Birthright:
The Descendants Of Sasser Immigrants to America Of German origin or ……….NOT of German origin?
Yep, that, dear kinfolk, most assuredly is our question! Any number of today’s descendants of Henry & Nancy(Kirby)Sasser -OR- Thomas &Clarissa(LNU)Sasser, who research Henry’s or Thomas’s ancestry, are divided into two adamantly-contradictory groups, ie., those totally convinced that said ancestors were German-born, and those most certainly NOT convinced of this conclusion.
PLUS
there is also one with the opinion that the Sassers actually originated in FRANCE!
A Plea:
Cousins of all opinions, be good to each other.
Everybody “make nice” with everybody, hear?
Everybody’s common goal (EVERY-body’s) is a simple one:
………to LEARN stuff!
ENGLAND? ….. FRANCE? ….. GERMANY?
Below is input about each theory.
ENGLAND SASSER ENGLISH HERITAGE
per a “Sasser-L” entry ~ submitted by ~ Howell C. Sasser son of Henry C. &Minnie(Lansford) Sasser
g-grandson ofgg-grandson of Littleton &Zilpha(McCroan) Sasser Thomas &Clarissa(LNU) Sasser
Fact One:
There are official British records documenting the existence of Sassers in Eastern England in the 17th and 18th centuries. We know at least one headed to the American colonies as a prisoner (died on the way). Did others go?
Fact Two:
North Carolina state archives contain information that proves that Sassers owned land in North Carolina as early as 1732. Craven County Deed Abstracts –Deed Book #1, 1707-1775 — #79 — 19 Oct. 1737,
Robert Bond bound to John Sasser for £1. #322 — 5 Jan. 1732/3 John Sasser a witness on a legal document.
It is interesting to note that John Sasser was old enough to witness a legal document as of 5 Jan 1732, which would indicate that he was born about 1711.
To have had another person bound to him would have required that he be in his majority. This means that he most probably arrived in North Carolina well before 1732.
Fact Three:
A William Sasser, Sr., of Somerset County, Maryland,died February 6, 1729/30 (Maryland State Archive Records). He is mentioned in the will of his father, dated 1712. William was born about 1675 in Eastern Shore, Maryland. He had a son, William Sasser, Jr., born 31 May 1719.
William Sasser, Sr., was the son of Benjamin Sawcer/Sawser/Saucer/Sasser
of Eastern Shore, Maryland , who had come into that colony in 1666 at his own expense. We cannot prove it but we begin to suspect that he may have been the son of one William Saucer of Little Creek, Norfolk, Virginia, who is listed in Nugent’s book as being there in 1643. He was undoubtedly English.
The Sasser connection with the American Colonies is strong and well established long before the German immigration began.
Fact four:
It is quite a coincedence that we find William, Thomas, John and Benjamin Sassers in early 18th century Maryand and then again the same given names in early-to-mid 18th century North Carolina history.
There are two wonderful little volumes listing thousands of early-to-mid 18th century settlers moving from Maryland to North Carolina. These two volumes have made a start in documenting the now-known-to-be large-scale
movement of people from Maryland into the Carolinas, but the work is vast and still not complete. Is it possible that Sassers from Maryland moved to North Carolina, where the same given names appear?
This needs more research.
GERMANY SASSER GERMAN HERITAGE
~ by ~ John E. Sasser, Ph.D. son of Robert E. & Maude M.(Estep) Sasser, Sr.
grandson of ggg-grandson of Taylor F. & Rose (Brock) Sasser Henry & Nancy (Kirby) Sasser
This is your family ancestry. May you always take pride in your “roots” and your German-American heritage.
THE SASSER NAME:
Sasser means in German: “He who sits.” When the word SASSER is used in a German sentence, for example:
“Sass er neben der Tur?” It means, “Did he sit near the door?”
The 1980 census records available disclose the fact there are approximately 1525 heads of households in the United States with the old and distinguished SASSER name. There are approximately 3.2 persons per household in America today which yields an approximate total of 4880 people in the United States carrying the SASSER name.
Although the figures seems relatively low, it does not signify the many important contributions that individuals bearing the SASSER name have made to history.
HEIMERSHEIM, GERMANY:
French troops invaded that part of Germany (Palatinate) where Heimersheim is located, in 1735. In 1792, the Palatinate was finally annexed by France, and in 1795, the entire area on the left bank of the Rhine (spelled Rhein in German), with its 152 small and tiny principalities, duchies, counties and baronies, was incorporated in the First Republic of France by the Treaty of Basel. This part of Germany remained part of the Republic of France until the Battle of Leipzig, where Napaoleon’s army was defeated. The allied troops, under Field Marshall von Blucher,
crossed the Rhine at Kaub, New Year’s Eve, 1814, and liberated this area. In the following year, the territories on the left bank of the Rhine were partitioned by the Congress of Vienna, making the area where Heimersheim is located a part of Prussia.
Due to the burden of heavy taxes imposed on the people by the absolutist government under extravagant Karl-Theodor of Pfalz-Sulzbach, Prince Elector of the Palatinate, the new regime was not popular with the natives. To escape the French occupation, the heavy taxes, and later, conscription in the French army, many young men fled across the Rhine to settle in other German states, or emigrated to other countries in Europe (e.g., the Netherlands and England) and America.
Many fled even before the French occupation because of fear and harassment of the French.
NORTH CAROLINA:
Certainly the SASSER’s had arrived before 1737 in North Carolina, because in 1737, John Sasser, along with his partner, Robert Bond, received a grant of land in Craven County. In 1745 Thomas Sasser moved from Craven County to Johnston County and was granted land there, and in 1755, John Sasser received a land grant from King George II for 90 acres in Johnston County, located on Little River near Pearson’s Bridge.
[“History of Wayne Co.,” NC, p. 42]
John Sasser died in 1782. He had a son named JOSIAH SASSER (the first SASSER I can find evidence of to be born in what is now the United States), born in 1736, in North Carolina, who served in the Revolutionary Army. Josiah married Elizabeth Bryan (later Blackman). John left his land to his son, Josiah, by 1779.
The first court was held in Wayne County, after its formation, at Josiah Sasser’s plantation home in 1780.
Josiah left his plantation home to his elder son, John, and deeded 348 acres to his other son, William Sasser, born in 1759, in North Carolina, land that was granted on April 27, 1767.
[Abstracts of Wayne Co. Deeds – pages 68-69, Aug. 11, 1784]
William died in 1815 in Smithfield, NC, probably without children.
[Abstracts of Vital Records From Raleigh, N.C. Newspapers 1799-1819 by Lois Smathers Neal, 1979, p. 40. Microfilm of the original newspapers are available in the State Archives].
The elder son, John, had a son named Stephen, born in 1780, near New Bern, NC, who married Sarah “Francis” Hart, born 1790, at Richland, SC. Stephen and Francis went to Lincoln County, MS, where Francis died in 1840 and Stephen died in 1861. They are both buried at Sasser Moak Cemetery.
A William Sasser (but NOT William Sasser, son of John above) married Martha Bishop shortly thereafter, and on March 29, 1778, in Johnston Co., NC, Martha gave birth to a son and named him HENRY SASSER. I do not know the name of this WILLIAM SASSER’S father or mother, nor his birthdate or date of death.
On February 26, 1812, at Smithfield, Johnston Co., NC, Henry and Nancy “Nannie” Kirby obtained their marriage bond. They were wed on March 12, 1812. Nancy Kirby was born June 25, 1792, and died in 1837. Her father was James Kirby, of Johnston Co., NC.
FROM NORTH CAROLINA TO KENTUCKY:
In about 1827, Henry & Nancy (Kirby) Sasser came to the head of Blackwater Creek, in Laurel County, Kentucky.
FRANCE
SASSER FRENCH HERITAGE
~ by ~ Norman “Duane” Sasser son of Foy &Edna(Sturm) Sasser g-grandson of Abe &Margaret(Hammack) Sasser Henry &Nancy(Kirby) Sasser I do beleive our line of Sassers came to America from Germany, but I also believe that if the ancestery was traced back another 200 years, it would be in Alsace-Lorraine France.
During that period of time, no matter if Catholic or Heuganot, there was terrible turmoil in that area. Both sects of Christianity fled to stay alive. The quickest way was accross the border to Germany, where there was, basically, freedom of religion. I have no proof of this thought butit not only seems possible but also probable. From there,
they migrated to various places and ways.
There were Sassers, Sawsers Sassciers, and other ways of spelling it, in Maryland by the mid-1600s.
I think that there are three lines of Sassers, some spelled a bit differant, in this country today. They came via three different countries but all originated in the same place. This just compounds any, and all search effort anyone tries. I listen to all ideas and then try to find someplace that they might tie together.
I beleive the John, Josiah, and William [sic] in the above-shown chart were related to “our” William, but came by way of England, as for how long ago, who knows as of yet. Josiah’s will, taken from the archives of North Carolina, is where research gets hairy, ie., with all the Johns, Williams, Henrys, Thomas and such. In a small area to boot, as well as a small time span.
The chart below is copied from a webpage, entitled
Alsace-Lorraine – an Enclave of Ethnic Germans in France – by Diana Gale Matthiesen
of “Diana’s Genealogy” website.
Timeline of Alsace-Lorraine — greatly simplified!
Year(s) Event region of Alsace-Lorraine
1618-1648 Thirty Years’ War end of rule by Holy Roman Empire
1648-1871 ruled by France
1871 Treaty of Frankfurt ceded to Germany
1871-1918 ruled by German Empire
1919 Treaty of Versailles restored to France
1919-1940 ruled by France
1940-1944 ruled by Third Reich
1945-present ruled by France
Ms. Matthieson states that:
“I prepared this note because so many hobby genealogists mistakenly place Alsace-Lorraine in Germany apparently because their ancestors from that region were ethnic Germans. But given the complex history of the region — and for the purposes of genealogy — it would probably be best to simply consider it a “country” in and of itself, without placing it in either Germany or France. If a formal country must be used, then its current location dictates that it be placed in France, not Germany, because that is where it is, today — and where it was during the early period of emigration from that region to America.”
Source: http://www.geocities.com/luvacuzn2/SasserHeritage.html