Alfred Patten Sawyer was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, on August 20, 1858, the son of Wesley Sawyer and Mary M. C. Patten. The Sawyer family moved to Franklin Falls, New Hampshire, before 1877. After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1878, Sawyer studied law at Boston University. He was admitted to the bar in 1881 and practiced in Lowell, Massachusetts. On December 15, 1888, he married Addie L. Gibson; they had one daughter, Mary W. Sawyer.
From the guide to the Alfred P. Sawyer letters, Sawyer, Alfred P. letters, 1875-1878, 1877-1878, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)