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From: Sandi Goetze <>
Subject: [SANDERS-L] John SANDERS 1st & 2nd of Weeke, Wiltshire, England
Date: Sat, 26 Jun 1999 14:43:43 -0700


Hi SANDERS/SAUNDERS Cousins,

I invite any references that can refute or add to anything that
I post, as I would like to get to the bottom of this, and the
more sources the better.

--

GENEALOGY
Ancestors and Descendants
of
JOHN SANDERS Fort Covington, N.Y.
Prepared by
George Rich
Cleveland, O.
1922

Pg. 7

THE SANDERS ANCESTRY

First Generation of the Sanders Family in America

JOHN SANDERS

There are many superficial and conflicting records regarding
JOHN SANDERS, one of the founders of the Massachusetts Bay
Colony; in some cases, his record has been confused with that
of his son and namesake, who, on coming to the New England colony,
settled at Salem, Mass. It has remained for Mrs. Sarah (Sanders)
Smith, to publish in the "Founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony"
an authentic history of JOHN SANDERS, from data secured from the
state and probate records of Maine, Massachusetts and New
Hampshire; from Colonial records and from the parish records of
his home in England.
From the church register at Weeke, Downton Parish, County Wilts
(Wiltshire), Eng. is the following:

Baptisms

1604. Richard, son of John Sanders.
1606. Dorothea, dau. of John Sanders.

Burials

1609. Ales Sanders, the wife of John Sanders of Weeke.
(There would seem to be an error either in the entry of the
Christian name of the wife of John Sanders or in transcription,
for the name of his second wife was "Ales." However, both
wives may have borne the same name.)

Marriages

1610. John Sanders and Ales Coles were md. the fourth day of Feb.

Pg. 8
Baptisms

1613. John Sanders, son of John Sanders of Weeke, 26th March
1614. Elizabeth, dau. of John Sanders of Weeke.
1615. Sarah, dau. of John Sanders of Weeke.
1617. Joseph, son of John Sanders of Weeke.
1622. Moses, son of John Sanders of Weeke.

Under date of June, 1622, the colonial records of the Plymouth
Colony note: "Came into our harbor two ships of Mr. Weston's, the
Charity, 100 tons; the Swan, 30 tons; with letters of April 10,
and fifty or sixty men, sent at his own charge, under Capt. John
Sanders, overseer, to settle a plantation in the Massachusetts bay,
for which he has procured a patent."
The colony settled at Weymouth in the fall of the year. After
suffering privation and hardships, their enterprise was abandoned,
and in the Colonial Records of London, under date of May 23, 1623,
we read: "Captain Sanders and Company arrived at Southampton."
Thus ended the disaster of the Weymouth Plantation.
Captain John Sanders seems to have been undaunted by his
failure in 1623, to establish the Weymouth Colony. During the
following five or six years, he made several voyages to the Mass.
Bay Colony, generally in command of his ship.
In 1628, his son John, came to the Colony as a passenger in the
merchant ship, "Margaret," and settled at Salem, Mass., and on
July 27, 1635, Capt. John1 Sanders arrived. His stay in the Colony
was short, for it is recorded that in the following year, he
returned to New England and in conjunction with William and Robert
Sanders, and others, having received a grant, founded the colony
of Hampton, Mass. (later N. H.)
Whether the wife of John Sanders Sr. accompanied him to Hew
England is not stated; but she died about this time. In 1638, he
was sent to England to obtain a patent to found another colony,
and while there, he

Pg. 9

married Hester Rolfe. From the Colonial Records of the Custom House
of Southampton, we read that "John Rolle (Rolfe) aged 50, of Melchit
Park, Wiltshire, together with his wife, Ann, and daughter, Hester,
wife of John Sanders, took passage for the Colonies." On this return
trip, John Sanders brought his daughter, Sarah, who, soon afterward
married Maj. Robert Pike. His daughter, Elizabeth, having married
Henry Wolcott, did not come to the Colony until a later date.
He was successful in his mission, for he, together with eleven
others (including Simon Bradstreet, Daniel Dennison, Christopher
Bailey, Samuel Winsley and Samuel Dudley) were granted a plantation
on the southerly side of Hampton, to be called "Merrimack"
(afterwards changed to Salisbury). It was a royal grant and a
royal subdivision for each of the proprietors, covering 75 miles,
extending from the Atlantic Ocean to the Merrimack and Hampton
Rivers. In 1640, John1 Sanders was appointed surveyor of the grant.
Salisbury and Hampton were joined to the jurisdiction of Ipswich--
each of them to send a grand juryman once a year to Ipswich.
The sterling qualities and natural leadership of Capt. John
Sanders were well-known and recognized by the early settlers. His
business enterprises extended through that part of Massachusetts
and New Hampshire, where his vast properties were located. We find
him administering to many wills and estates, settling town disputes
in Hampton, Salisbury and Haverhill, and attending to his duties at
the General Court. He later returned to England, where he owned an
estate in Downton Parish, leaving his brother-in-law, Richard Dole
of Newbury, his attorney.
The vital records of Salisbury give the following births of
the children of John and Hester (Rolfe) Sanders:

Pg. 10

Hester b. Sept. 5, 1639.
John b. July 1, 1641; d. young.
Ruth b. Dec. 16, 1642.
John b. Dec. 10, 1644.

The records of Newbury give the following: (Newbury was
across the river northward from Salisbury);
Sarah b. Aug. 20, 1646.
Mary b. June 12, 1649.
Abigail b. Apr. 12, 1651.
Joseph b. Aug. 28, 1653.
Elizabeth b. Jan. 26, 1654.

_____________________________

SECOND GENERATION

John Sanders (John)

John Sanders, born at Weeke, Eng., March 26, 1613) came to
Salem, New England, June 28, 1628-9, in the "Margaret," from
Plymouth, Eng., in company with John Endicott and his party.
He came under the protection of Robert Coles (his uncle), who
became one of the wealthiest investors in the Colony, at that
time.
In 1629, he united with the first church in Salem. In 1636 he
was made freeman, and received a grant of 40 acres of freemen's
land, adjoining that of his uncle. The grant is the present
location of the south side of Washington Square, adjacent to the
Common. Upon the knoll side of the lot facing the Common, he
built his house.
About this time (1636) he married Priscilla Grafton, daughter
of Capt. Joseph and Mary Grafton. (See Grafton, page ----.)
He died at Salem during the latter part of 1643. From deeds
and his will, we find that he described himself as coming from
"Weeke in ye parish of Downton, in ye county of Wiltz, Eng."
The will, dated Oct. 12, 1643 (probated at Salem, Nov. 10, 1643)
was sealed with the crest of the Sanders Coat of Arms. His
widow married Feb. 20, 1644, John Gardner of Salem.

[This history on the wife of John Sanders 2nd has been shown
to be in error. Yes, Priscilla Grafton did marry John Gardner.
But, it was her half-sister Elizabeth that m.1.) John Sanders
2nd, and after his death, m.2. John Kitchen(in). - "Recent and
Correlated Information Concerning the family of John Sanders1
of New England, and Related Families Grafton, Gardner, and
Winship" by Edwin D. Witter, Jr., 1977, pg. 20, quoting Alicia
C. Williams.]

Sandi Goetze

Pine Mtn Club, CA

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