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.

Roanoke or Rappahanok?

Today I found a possible validation of the Virginia-origins of the Sartor family proposed by Juanita Sample Taylor. Let me recap the critical foundations of research found in a letter attributed to William Sartor b. 1759 in The Sartor Search. He (allegedly) states:

The Sartors came from Wales in 1687 to Roanoke, Va. My grandfather attended law school in (name illegible) and while there met my grandmother who, I am told was Miss Mary Gray. The Grays were very prominent people. My Mother died when I was an infant. I want the people who come after me to know this little that I have gathered. My Grandfather after marrying came to South Carolina and settled on the Broad River and turned his attention to farming. He was also in the war with the Indians. My Father, John Peter Sartor was born in 1733. He had one sister, Elizabeth.

I would dearly, dearly love to see this letter or at least a copy of the original. I am working clue by clue through this letter trying to find supporting documentation. Other posts will address other points of the letter in the future as I continue gathering evidence.

The first statement, that the Sartors came to Roanoke Virginia in 1687, is pretty much impossible. This was at least 50 years before that general area was inhabited by colonists, and even then it remained the western frontier of Virginia until the Revolutionary War, at which time our Sartors lived in Union District, South Carolina. Eventually this area became a busy frontier hub when the Great Wagon Road was constructed, but in 1687 it was nothing but trees, chiggers, and bears with the occassional Indian family.

The question then becomes "Did William mean Roanoke, North Carolina?" This too is pretty much impossible. Following the late 16th century failure of the lost colony, Roanoke Island was not settled for several hundred more years. The Mosely map of 1733 shows a tiny settlement on Hatteras Island south of Roanoke, but no settlement, port, or other signs of life on Roanoke.

So, what does this mean? And what did I find today? Still no evidence, but an interesting possibility. It is possible that the Sartor family arrived in Rappahanok, Virginia in 1687. I examined Nugent's Cavaliers and Pioneers, the authoritative source on early Virginia land. Volume II covers the 1687 timeperiod. Nugent painstakingly lists the names of passengers transported by those to whom land was granted under the headright system. (Headrights were a land reward to patrons and/or ship captains for transporting colonists to the new world in efforts to create larger settlements and a stronger labor force.)

Before going into more detail, let me establish one more thing. In the course of research I have seen the Sartor name also spelled Sarter, Sorter, Sortor, and Salter. The Salter surname is particularly of interest because John Peter Sartor III's Revolutionary War Pension file (filed by Sarah Hughes) gives both the Sartor and Salter spelling.

Therefore, I went through a list of possibilities in Cavaliers and Pioneers and came up with one very interesting entry. A George Salter was in the company of Phillip May and Thomas Potts of Gloucestershire. They were granted land in Rappaannock County in 1687. This excites me for five reasons:
1. It's the right year, and it's the only entry so far that was in the right year. (according to the letter cited above)
2. Gloucestershire, England, borders Monmouthshire, Wales.
3. Rappahannock County was in the same general area as what later became Fairfax County. If the Union District Sartors did indeed come from Fairfax County, as The Sartor Search suggests, this is an exciting geographic proximity.
4. It would be easy for William Sartor to write Rappahannock wrong, mis-remember it, or for Ms. Taylor (or whomever first transcribed the letter) to have mis-read it.
5. George is a family name handed down through many generations. Most often it is given as George Washington Sartor, believed to be in tribute to "the" George Washington. But what if it was a family name to begin with?

So, I still have no concrete evidence that this is true, but it is a stronger connection than I have found elsewhere and cannot be ignored.