Hi Jo! My line was spelled Sayers from about mid 1700s to after the Civil War. They eventually changed it permanently to Sawyers because of misprouncation. We have Early used once or twice as a first name ~ 1860s and John Henry in about 1830s. The furtherest back I can find is Andrew Sayers born about 1815 (maybe in NC or Va) who married nancy Puckett in Stokes Co, NC in 1836 and moved to Wythe Co, Va soon after. The oral history is that Andrew's possible grandfather Alexander Sayers moved his family from Wythe Co to Nc to keep them safe from the Indians. Alexander Sayers reportedly had a mill on the New River and later drowned in the New River trying to escape from Indians. I just don't have any verified information on Andrew's ancestors, or Nancy's either. I guess they could have come from anywhere. Early Sayers was Andrew's grandson. Diane Costello On Wed, 28 Jul 1999, sinca wrote: > I need to clarify and add to my query about persons with these names. Since > these two given names appear so many times in our SC Sawyer line, it may > well be that early ancestors, perhaps in England, also had these names. I > would be interested in corresponding with anyone with either of these names > in their line before 1700. Thanks. > > Jo Sawyer > >