Descendants of William Sasser and Martha (Bishop) Sasser
William Sasse rMARRIED: Martha Bishop
William’s Ancestry
Many researchers on the ancestry of the William Sasser who married Martha Bishop, believe him to be the son of Josiah & Elizabeth(Bryan) Sasser or of John & Sarah(LNU) Sasser, Sr., of 1700’s North Carolina.
BELOW IS COMMENTARY DISPUTING THOSE BELIEFS.
The commentary is provided by researcher, Doug Sherman, gggg-grandson of John “Henry” &Nancy(Kirby) Sasser Regarding the William Sasser who was son of Josiah &Elizabeth(Bryan) Sasser, as *not* being the father of Henry Sasser who married Nancy Kirby,
here are a number of documents that reference Josiah’s William shortly after his death in 1815:
(1)
The Johnston County Court Minutes (May 22, 1815, p. 219) states “Elizabeth Blackman having in Open Court Reliquinshed her Right of Administration on the Estate of her decd. son William Sasser, Admn. is therefore granted to John Sanders, Jr. who came into Court and entered into bond in the Sum of £20,000 with Reuben Sanders and William Hinton Esqr. his Securities, and Qualified agreeably to Law, Ordered that said Admr. have leave to sell the perishable Estate of said decd. agreeably to Law.” One of the many divisions of William’s property in Smithfield is in theState Archives. Henry never shows up among those fighting for his property; it is always the Wayne County Sassers.
(2)
Johnston Co NC County Deed Book H-2, 309, 13 June 1815, “John Sasser of Montgomery Co TN to Lewis Sasser of JoCo for $175., all right & Claim to land descended to me from the Est. of my brother William Sasser, dec. late in JoCo…,” signed John Sasser Nov. Ct 1815, Wit: Malcolm Smith, B Robin Hood.
(3)
Johnston Co NC County Deed Book H-2, 308, dated 27 June 1815, “Elizabeth Sasser of JoCo to Lewis Sasser of JoCo for $175., all right & Claim to land descended to me from the Est. of William Sasser, dec. late in JoCo…,” signed Elizabeth (x) Sasser Nov. Ct 1815, Wit: Isaac Williams, Elizabeth Blackman.
(4)
The Johnston County court records trace family fighting over William SASSER’s estate into the mid 1820s. The State Archives in Raleigh, NC contains a copy from 1817 of one of the many divisions of the property in Smithfield (File Box .056.508.73.) The property is divided among Polly BRYAN (wife of Benjamin BRYAN); Elizabeth WILLIAMS (formerly the wife of Isaac WILLIAMS); Elizabeth SASSER; Lewis SASSER; Susannah STEVENS (wife of Edward STEVENS); and John SASSER. In all of the documents above, Henry never shows up as an heir. In fact, it is William’s brothers and sisters who are fighting over his property. One would think that if Henry was his son, there would have been a different listing of parties involved. From the historical data that I have examined, Josiah’s son, William, never married. He died unexpectedly in 1815 without a will, and his siblings fought over his property. When I first started doing genealogy, I thought Henry’s father (William) was the son of John Sasser, Sr. The only problem was, not all of the data I was collected was consistent with that idea. The more I looked at records, the more I realized that there were several William Sassers alive around the same time. From the data I have collected, here is a listing of them with their time frames:
(1) William Sasser of 1733. Signed a petition along with John and Thomas Sasser petitioning Gov. George Burrington not to move the seat of government for the Craven Precinct to Edenton, NC. [The Colonial Records of North Carolina, Records of the Executive Council 1664-1734, Vol VII, 1984, Robert J. Cain, Ed., pp. 301-303]. He might also be who owned property in Edgecombe County in 1743 [The Colonial Records of North Carolina, Records of the Executive Council 1735-1754, Vol VIII, 1988, Robert J. Cain, Ed., pp. 146-147].
(2) William Sasser, father of Henry Sasser. His dates of birth and death are unknown. He had property in Johnston Co. (1782, 1790, and 1799) and may have been a taxpayer in Dobbs Co. in 1779.
(3) William Sasser, son of John Sasser, Sr. Died in 1781. Children include James, Sarah, and Ann. [New Bern Superior Court of Jan March Term 1792; Genealogy of Nancy Sasser by Muriel E. Lewis, NC State Archives, Sasser Vertical File]
(4) William Sasser, son of Josiah Sasser and Elizabeth Bryan (later Blackman). Died in March 1815 in Smithfield, NC, probably without children. [“Abstracts of Vital Records From Raleigh, North Carolina Newspapers 1799-1819” by Lois Smathers Neal, 1979, p. 40. Microfilm of the original newspapers are available in the State Archives]. His relatives fought over his property for nearly 10 years.
(5) William Sasser, son of Lewis Sasser and Nancy Lee. Born around 1808-1810. His mother died around 1813-1814, and William shows up in guardianship reports by Lewis in the Johnston County minutes [BTW, Lewis was brother to William Sasser #4].
~~~
Over and over I have seen Henry’s father as being William Sasser #3. People generally have said Henry’s father died in 1815 because of the newspaper listing above, yet the documents shown above indicate that William #4 was the one who died in 1815. As you can see, there was even a younger William Sasser (#5) who was overlapping with the others at this time, and his name shows up in court records as well. Regarding John Sasser, Sr., the best information I have comes from a court case regarding a property fight (sound familiar?). It provides interesting information regarding John Sasser, Sr. and his children.
MINTUES OF THE CASE ARE AS FOLLOWS:
[The annotations are by Earl Sasser.]
State of North Carolina
New Bern Superior Court of Jan March Term 1792.
Doe on the demise of Jas. Sasser & Guardian vs Samuel Blyth.
Ejection! [This was the name of a mixed action which lay for the recovery of the possession of land.]
The following Jury impaneled and charged Viz!
[To-wit, that is to say.]
1. James Coore, 2. Thos. Armstrong, 3. P.G. Roulhai,
4. Casan Gibbs, 5. Wm. Watson, 6. Nathl. Tooley,
7. James Jaspen, 8. Wm. R. Jaspen, 9. Wm. Whitfield,
10. Wm. M. Herritage, 11. Joel Tison, 12. Robert Tolan
find that John Sassers the elder was seized [Be legal possessor] of an Estate in fee Simple [An estate limited absolutely to a man and his heirs and assigns forever without limitation or condition.] of Land in question, and that on the Seventh day of April 1774 he executed [Completed, carried into full effect.] a deed of the Land in question to his Son John Sasser Junior, which deed is hereunto annised [?] and is admitted by both parties as a true Copy from the Original. The Jury further find that the said John Sassers Junior died Seized [Be legal possessor of] in fee simple [Again, his land without limitation or condition.] of the premises in Question in the year 1776 intestate [A person is said to die intestate when he dies without making a will.] and without issue [no descendants], leaving at the time of his death Wm Sassers his elder brother living, who afterwards died intestate [Without will] in the year 1781. leaving James Sassers his only son then an infant about five years old who is the Lessor of the Plaintiff. [In the common law action of ejectment, this is the party who really and in effect prosecuted the action. In this case it was 5- year-old James Sasser.]
The Jury also finds that John Sassers the elder in his life time, executed a deed of the Land in question to Mary Blyth daughter of the said John Sassers Senior which deed is also hereunto annised [?] and admitted That the said John Sassers Senior afterward died in the Year 1782 in possession of the Land in Question. If the Law is for the Plaintiff they find the defendant guilty and assess Damage & Costs. if for the Defendant they find the defendant not guilty, and so they say all.
~~~Copy from the minutes~~~
– Silas Cooke Esq.
In a nutshell, here are the relationships from the court case:
(1) John Sasser, Sr.:
died in 1782.
(2) John Sasser, Jr.:
son of John, Sr.
Died in 1776 and had no children.
(3) William Sasser:
son of John, Sr.
Died in 1781 and had only one son, James [others have said he had daughters Sarah and Ann]. James is the subject of the court case.
(4) Mary Sasser Blyth:
daughter of John, Sr.
She married Samuel Blyth.
There are other records that show that Josiah Sasser was also the son of John Sasser, Sr. You notice that the information regarding William Sasser shows that he was not Henry’s father either. I know that this has been fairly long, but I wanted to provide documented information that shows that Henry’s father was neither the son of Josiah’s William nor of John Sr.’s William. We do not (yet) have clear evidence for Henry’s father’s parentage. William’s & Martha’s Descendants
* (1) John “Henry” Sasser
b: 29 Mar 1778 Johnston Co, NC
d: 11 Jan 1859 Laurel Co, KY
buried: Dixon Sasser Cemetery
m: NANCY KIRBY, on 12 Mar 1812, in Smithfield, Johnston Co, NC
daughter of James &Patience(Watkins) Kirby
paternal grandparents: Jesse &Penelapah(Parker) Kirby
maternal grandparents: James &Ann(LNU) Watkins
b: 25 Jun 1792 Johnston Co, NC
d: 1837 NC (during childbirth)
o Clickon Henry for his & Nancy’s List of Descendants.
Regarding Henry’s Siblings
~per Doug Sasser, researcher~
No one really knows who they were.
It was only in 1850 that the census began listing the names of
everyone in the house. The 1800-1840 censuses only give you the
head of household and how many males and females were in
certain age ranges. The 1790 census splits males into the above
categories, and all females get lumped together.
When you have several families who all name their children
William, John, Josiah, Joseph, etc., it becomes a bit of a
nightmare trying to sort them out. In those cases, you have to
rely on deeds, court minutes, wills, and other county documents
to find the relationships between people.
The 1790 Johnston County, NC Census
lists the following information for William Sasser:
William Saucer/
Free White Males 16-&-up, including head of families = 1
Free White Males under 16 = 2
Free White Females, including head of family = 5
*Assuming* that everyone was family, Henry could have had a
brother and possibly 4 sisters. I have not seen any documentation
on who these people might be. I have heard people suggest that a
Sarah Sasser who married a Boyett was his sister,
but I have not seen any proof.
The 1800 Johnston County, NC Census
lists the following information for William Sasser:
Free White Males 26-45 = 1
Free White Males 16-26 = 1
Free White Females 45-&-over = 1
Free White Females 10-16 = 2
Free White Females under 10 = 1
These statistics are short one male and one female. They could be a
brother and sister who either died, left the house and got married
to start a family, or who got married and moved away.
I do believe that the Sassers of Wayne Co, NC, and
the Sassers of Johnston Co, NC, were related, but
I have yet to see what the real connection is. It probably goes
farther back than the records we have available at the moment.
One who is *NOT* one of William’s & Martha’s Descendants:
(Thomas’s exact ancestry has *NOT* yet been determined.)
* (x) Thomas Sasser
b: 1760 NC
m: CLARISSA “CLARISSY” LNU
b: Bet 1765-1770 GA
d: Aft 1860
o Clickon Thomas for his & Clarissy’s List of Descendants.
Regarding if Thomas is a
Descendant of William &Martha(Bishop) Sasser
~per Doug Sasser, researcher~
Refer to the above listing for William’s household in the
1790 Johnston County, NC Census.
This Thomas Sasser would not be William’s son because
he was born in 1760 and was *not* under age 16 in 1790.