John Seals Sallis (abt. 1717 - abt. 1759)

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth (Frazier) Sallis — married 1745 in North Carolina, United States

Descendants

Died about 1759 at about age 42 in Savannah, Savannah, Georgia, British Colonial America

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Mike Sallis [send private message] and Bobby Frazier [send private message]

Biography

John Sallis was a Georgia colonist.

John was born in about 1717. There is no evidence for place of birth being Beckford, Gloucestershire.

Where he spent his youth is not yet known but it is known that he spent some time at sea. His name is on a list of those on board the ship "Strafford" which arrived in the Colony of Virginia about October 1742. This list survives and is on file in the British Records Office in London.

The diary of Bishop Spangenburg, of the Moravian Church, written in the 1750's when he was on a journey through North Carolina, stated "We are at present staying with a man who spent a year and a half in Guinea. The Captain with whom he sailed, deserted him; the negroes captured & bound him with the intention of killing him but set him free & treated him with kindness, & would gladly have kept him with them; but he sighed for his native land & availed himself of the first opportunity of returning thither ... " John Sallis was picked up by the British ship "Strafford" and returned to Virginia in Oct 1742.

John Sallis was recorded in Bertie Co., N.C. as early as 27 Dec 1742 when he signed as a witness to a bill of sale. On 17 January 1745, he signed as witness on another bill of sale. Another witness on this same bill of sale was Isabella Frazier. The maiden name of John Sallis' wife has not been found in any record. However, since her given name was Isabella, it is probable this Isabella Frazier was his wife.

According to the book "Ray's Index & Digest to Hathaway's N.C. Historical & Genealogical Register (published by the Clearfield Company), John Sallis was a Deputy Sheriff in Bertie Co. in 1747. John Sallis began buying property in 1748. He bought 400 acres on Walston's Creek, 100 acres on Cashy River, 100 acres on Buck Branch, 300 acres on Bear Swamp and two other pieces of land.

How, and exactly when, John Sallis and his family made the trip to Georgia isn't known. However, they were there before the 17th of July 1758. For it was on that day that he signed as a witness to a deed. Volume 7 of "The Colonial Records of Georgia" says that at a council held at Savannah on 3 October 1758, a petition from John Sallis was read. It stated that he had just come into the Province from North Carolina with a wife and five children and "was desirous to obtain a Grant of Land for Cultivation. Therefore praying for four hundred Acres on the Savannah River about a mile and a half above Lands Possessed by Mr. Rae in Augusta Township which if granted" he wanted "to cultivate and improve the same [having] already begun a settlement thereon." The petition was granted. By May 1759 he had been witness to other legal documents in the "District of Augusta, Colony of Georgia."

Sources