“S” is for Sayle, William (d.1671). Governor. Sayle served as governor of English colonies in both Bermuda and South Carolina. He was first appointed governor of Bermuda in 1641 and occupied this office intermittently for the next two decades. In 1648 he was involved in a scheme to establish a new colony in the Bahamas. He remained there until 1657 when he returned to Bermuda. In 1670 Sayle (nearly eighty years old) was appointed governor of the Carolina colony just as the surviving ship of the settlement fleet set sail. As in Bermuda and the Bahamas, political strife plagues Sayle’s administration. One dissatisfied faction tried unsuccessfully to unseat the governor. Sayle did shortly therafter. A copy of an addendum to William Sayle’s will and its proof remain the earliest surviving probate documents in South Carolina.
“S” is for Sayle, William (d.1671)
