Post by sherlock on Jan 4, 2010 22:26:56 GMT -5
Given Name: James Nathaniel Sawyer V
Nickname: Sherlock. It was given to him for obvious reasons--as well as very sarcastic ones.
Age: 18
History: James was ten when his father died of pneumonia during one particularly bitter Massachusetts winter. His grief-stricken mother rounded up James and his two younger sisters and brought the family to New York City, where her half-sister lived, as a temporary residence. The days swiftly turned into months, however, and before his twelfth birthday it became clear to James that they would never return to their Cambridge manor house. Aunt Emily was a pleasant, generous widow who had inherited a great deal of money from her late husband. It did not take long, however, for Melissa Sawyer to take advantage of that generosity. She soon became a spendthrift, asking for loans and constantly spending more than she was earning. Aunt Emily put up with this, but only barely, and for the sake of the three young children in the house. There were often loud vocal arguments between the two otherwise dignified ladies, and each of the three Sawyer siblings took refuge in their own way. Abigail would needlepoint until her fingers went numb. Mary, the youngest, began collecting dolls and spending nearly every waking moment playing with them. James, for his part, didn't much know what to do with himself--until he walked into a bookstore and, by pure chance, picked up A Study in Scarlet, by one Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
From that day forward, the adventures of Sherlock Holmes became James' escape, his passion, and his obsession. He read every story he could get his hands on, and reread them again and again when he ran out, until he could recite whole passages from the four books. It was his dream to become as brilliant as Holmes, to know everything he would ever need to know to solve any murder, learn any fact, deduce any conclusion.
There was only one problem: James was rather lazy. He had the big dream of becoming a great detective, but the Sherlock Holmes stories were his only apprenticeship. He did not read medical books, perform logician's exercises, or study up on the variety of subjects that any decent detective, much less Sherlock Holmes, should know. There were only two things that James could do like a true detective: eliminate the impossible to reveal the truth, and to observe surroundings to the minutest detail.
Life As A Newsboy: It would not take the deduction power of a detective to come to the conclusion that, sooner or later, Aunt Emily would reach her breaking point. When James was fourteen, Melissa asked her for an outlandish amount of money for a new dress. Outraged at the lack of practicality and pushed to her boiling point, Aunt Emily lost her temper entirely. She called the police to have Melissa and the three children escorted off the premises and cast out with all of their belongings onto the street. It was Melissa's birthday.
With Abigail married to a German fisherman and Melissa working alongside Mary in a seamstress shop, James felt as though he should earn his keep, as well. He found work with the newsboys and found he liked the work well enough. He lives at the Boys' Lodging House in the Bronx in order to give his mother and sisters more living space in their tiny tenement. When not working, he delves into his Doyle novels again and again. He often tries to use Holmesian deduction tactics to solve curiosities around the lodging house, but his conclusions are invariably false and have earned him much ridicule. He is known for being a dim-witted bookworm obsessed with Sherlock Holmes.
Still, James "Sherlock" Sawyer does have a bit of talent for observation. Throughout the years, he has had practice in noticing the small details that others do not. Who knows when he might come in handy…?
Family
James Nathaniel Sawyer IV (deceased)
Melissa Underwood-Sawyer, seamstress
Abigail Sawyer-Berlitz, age 17, housewife
Mary Sawyer, age 15, seamstress assistant
Nickname: Sherlock. It was given to him for obvious reasons--as well as very sarcastic ones.
Age: 18
History: James was ten when his father died of pneumonia during one particularly bitter Massachusetts winter. His grief-stricken mother rounded up James and his two younger sisters and brought the family to New York City, where her half-sister lived, as a temporary residence. The days swiftly turned into months, however, and before his twelfth birthday it became clear to James that they would never return to their Cambridge manor house. Aunt Emily was a pleasant, generous widow who had inherited a great deal of money from her late husband. It did not take long, however, for Melissa Sawyer to take advantage of that generosity. She soon became a spendthrift, asking for loans and constantly spending more than she was earning. Aunt Emily put up with this, but only barely, and for the sake of the three young children in the house. There were often loud vocal arguments between the two otherwise dignified ladies, and each of the three Sawyer siblings took refuge in their own way. Abigail would needlepoint until her fingers went numb. Mary, the youngest, began collecting dolls and spending nearly every waking moment playing with them. James, for his part, didn't much know what to do with himself--until he walked into a bookstore and, by pure chance, picked up A Study in Scarlet, by one Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
From that day forward, the adventures of Sherlock Holmes became James' escape, his passion, and his obsession. He read every story he could get his hands on, and reread them again and again when he ran out, until he could recite whole passages from the four books. It was his dream to become as brilliant as Holmes, to know everything he would ever need to know to solve any murder, learn any fact, deduce any conclusion.
There was only one problem: James was rather lazy. He had the big dream of becoming a great detective, but the Sherlock Holmes stories were his only apprenticeship. He did not read medical books, perform logician's exercises, or study up on the variety of subjects that any decent detective, much less Sherlock Holmes, should know. There were only two things that James could do like a true detective: eliminate the impossible to reveal the truth, and to observe surroundings to the minutest detail.
Life As A Newsboy: It would not take the deduction power of a detective to come to the conclusion that, sooner or later, Aunt Emily would reach her breaking point. When James was fourteen, Melissa asked her for an outlandish amount of money for a new dress. Outraged at the lack of practicality and pushed to her boiling point, Aunt Emily lost her temper entirely. She called the police to have Melissa and the three children escorted off the premises and cast out with all of their belongings onto the street. It was Melissa's birthday.
With Abigail married to a German fisherman and Melissa working alongside Mary in a seamstress shop, James felt as though he should earn his keep, as well. He found work with the newsboys and found he liked the work well enough. He lives at the Boys' Lodging House in the Bronx in order to give his mother and sisters more living space in their tiny tenement. When not working, he delves into his Doyle novels again and again. He often tries to use Holmesian deduction tactics to solve curiosities around the lodging house, but his conclusions are invariably false and have earned him much ridicule. He is known for being a dim-witted bookworm obsessed with Sherlock Holmes.
Still, James "Sherlock" Sawyer does have a bit of talent for observation. Throughout the years, he has had practice in noticing the small details that others do not. Who knows when he might come in handy…?
Family
James Nathaniel Sawyer IV (deceased)
Melissa Underwood-Sawyer, seamstress
Abigail Sawyer-Berlitz, age 17, housewife
Mary Sawyer, age 15, seamstress assistant