To: the Sasser list The word "sasser" is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989), p. 493 as "obs[elete]. form of SAUCER." In light of Vietta's message a couple of days ago, that not only supports the old idea that our Southern Appalachian dialect is an old form of English. It also points to a possible English origin of the name, which I had always more or less taken for granted until February of this year, when I got in contact with this e-mail group. C. Bardsley, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (1967), includes the following entry: "Saucer. ---Occup. 'the saucer,' i.e. a maker of sauces, a most important avocation in the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries, when some seasoning, like salt-pickle, for a relish w as deemed a vital necessity. Hence, saucer, a deep-rimmed plate, or shallow vessel, to hold sauce in. v. Saucemaker. .... "The early registers teem with entries. "William le Sauser, co. Devon, Hen. III-Edw. I. K. [Note: this and other examples cited are French in form, but this would be explained by the Norman occupation of England.].... "Curiously enough, I cannot find any present representatiives of the name. The latest are: "1662. Bapt.--Alexander, son of Laurance Sawcer: .... "1670. Buried--Riobert, son of Laurance Sawcer: .... "1735. Married--Thomas Edwards and Keturah Sawcer: ...." Is it possible that the name "Sawcer"/"Saucer" has simply been transformed into "Sasser?" I find it curious that such a widespread name--at least in America--is not listed in any of the books on surnames that I checked. I also find it curious that Sassers do not seem to appear in any other country. Is this an indication that the name indeed was of foreign (i.e., non-English) origin and got Anglicized in America? Bardsley also includes the name "Sass, Sasse" and gives examples of "Sas" as well. The word was used for "a lock in a river' or 'a sluice or lock...." Could it be that a person who operated a sluice gate (i.e., a sasse) came to be known as a "sasser?" I don't see any mention of that possibility, and I am too much of a dilettante in this field to want to propose such a hypothesis. S. Brown, Surnames Are the Fossils of Speech (1965) includes the following entry: "SAUCIER (Fr) A 'cook' who prepared the sauces, gravies, etc in a (manor) house kitchen". Also: "SAUSSER (Fr) (Dwl. at) 'the willow trees'." The only name I see in any reference book that looks similar is "Sassari"--a town in Sardinia. The connection seems unlikely, though perhaps less so than Armenia or Albania. I was looking for a reference on German surnames but have not found one so far. I do see mention of the fact that Palatanite Germans settled in England and then later mostly moved to Ireland or America. The document sent by Dixie Ricker is most interesting and informative. I want to thank her for providing it. Both her material and the messages of Robert Woodham--based on his impressive research--have rightly shaken us up and made this list more exciting than ever. But the story of French Huguenot origin--a good hypothesis, and one that somebody had already recently proposed-- lacks viable documentation. It relates to a period that is too remote in time--at least I fear--for oral tradition to be of much value. Also, oral traditions need to have dependable chains of transmission. Who told whom, and who told him/her, etc.? My high school history teacher was talking about the Huguenot settlement in the Carolinas and said that some had come on to Southeast Kentucky. He pointed at me, saying that right there you have a typically French-looking fellow. I don't know what was so "French-looking" about me, but I--or at least a third person who heard the story from me--might have later used this as the basis of a tradition that my North Carolina ancesters were Huguenots. The same thing can be said about the story of Palatinate German origin. Document B (as I labelled it) cited the Henry Sasser Bible (that is, Document A, as I called it) as a source for the list of children and dates of birth. But Document B, as such, is not taken from the Henry Sasser Bible. The part on Palatanite origin is obviously based on somebody's oral tradition, at best (at worst, it is an imaginary account written, say, as a assignment in school). As for the oral traditions I have been slowly sharing, all relate to a more recent time. None goes back to a time before Henry Sasser. And most of them have strong chains of transmission. Most are stories that I heard over and over at different times from a dependable source who was born only sixteen years after Henry Sasser died and who heard the stories over and over from those who knew him. And yet I try to be careful about stating any uncertainty that may be called for. I have been amazed so far by the extent to which my traditions have been confirmed by the written sources others have uncovered--and also by the tradtions that Cheryl has shared, notably the recent one about Jesse Sasser. I hope Cheryl will share more such traditions with us. But that is quite different from stories about the early 1700s whose transmitters are unknown. As for one more point in a maessage that began with the idea of being brief, I hope that the name "John Henry Sasser" or "John Henry Sasser, Jr." stops appearing. It is possible that that was his full name, but unlikely. Even if it was, "Henry Sasser" has been our patriarch's trademark for two centuries, plus nearly two additional decades. At most, the possibility of such a longer name that he and others did not actually use deserves a footnote in geneological charts or whatever. Glenn ***************************************** Glenn E. Perry Department of Political Science Indiana State University Terre Haute, IN 47809 USA E-Mail: psperrg@scifac.indstate.edu (812)237-2505 (office) (812)234-5661 (home) **************************************** ------------------------------