Sawyer Evans, the great-great-grandfather of Companion Thomas Dempsey, was born on 14 July 1836 in Wakefield, Massachusetts. He married Lorraine Young Hough in 1859. Before the War, he served as a fireman on the Boston & Maine Railroad.

He enlisted as a Private in Company "K", 43rd Massachusetts Infantry (a nine-month regiment) in September 1862. The regiment served largely in North Carolina, losing two men killed in action, before returning to Boston where Isaac was mustered out in July 1863.

Isaac reenlisted in late 1864, but was transferred to the U.S. Navy because of a need for men with his mechanical experience. He was commissioned to serve as Acting 3rd Assistant Engineer and assigned to the USS Mendota. He assisted as the Mendota directed ship movements in Hampton Roads and at the mouth of the Delaware River.

The Mendota was decommissioned on 12 May 1865, and Issac was discharged a few days later. After the War, Isaac returned to work as a railroad engineer, with the Pennsylvania Railroad company. He was an active member of the Capt. Samuel S. Marchand Post #190, Grand Army of the Republic. He died in Irwin, Pennsylvania on 29 January 1900.