Information Concerning Edward Sayers Circ 1800 Kent England
I am seeking information concerning the life of Edward Sayers, born in Kent(?) 1796. I believe that he was a master mariner. Family folklore tells us that he commanded a ship which called at an island (Indonesia?) and rescued one or two girls who the sole European survivors of a disease which had decimated the population. Later he and his wife, Julia Senior, adopted one of these, known as Antje Johanna Louise Kishman. Their son James later married her and my wife's family results from this relationship. We are keen to validate this story and any information would be welcome.
Alex,
I'll post this in case someone else can also add to the puzzle. Edward Sayers was a Master Mariner as was one of his sons Augustus (my ancestor). For noting, I'm also a Master Mariner so it's interesting for me personally. From records that I have found and building off other work (particularly my uncles) Edward's seafaring was to the West Indies and I am gathering lots of data on that. I hadn't come across East Indies trading though. The adoption story fits with what I have and the subsequent emigration to Australia etc.
I hadn't heard about the circumstances as to how Antje ended up living with Edward and Julie and she is certainly there on the census and subsequent records. The story is an interesting one and may well be true. For some reason, James and Antje have married in the UK and Aust and the Australian one says her birth was Demerara, Sth America (i.e., British Guyana) and I note other references to Holland. Holland of course held Guyana previously to the British. So for me this was perfectly logical: shipping and trading to Demerara for sugar. So your Indonesian story or an island is something to investigate. I have previously looked at Guyana for other reasons and noted that life span wasn't great so maybe her parents simple died and the Sayers' took them in.