Also called John Sayles.2 Also called Jan Celes Per early Dutch records.3,1 John Sales was born circa 1585 in Devon, England.3,4 He was born in 1602 in Sudbury, St. Peter's Parish, Suffolk, England.5,6 He was the son of John Sayles and Mary (?).7 He married Phillipe Soales, daughter of Jamys Sole and Ellyn Bell, on 11 August 1625 in Little Waldingfield, Suffolk, England.1 He immigrated to Salem, Massachusetts, arriving circa July 1630; He arrived with the Winthrop Fleet of 1630, sailing with his wife, and daughter Phoebe. Of Lavenham, Suffolk, settling in Charlestown.1 He was admitted as an inhabitant of Charlestown after July 1630 in Massachusetts.1 He lived between 1630 and 1638 in Charlestown, Massachusettes. He was admitted to Boston church as member #21 in 1630 in Fall, Boston, Massachusetts.1 In 1632 there "happened in this town [Charlestown] the first known thief that was notoriously observed in the country, his name was John Sales who having stolen corn from many people in this scarce time was convicted thereof before the Court, & openly punished, & all he had by law condemned & sold to make restitution."1 He relocated to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1633.1 He was convicted of "feloniously taking away corn & fish from diverse persons the last year & this, as also clapboards, &c., is censured by the Court after this manner: That all his estate shall be forfeited, out of which double restitution shall be made to those whom he hath wronged, shall be whipped, & bound as servant with any that will retain him for 3 years, & after to be disposed of by the Court as they shall think meet. John Sayle is bound with Mr. Coxeshall for 3 years, for which he is to give him �4 per annum; his daughter is also bound with him for 14 years. Mr. Coxeshall is to have a sow with her, & at the end of her time he is to give unto her a cow calf" on 1 April 1633 in Charlestown, Massachusetts.1 He was not appearing on the list in Charlestown on 9 January 1633/34.1 He was "severely whipped," by court order, "for running from his master, Mr. Coxeall" on 4 March 1633/34 in Massachusetts.1 It was "referred to Mr. Treasurer [William Coddington] & Mr. Pynchon to examine & prepare the business betwixt Mr. Coxeall, Sayles his daughter, & John Levens."1 He relocated to New Amsterdam, New Netherlands, in 1638.1 He married Maria Roberts on 21 August 1644 in New Amsterdam, Kings County, New York; Her 2nd (widow).1 He left a will on 17 April 1645; In his nuncupative will, dated 17 April 1645 [NS], "Jan Celes ... being wounded and lying sick abed" bequeathed half his estate to "Tonis Nysen, his brother-in-law" and half to "his wife Marritjen Roberts"; his wife's share was for life only, then to revert to "Tonis Nysen or his children or heirs." Brother-in-law more properly son-in-law, which Thunis was.3,4,1 He died between 17 April 1645 and 9 August 1645 in New Amsterdam, New Netherlands.3,4,1 Children
1. Phoebe (Also Called Phaebea Faelix) SALES, b. 1605, England,,,,,
Group Sheet F4286 Default Tree Notes Here in Charlestown in 1632 John Sales was "openly" punished for stealing corn from his neighbours during a time of "great want". The record notes " ... the first knowne theife yt was notoriously observed in ye Country, his name was John Sales ... " On 1 Apr. 1633 John Sayles [sic] was convicted of taking fish and corn from neighbours, also clapboards; he forfeited his estate; he was whipped and bound as a servant for three years to a Mr. Coxeshall. His daughter Phebe [sic] was bound with Mr. Coxeshall for 14 years (probably her 21st year) and she was to receive a calf at the end of her period of being bound.

On 4 Mar 1633-34: "John Sayles shall be severely whipt for running from his maister, M. Coxeall." And on 6 June 1637: "Phebe Seales free from Jn. Cogshall" There is an account of "John Coggesall of Boston" saying that "said girle hath proved over burthensome to him". The court relieved him of the burden.

Neither John nor Phoebe show up again in Massachusetts records. But in 1638 both he and Phoebe show up in New Amsterdam and it was probably there that he married Maria Robberts. He apparently continued to be a pain in the butt to his neighbors as he figures in court on charges of shooting his neighbor's hogs, and committing other damages. His new wife was probably no better than he for we find the following: "In 1643, several cattle, belonging to the government, strayed in the woods, and messengers were despatched to look them up. When they came to Old Jans plantation by the swamp, they saw that the woman residing on said Old Jans plantation had driven with a goad the cattle into said swamp, so that they sunk into it over their backs; but as they were strong and well in flesh, they finally got through the morass." (2) Maria apparently had a thing for felons, for after Jan's death in 1645 she married Thomas Gridy or Grydy, an Englishman, and widower, 60 years old, who at a later date was sentenced to be publicly whipped, and to be banished from the province for twelve years.

What follows is an excerpt from the following book:

THE TRUE IDENTITY OF JOHN SALES, ALIAS JAN CELES, OF MANHATTAN
by Gwenn F. Epperson in The New York Genealogical & Biographical Record Vol. 123, Apr. 1992 #2.

I can quote some of the more interesting and relevant parts to you and it's a real eye-opener!! What a character (unsavoury) he was he was publicly whipped for theft in Massachussets before coming to New Netherland. Turns out too that Mary Robberts was NOT Phoebe's mother! Now that I have your interest, read on!
John Seales was from Little Waldingfield Suffolk according to the author, Gwen F. Epperson of 3349 South 350 West, Bountiful UT 84010
>From parish register of Little Waldingfield Suffolk:
Marriages:
11 Aug 1625 John SALES & Phillip [sic] SOALES
Baptisms:
1 May 1626 Phoebe SALES, d/o John
27 July 1628 Sarah SEALES [sic] d/o John




Charlestown Massachusetts Town Records Vo. 2 1629-1661 compiled by John Green reveal info on the life of John SALES on p. 9:
"List of names of such as staid and became inhabitants of the Towne in this yeare 162[9]:.......John Sales" (13th of 17 names)- the year should read 1630 apparently.
In 1632 John Sales was "openly" punished for stealing corn from his neighbours during a time of "great want". [likely means whipped in public]

1 Apr. 1633 John Sayles [sic] convicted of taking fish and corn from neighbours, also clapboards, was whipped and bound as a servant for 3 years to Mr. Coxeshall. His dau. Phebe [sic]was bound with Mr. C. for 14 yrs (until 1647) and she is to receive a calf at the end of her period of being bound. (Phoebe was only 7 yrs old at the time!!!!)

4 Mar 1633-34: "John Sayles (ordered by the court) shall be severely whipt [sic] for running from his maister, M. Coxeall" Another account says John Seales ran away to the Indians but came home again on 30 Jan 1634/5 when 4 of the 7 Indians he was staying with, died of the pox.

6 June 1637: "Phebe Seales free from Jn. Cogshall" There is an account of "John Coggesall of Boston" saying that "said girle hath proved over burthensome to him". John C. thus gave her (Phoebe) to John Levins of Roxberry to be kept. The courts then set down an order for "disposing of the said Phebe"

After this date above there is no mention of John or Phebe in Mass. In 1638 John SALES surfaces in new Netherland. Apparently there were a number of runaways fleeing to the more liberal Dutch settlements, from the Puritans in Mass - remember this was during witchraft fever building!!! The mention of John is "Jan Celes (Seals, Seales) an Englishman, received a lease.....about this time [1638] to occupy a plantation lying north of the later Rutgers Swamp.....this land became very well known as 'Old Jan's Land'" Remember that note we had referring to Jan Damen as "Old Jan"???? Well here is the mystery solved - Old Jan was Jan Celes!!!!!! It goes on... "After Old Jan's death, Tonis Nyssen received a grant of the tract on 3 Apr. 1647"

"If a wife accompanied John Sales to America in 1630 she evidently died on the voyage or shortly afterward(according to what Paddy found below, she did indeed accompany him on the voyage!).(lotsa stuff left out) Sales married Mary Roberts as his second wife either in MA following his release from servitude in 1636 or after his arrial in Manhatten in 1638, and prior to the beginning of the Dutch Church records in 1639." Nothing about Devonshire Eng.....except a footnote:

"Teunis G. Bergen, The Bergen Family 1876 pp 99-101 has a lengthy note on John Sales which says he was from Devonshire. Apparently he is confusing him with Thomas Greedy [Mary Robberts second husband] who is documented as being from there.

This marriage caught the attention of Judith Hurst (see Rec. 123:65), because the name "Phillipa ZaalsS" so closely resembled "Phillip Soales," who married a John Sales in 1625 at Little Waldingfield, Suffolk, England (a marriage record discovered by Mrs. Hurst). It now appears that this resemblance is no coincindence, and that the above 1644 marriage has to be the second marriage of the same John Sales, to the wife otherwise recorded as Mary Robbers or Robbertszen (presumably Roberts or Robertson).

Anyone familiar with New Netherland records knows that they contain many English and other foreign names, spelled phonetically by the Dutch. The given name Phillippa was virtually unknown in New Netherland, and the surname Zaals does not orherwise appear in the records of the colony. Its proximity to "Soales" is obvious. But could "Jan Corly" possibly be John Sales or Seales? The present marriage register of the New Amsterdam/New York Dutch Church, from which the published version (MDC) was made is a transcript compiled late in the 17th century by the Rev. Henricus Selyns. We do not know the quality of the handwriting of the original register (now lost), but it seems quite possible that Rev. Selyns might have had trouble deciphering foreign names which he found there. It has already been noted (Rec. 123:69) that an error occurred in his transcription of the surname of John Sales' daughter Phebe, so that her 1640 marriage record now reads "Faelix" rather than "Saelix" or perhaps "Saelis." That the copyist would have trouble with another appearance of the same name cannot be surprising. The Dutch sometimes wrote John's surname as "Celes." From this or a similar form, especially in the old script, a transition to "Corly" is not impossible. It should also be noted that New Netherland records contain no other reference to a "Jan Corly."

Regarding the other data in the record, "Noortfort" has not been identified in any gazetteer, and definitely does not appear to be any place in the Netherlans. Possibly it is an attempt at "Norfold," the English county immediately north of Suffolk. As for "Maria Sloofs," as already noted, if this is the marriage of John Sales, then Maria has to be the woman called Mary Roberts(on) in records dated 1645. James Savage's A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England has an entry (4:107) for John Slough, Slow or Sloff, of Newport 1639, for whom there seems to be no further record in New England or New Netherland. Possibly this elusive character was the previous husband of Maria/Mary. There are other examples of english people coming from Rhode Island to New Netherland in this period. In accordance with Dutch practice, she would have been recorded under her maiden name in New Netherland records, hence Robberts(on). Her marriage to Sales would have taken place only a few months before his death, which would help explain why he treated her in such a cursory manner in his deathbed will.

Mrs. Epperson's article refuted Mrs. Hurst's claim that John Sales of Charlestown was the John Sayles later found in Rhode Island, rather than the Manhattan settler of the name. This latest discovery can only bolster that conclusion. Its main impact, however, is toprove that the Little Waldingfield parish register entries found by Mrs. Hurst were indeed those of the Charlestown and Manhattan John Sales and his family.
Harry Macy, Jr. Associate Editor
Savage mention referred to in above article:
CD 149, 1st Edition
JAMES SAVAGE, -VOL 4 DICT. FIRST SETTLERS OF N.E.
Screen 273 of 1760

Birth: