Martha Finley Nevin was the wife of Robert Heysham Sayre and the mother of Francis Bowes Sayre, the husband of Jessie Woodrow Wilson, the daughter of President Woodrow Wilson.
Martha Finley Nevin was born 6 December 1845 in Mercersburg, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, the daughter of John Nevin and Martha Jenkins.[1]
She married Robert Heysham Sayre 3 May 1882. "Mr. R. H. Sayre, superintendent of the L. V. R.R. resident at South Bethlehem, and Miss Patty Nevin, daughter of Rev. Dr. Nevin, president of Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, were married at the latter's residence, near Lancaster, on Wednesday afternoon, 3d inst. They left on an extended wedding trip."[2]
They were the parents of John Nevin Sayre; Francis Bowes Sayre; and Cecil Nevin Sayre.
At the time of her son's marriage to Jessie Wilson, she was mentioned in numerous newspaper articles covering the marriage, for example:
"The mother, Mrs. Martha Finely Nevin Sayre still lives at Lancaster, Pa. She has lived recently with the groom-to-be in New York, as her other son, John Nevin Sayre, a Princeton graduate, is doing missionary work in China. Mrs. Sayre’s father was a theologian, John Williamson Nevin, who was president of Franklin and Marshall College. She is descended from Hugh Williamson, of North Carolina, one of the framers of the Constitution. Her brother was the late Robert J. Nevin, head of the American Church at Rome, Italy, and Ethelbert Nevin, the composer, was her cousin."[3]
Martha died 15 August 1918 at Siasconset, Nantucket, Massachusetts at the age of 72.[4]Her remains were buried at Nisky Hill Cemetery.[5]
Obituary:[6]
Mrs. Martha N. Sayre Dies Was Mother-in-law of Former Miss Wilson.
"Nantucket, Mass., August 15 -- Mrs. Martha N. Sayre, mother of Francis B. Sayre, died suddenly today at her son's home at Siasconset. Mr. Sayre is in France on war services and his wife, who is a daughter of President Wilson, accompanied the body to South Bethlehem, Pa., for burial. Mrs. Sayre was 82 years old."