Not from Roanoke, North Carolina

While in North Carolina last month for the annual National Genealogical Society conference, I spent some time researching the possibility that the Sartor family came to Roanoke, North Carolina in 1687, just to be sure.

As I suspected, it does not appear that the Sartor family came to Roanoke Island, North Carolina in 1687. I did do some other cool things besides stopping in Detroit on the way home to visit my adorable nephew, but they do not pertain to the Sartor family so I'll write about the results of my wanderings and research into my North Carolina family branches later.

The question at hand was: "Is there any evidence in the North Carolina State Archives to suggest that the letter attributed to William Sartor b. 1759 which was published in Juanita Sample Taylor's The Sartor Search refers to Roanoke Island, North Carolina? Said letter indicates that the Sartor family came to Roanke from Wales in 1687." The answer is that although there are pre-Federal mentions of a Salter Family in North Carolina, they were contemporary to the known ancestral branch who lived in South Carolina by the late 1760's. No connection between the Salters of North Carolina and the Sartors of South Carolina has been found.

The key "takeaway" to be remembered for future consideration is that an Edward Salter received a grant in Beaufort County 9 March 1761. [Granville Land Grants] This is of interest because of the timing and location. It's in about the same place the Salter family is listed in the Mosely map of 1733. Church of England records [1] show Edward and William Salter in the area as early as 1748 and as late as 1763, but the timeframe of the publication (1742-1763) does not preclude an earlier and/or later presence. However, by this time "my" branch was in South Carolina, and there is no evidence yet tying Peter Sartor/Salter [etc] to his contemporary Edward Salter in North Carolina.

Taken together, this suggests, although I have not had time to explore and prove, that the Edward Salter family had likely been, and remained, in this area from pre-1733 [Moseley Map] through at least 1763 [1]. Which really doesn't say anything absolute yet, but it's good to remember. I haven't had time to dive into this. I scratched the surface to see what was there since I was in the area, and it didn't seem promising so for now, it's tabled.

The search goes on!

P.S. This research thanks (as always) to the sponsorship of my father who is working hard in Afghanistan so that I can a) be free to wander safely around the world with freedom and liberty for all and b) afford to investigate where that freedom came from. Love you, Dad.

1. Robert J. Cain and Jan-Michael Poff, editors, The Church of England in North Carolina: Documents, 1742-1763 (Raleigh: Office of Archives and History, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, 2007), North Carolina State Archives.