Saffold Family History
Family tradition of some branches of the Saffolds says that the first Saffold in the New World was a small boy, found wandering on the docks at Charleston, S. C. He was said to have had been smuggled to America from England in order to deny him an inheritance. The original Saffold probably did emigrate from England, but there is substantial evidence to support his living as an adult in Virginia and North Carolina long before he came to South Carolina. As research continues, it becomes quite likely that the story of the boy on the dock is nothing more than interesting family legend.

 The progenitor of the Saffolds who later populated the Southern United States was William Saffold I. Virginia is the probable location of his marriage to Temperance Shore in the mid-18th century. William Saffold I died on October 16, 1784 in the Abbeville District, S. C., leaving a widow and nine children -- six sons and three daughters. Nothing is known about his sons, Aaron and Samuel, or his daughters, Anne and Sarah.

 The remaining four sons and one daughter of William and Temperance -- Reuben, William, Daniel, Isham and Elizabeth -- immigrated to Wilkes County, Ga., along with their various spouses and families.

 By 1813, the family had broken into three distinct groups. One segment settled in the Morgan County, Ga. area, where there are still Saffolds living today. A second group migrated into south Georgia, to live in the area around Valdosta, in Twiggs and Lowndes counties. The third group struck out across what was still Indian land to the newly-opened Mississippi Territory, and settled in what would later become the state of Alabama. From Alabama, several Saffold families went on to settle in Mississippi and Texas.

 Wherever they have lived, the Saffolds historically tended to be well-educated. Many practiced the professions of law and medicine. But, the family also has included teachers, soldiers, farmers, merchants and laborers, as well as several aviators.

COPYRIGHT 2001 SAFFOLD FAMILY SOCIETY