Person:Robert Sawyers (2)

Robert Sawyers was one of the Early Settlers of Augusta County, Virginia

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American Revolutionary War Veteran

Revolutionary War Pension Information

Information from “Virginia/West Virginia Genealogical Data from Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Records”, Vol. 5, compiled by Patrick G. Wardell, Lt. Col. U.S. Army Ret. :

Sayers, Robert - Captain of the 7th Virginia Regiment, granted Bounty Land Warrant #351 which he sold in 1805 when he resided in Wythe County, Virginia, per County Justices of the Peace James M. McGavock & Robert Adams, & County Court Clerk Robert Crockett. F-BLW351, R2128.

Information on Robert Sasyers

Sayers, Robert

Robert was a son of William Sayers and Esther Thompson. He was born in October of 1754.

1771 Brother John Sayers is on Herbert's list in Fincastle County (now Wythe).

1774 - Lord Dunmore's War -- A Robert Sayers was paid for 108 days of service in Dunmore's War in Col. Walter Crockett's company and another entry is for Robert Sayers, 23 days service under Capt. William Campbell.

1776 (July 4) Commissioned Lieutenant Colonel (began as a Captain in the Revolution)

1782 - Montgomery Co., VA personal tax list - there are two Robert Sayers: Robert 1 tithe-0 slaves-1 horse-7 cattle and Robert 1 tithe-0 slaves-5 horse-13 cattle (the second man is probably him)

The Sayers and Crockett families intermarried frequently - here are the 1782 Wythe personal tax list results for Crockett: (tithe, slave, horse, cattle) Crockett, Andrew 1, 3, 23, 24; Crockett, James 1, 5, 19, 30; Crockett, John 1, 2, 16, 46; Crockett, Walter 1, 7, 10, 24.

Later in life he was one of the wealthiest man in southwest VA, owning a large tract of land at "Anchor & Hope" and in Crockett Cove. He was in the Legislature of Virginia for several sessions in the early years of the state, and was a Justice of the Peace.

He died 17 April 1826 at Anchor and Hope, Wythe Co., Virginia and was buried at Crockett's Cove near Wythesville.

Robert died a batchelor and left his estate to his nephews, the sons of John Thomson Sayers.

Robert's father, William Sayers, married Esther Thompson (b. I710, Co. Down, Ireland). Esther Thompson first married Samuel Crockett (1694-1749, son of James de Crocketagne and Martha Montgomery). The above referenced John Sayers is another son of this couple. John Sayers was a Major in the Revolution and was shot through the lungs at the Battle of Cowpens and lay on the battlefield overnight, but mostly recovered and married Susanna Crockett (dau. of Samuel Crockett, a brother of Col. Walter Crockett) and raised a family in Wythe County. When Esther Thompson died, William Sayers remarried to Elizabeth Drake, sister of Joseph Drake. Joseph Drake led the big long hunt from the New River area in 1771 with Henry Skaggs which went to Kentucky and was highlighted by the loss of 2300 deer skins to the Indians. The Drakes are another family that intermarried with the Crocketts, Newells and other Presbyterian families in the New River area. William Sayers (Robert's father) is the son of Robert Sayers and Catherine Harris and a brother to David Sayers above.

Sources: Worldconnect; Adventures on Western Waters (Mary Kegley); The Conquest of the Old Southwest (Archibald Henderson); New River Notes personal tax lists; Library of Virginia web site; Genforum.

http://www.newrivernotes.com/va/swift/herbertbioq.htm

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Armstrong, Zella. Southern Genealogies number 1, Historical Southern Families 1600's - 1800's. (Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc, 1974)
   pg. 201.
2.   A Guide to the Sayers Family Papers, 1779-1888.

   William Sayers and his wife Esther Thompson Crockett Sayers settled in Wythe County in the mid-eighteenth century and raised three sons, Robert Sayers, Alexander Sayers, and John Thompson Sayers. The eldest son Robert Sayers (1754-1826) accumulated vast wealth during his lifetime including the profitable Anchor and Hope Plantation near Max Meadows. A bachelor, he willed the Anchor and Hope land to his nephew Robert Sayers.
   
   John Thompson Sayers (1758-1816) served as a major in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and fought under Colonel William Preston. He was wounded severely at the battle of Cowpens, South Carolina on 17 January 1781. Surviving his wound, he married Susanna Crockett in 1784 and raised eight children including Robert Sayers I (1796-1876).
   
   Their second son, Robert Sayers I inherited the Anchor and Hope Plantation. He and his wife, Senah Ross Sayers, raised eight children. Their sons, Robert Sayers Jr. (1826-1911), John Thompson Sayers II (b. 1831), and Samuel Rush Sayers (1833-1914) all served during the Civil War on the side of the Confederacy. Robert Sayers Jr. was a colonel of local militia while John Thompson Sayers II enlisted in 1861 in the Wythe Grays (Company 1, 4th Virginia Infantry Regiment) and eventually rose to captain. Federal troops captured him shortly after the battle of Gettysburg in July 1863 and imprisoned him at Johnson's Island near Sandusky, Ohio. Military records indicate that he was released in March 1865.