James Sawyer was born Abt. 1632 in Lincolnshire?2344, 2345, and died May 31, 1703 in Gloucester, Essex, MA2346, 2347. He married Sarah Bray on Abt. 1671 in Gloucester?, MA, daughter of Thomas Bray and Mary Wilson.
Notes for James Sawyer: James Sawyer is said to have settled 1st at Ipswich, Ma in Jan 1669 and was a weaver there, and later, before 1680, settled in Gloucester. He was a selectman in Gloucester in 1696. Sources: Betty Mullins Genealogy of Sawyer Family passed to Charles E. Bradbury III from Carol Ann Bradbury Zografos -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following was extracted from "Sawyer Families of New England 1636-1900 by Eleanor Grace Sawyer Publishe by Penobscot Press, Camden, ME 1995. Page 371.
James Sawer (later Sawyer) of Gloucester, Massachusetts, is the ancestor of many Sawyers living in northern New England today. There are several theories concerning his lineage, none of them proven. One suggestion is that James was one of three children who are said to have come to the New World with Edward. It is true that the latter's will, recorded on 31 March 1674, mentions only his sons John and Ezekiel, (Part 1) and his "wife", but it was not unusual at that time for a father to give some of his children money or land during his lifetime, and then to limit their inheritance or even omit them from his will altogether on the asis of their having already received their due share of his estate. William seems to have done this. Furthermore, although James did not name a son Edward, he had a grandson of that name who called one of his own sons Ezekiel [see 16]. It is also true that Jame's first child, a daughter, was named Mary, as were the wife and daughter of Edward. Would it not have ben natural for James to name his first daughter after his own mother and sister? Finally, in 1669, before moving to Gloucester, James bought a home in Ipswich, where both Edward and Thomas lived before they moved to Rowley.
Taking all this into consideration, I feel it possible that Edward and James may have been father and son, even though there is no provable link between them. What is certain, is that James first married a Martha, of whom little is known except she and he "acknowledged" a maortgage in April 1670 for the house he bought in Ipswich. There is also record of a life-support agreement with Thomas and Jonnah Smith of Ipswich, entered into by James though later unfulfilled; since such agreements usually involved family members, it is conceivable that the Smiths were Martha's family.
By the time James moved to Gloucester, he was married to Sarah Bray, daughter of Thomas and Mary (Wilson) Bray of Gloucester, who was born in 1651 and died on 24 April 1727. In 1688 he recieved a grant for six acres of land on the west side of the Annasquam River and lived there. He was a weaver, a slectman in 1696, and died on 31 May 1703, six days after signing his will. His widow was living with their son, Abraham, in the family home in 1726.
More About James Sawyer and Sarah Bray: Marriage: Abt. 1671, Gloucester?, MA.
Children of James Sawyer and Sarah Bray are:
+John Sawyer, b. Abt. 1676, Ipswich, Essex, MA2348, d. February 23, 1760, Cape Elizabeth, Cumberland, ME2349, 2350.
James Sawyer (b. Abt. 1632, d. May 31, 1703)
Notes for James Sawyer: