John Sayles

Abt 1627 - 1681  (~ 54 years)

• Name	John Sayles  [1, 2]
  Birth	Abt 1627  [3]
  Gender	Male
  Death	1681  [3, 4, 5]
  Burial	Eastern Burying Ground, Middletown, Newport, Rhode Island   [3, 5]
  Person ID	I39904	Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others | Ancestor of LD
  Last Modified	9 Jan 2024

  
  

  Family	Mary Williams,   b. Aug 1633, Plymouth, Plymouth Colony d. 1681 (Age ~ 47 years)
  Marriage	Bef 1652  [6, 7, 8, 9]
  Children	+ 1. Mary Sayles,   b. 11 Jul 1652, Providence, Providence, Rhode Island d. 1717 (Age 64 years)
  Family ID	F23432	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	9 Jan 2024

  
  

• Notes

  His parentage is unknown; he was definitely not a son of John Sales (d. 1645) who was first at Charlestown in 1630, then Boston in 1633 and New Amsterdam in 1638. This error, propounded by several capable genealogists including G. Andrews Moriarty, was finally set to rest by Gwenn F. Epperson in "The True Identity of John Sales Alias Jan Celes of Manhattan", New York Genealogical and Biographical Record 123:65, Apr 1992. Aside from the extreme chronological problems entailed in this identification, John Sales of Charlestown was convicted and punished in 1633 for stealing corn and fish from his fellow townspeople at a time of great hardship, and, as Epperson points out, "[w]hile Roger Williams was a tolerant man in many ways, it seems unlikely he would have allowed his eldest daughter to marry the son of a convicted felon such as John Sales of Massachusetts." This John Sayles was in Providence as early as 27 Jan 1651. "He was chosen Moderator of the Assembly or Town Meeting, May 25, 1653; Town Clerk 1655-1657 inclusive. Was Clerk of the Providence Train Band in 1653; Warden for Providence in 1658; Town Treasurer 1659-02; Assistant 1653 to 1659; Freeman 1655; Commissioner to the Court of Commissioners 1655 to 1659, Deputy many times between 1653 and 1678. Member of the Town Council 1659 and 1670-1, and was on various committees, such as to levy a town rate, treat with the Indians, etc. Was one of the most prominent and influential men of the Colony. Both he and his wife died in the same year and are buried in the Eastern Burying Ground, Middletown, R. I. He is said to have been born in 1633, but it seems extremely doubtful that one only 20 years old would have been chosen Moderator of a town meeting, and he could only have been that old if born in 1633. It is more likely that he was at least 26 years old." [Ernest Flagg, citation details below] Note: Austin's 1887 The Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island (citation details below) is one of those who place his birth in 1633, which, we agree, is implausible.

  
  

• Sources

  [S6074] George Wightman of Quidnessett, R.I. (1632-1721/2) and Descendants: Waitman, Weightman, Whiteman, Whitman, Whytman, Wightman, Wyghtman by Mary Ross Whitman. Chicago, 1939. [S7185] Winifred Lovering Holman, "Roger Williams." The American Genealogist 28:197, Oct 1952. [S1819] Genealogical Notes on the Founding of New England by Ernest Flagg. Hartford, Connecticut: Case, Lockwood & Brainard, 1926. [S679] The Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island by John Osborne Austin. Albany, New York; 1887. [S7186] G. Andrews Moriarty, "John Sayles of Providence." The American Genealogist 15:228, 1938. [S101] The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, Volumes 1-3 and The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volumes 1-7, by Robert Charles Anderson. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1996-2011. [S7185] Winifred Lovering Holman, "Roger Williams." The American Genealogist 28:197, Oct 1952., says "about 1651". [S7186] G. Andrews Moriarty, "John Sayles of Providence." The American Genealogist 15:228, 1938., says "the summer of 1651". [S679] The Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island by John Osborne Austin. Albany, New York; 1887., says "1650+-".