RICHARD SAYER or SEARS 1508-1540

[Ancestral Link: Marguerite Anderson (Miller), daughter of Hannah Anderson (Anderson), daughter of Mary Margaret Edmiston (Anderson), daughter of Martha Jane Snow (Edmiston), daughter of Gardner Snow, son of Abigail Farr (Snow), daughter of Mercy Winslow (Farr), daughter of Thomas Winslow, son of Samuel Winslow, son of Mercy Worden (Winslow), daughter of Mary Sears (Worden), daughter of Richard Sears, son of John Boucher Sayer or Sears, son of John Bouchier Sears, son of Richard Sayer or Sears.]

Richard Sears
Notes from http://www.stpeterscol.org.uk/sayer.html

RICHARD ...was born in Colchester in 1508, ... married ANNE BOURCHIER, daughter of EDMUND KNYVET, Esq., of Ashwellthorpe, Norfolk, the representative of the ancient and distinguished family of KNYVET.

It was during the time of this RICHARD SAYER that religious animosities and religious persecutions, excited by the violence of HENRY VIII. and other concurrent causes, attained their height. Unfortunately for his worldly peace and prosperity, RICHARD SAYER became a warm and zealous partisan on the side opposed to his own relatives, as well as to the existing Government, and found it prudent to escape with his wife and other refugees to Holland, where he settled at Amsterdam.

This was in the year 1537, and he died in 1540, leaving an only son, JOHN BOURCHIER SEARS, born in 1538. But the same difficulties that forced his father to quit England still existed, and he was excluded from the succession to the ancestral estates. Nor do we find that he made any effort to regain them. Being of a bold and adventurous disposition he preferred to seek renown for himself by his own exertions, and accompanied his father-in-law, Sir JOHN HAWKINS, in several of his voyages. He died in Holland, leaving by ELIZABETH HAWKINS (his wife) four sons, JOHN, HENRY, WILLIAM, and RICHARD. Taking into consideration that there were no male descendants of the other branch of the family (that of GEORGE SAYER) and the concurrence of dates, it may be presumed that the youngest of these four sons, viz., RICHARD, must have ventured into England, probably in the more tolerant days of Queen ELIZABETH, that, settling in Colchester, he died here, and that it is his monument which is now to be seen on the East wall of the Church, between the Chancel and Vestry door; the inscription on which is as follows:

HERE LYETH THE BODY OF RICHARD SAYER GENT. WHO WAS BVRIED THE 7TH DAY OF SEPTEM 1610. HE HAD TO HIS FIRST WIFE AILSE SPOONER BY WHOM HE HAD ISSVE ONE SONN, & TO HIS SECOND WIFE ELLEN LAWRENCE, WIDDOWE, BY WHOMHE HAD ISSVE ONE DAUGHTER NAMED IANE. BYRTH, LIFE, AGE, DEATH FOVRE BLESSINGS FROM ABOVE, HE HATH POSSEST, TRUE TRYALL OF GOD'S LOVE, BYRTH GENTLE, LIFE SOBER, AGE FVLL FOVRSCORE YERE, DEATH LAMBE-LIKE, MILDE, WITH CONSCIENCE GOOD & CLEAR, HEAVEN HATH HIS SOVLE, THE WORLD GOOD NAE HOVGH SORY YET IOY HIS LIFE IS CHANGED FOR ENDLESS GLORY.

Notes from http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/GEN-MEDIEVAL/2003-11/1069872299

Of the elder Brother RICHARD I have more to say—born in Colchester in 1508, he married ANNE BOURCHIER, daughter of EDMUND KNYVET, Esq., of Ashwellthorpe, Norfolk, the representative of the ancient and distinguished family of KNYVET.
found on ancestry.com

Exiled to Holland 1537
Richard had early imbibed in stong religious sentiments and denying the religious surpremacy of King Henry VIII he and his wife were exiled to Holland in 1537 and died there in 1540.
found on ancestry.com

Richard Sayre
Richard Sayre and his wife, Ann Bourchier Knyvet Sayre, fled Holland to escape religious persecution by King Henry VIII who exiled them because Richard would not swear spiritual supremancy to the King.
found on ancestry.com