Our Sherman Family Lineage
History of the Surname
A shearman, one who used to shear cloth. 'Villain, thy father was a plasterer, and thou thyself a shearman.' Stafford to Jack Cade. Shaks. Henry VI.
Source: An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names With an Essay on their Derivation and Import; Arthur, William, M.A.; New York, NY: Sheldon, Blake, Bleeker & CO., 1857.
WILLIAM SHERMAN (I) was born on April 29, 1599 in Dedham, Sussex, England. He married Prudence Hill. Prudence was born in 1617 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Together they had 4 children: William (1639), Samuel (1642), Hannah (1644) and John (1646). William passed away on October 25, 1679 in Marshfield, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. Prudence passed away in 1680 in Marshfield as well.
William first arrived in Plymouth in 1632.
From PlymouthAncestors.Org:
William Sherman first appeared in Plymouth records in the tax list of March 25, 1633. There are no references to him for the next five years, so it is unclear whether or not he left the colony. He was in Duxbury by 1638, where he was appointed a highway surveyor in June 1644. He was in Marshfield shortly thereafter. He served as a highway surveyor for Marshfield in 1652. William Sherman may have come to Plymouth originally as a servant. In June 1662, he was included in the “servants and others that are ancient freemen.” In his 1673 will, he referred to land in Saconnet [Little Compton, Rhode Island], where many Plymouth Colony servants ultimately were granted land.
From "The Great Migration Begins":
MIGRATION: 1632 FIRST RESIDENCE: Plymouth REMOVES: Duxbury by 1638, Marshfield by 1644 OCCUPATION: Yeoman. FREEMAN: In list of those in Duxbury who took the oath of fidelity in 1639 [ PCR 8:182]. EDUCATION: Signed his deeds by mark. OFFICES: Duxbury highway surveyor, 5 June 1644 [PCR 2:72]. Marsh~field highway surveyor, 7 June 1652 [PCR 3:9]. Grand jury, 3 June 1657 [PCR 3:115]. In Duxbury section of 1643 Plymouth list of men able to bear arms [PCR 8:189]. (Toward the end of the Marshfield section of this same list is an entry for "[blank] Sherman," who may be this same William who moved to Marshfield in 1643 or 1644 [PCR 8:196].) ESTATE: Assessed 9s. in the Plymouth tax list of 25 March 1633 [PCR 1:11]; but absent from the list of 27 March 1634. On 17 November 1637 James Davis of Plymouth, sailor, sold to William Sherman of Plymouth "all that his lot of lands lying near the lands granted to Mr. John Weekes containing by estimation five acres" [PCR 12:24]. On 5 February 1637/8 granted "a garden place on Ducksborrow side, & five acres of lands at Pouder Poynt, if it can be there had" [PCR 1:76]. At court of 1 April 1639 William Sherman requested land [PCR 1:120]. On 6 April 1640 William Sherman "is granted a meadstead about the Stony Brooke, in Duxborrow, and the said Will[ia]m & John Washborne to have such accommodations of land as may be spared in the place where they desire" [PCR 1:145]. On 1 June 1640, along with six other men, granted four acres in Duxbury [PCR 1:153]. On 2 November 1640 granted "twenty acres, his houselot to be part thereof,... northward from Duxborrow Mill, towards Greens Harbour" [PCR 1:165]. On 4 June 1648, "[d]ifferences depending between William Sherman and John Barker about the bounds of their lands, the Court do appoint and request Captain Myles Standish and Mr. Aldin, and to be accompanied with Joshua Prat, to set at right such differences as are betwixt them" [PCR 2:127-28]. On 3 June 1662 William Sherman was one of the "servants and others that are ancient freemen" who were granted land by the General Court [PCR 4:18]. On 9 June 1673 William Sherman Senior of Marshfield, yeoman, deeded to "my natural son Samuell Sherman" of Marshfield a parcel of land and meadow "whereon I now dwell" together with "one half or moiety of the marsh and meadow land appertaining to my said lot" [ PCLR 4:88]. On 5 February 1673[/4?] William Sherman Senior of Marsh~field, planter, deeded to "my natural and well beloved son John Sherman of Marshfield ... all my right ... unto one share of a certain parcel or tract of land lying and being at and near Saconett" [PCLR 4:408]. On 15 August 1676 William Sherman Senior of Marshfield deeded to "my natural and well beloved son William Sherman of Marshfield ... all that my dwelling house and land ... upland and meadow" in Marshfield [PCLR 4:167].
Also from "The Great Migration Begins":
SAMUEL SHERMAN was born in 1642 in Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. he married Sarah Doggett in 1665. Sarah was born in Weymouth, Norfolk County, Massachusetts in 1650. Together they had 12 children: Prudence (1674), Sarah (1676), Susanna (1678), Hannah (1687), Samuel (1689), Mercy (1691), Joshua (1693), Desire (1695), Patience (1697), William (1699), Caleb (1703) and Gershom (1707). Samuel passed away on April 22, 1718 in Marshfield. Sarah also passed away in Marshfield in July of 1680.
WILLIAM SHERMAN (II) was born in June of 1699 in Marshfield, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. He married Mary Dexter, who was born on August 3, 1719 in Rochester. Together they had 11 children: John (1735), Simeon (1735), William (1738), Bethia (1741), Susanna (1745), Mary (1746), Betty (1748), Thomas (1750), Sarah (1753), Zephaniah (1755) and Richard (1761). William passed away in Rochester in 1780. Mary passed away on April 11, 1787 in Rochester as well.
WILLIAM SHERMAN (III) was born on March 17th, 1738 in Rochester, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. He married Hanna Stewart on Spetember 11th, 1766 there in Rochester. Hannah was born on June 20, 1747 in Hardwick, Worcester County, Massachusetts. Together they had 8 children: Eleanor (1767), Prudence (1769), Zephaniah (1771), Thomas (1777), Daniel (1779), Sarah (1781), William (1785) and Elkanah (1790). William passed away on June 28th, 1822 in Rochester. Hannah passed away on October 15, 1825 in Rochester.
WILLIAM SHERMAN (IV) was born on March 17th, 1738 in Rochester, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. He married Hanna Stewart on Spetember 11th, 1766 there in Rochester. Hannah was born on June 20, 1747 in Hardwick, Worcester County, Massachusetts. Together they had 8 children: Eleanor (1767), Prudence (1769), Zephaniah (1771), Thomas (1777), Daniel (1779), Sarah (1781), William (1785) and Elkanah (1790). William passed away on June 28th, 1822 in Rochester. Hannah passed away on October 15, 1825 in Rochester.
ELKANAH "ELROY" SHERMAN was born on April 11, 1790, in Rochester, Plymouth, Massachusetts. He married Susan Parlow on March 5th, 1810 there in Rochester. Susan was born on April 18th, 1798, in Rochester. Together they had 10 children: ??? (1811), James (1812), Katherine W (1814), Isaiah (1817), Joseph (1820), William (1822), Susan (1824), William R (1829), Martha (1833) and Elkanah II (1836). Elkanah passed away in 1860 in Iowa City, Wright County, Iowa. Susan passed away in 1836 in Ellenburg, Clinton County, New York.
WILLIAM (R) SHERMAN (V) was born on July 29, 1829 in Brandon, Rutland County, Vermont. He married a woman by the name of Flora Hoyt on October 8th, 1848 in Hopkinton, St Lawrence County, New York. Flora was born in 1826 in Bolton, Brome, Quebec, Canada. They had 3 Children: William Chandler (1850), Asa (1853) and Melissa Elizabeth (1856). Flora Hoyt passed away on September 24, 1857. William maried Josephine P Finuff on December 20th, 1857 in West Union, Fayette County, Iowa. William and Josie had 7 children: Rufus (1858), Asa R (1860), Etta Amenia (1861), Joseph Clinton (1864), Sylvia (1866), Susan Isadore (1869) and Happy Josephine (1870). William passed away on November 7, 1903 in Royal, Antelope County, Nebraska.
WILLIAM (CHANDLER) SHERMAN (VI) was born about 1850/1 in New York. He passed away on October 2, 1880 in Neligh, Antelope County, Nebraska. He married a woman by the name of Viola Almyra Burton on October 7, 1879 in Springfield Bon Homme County, South Dakota. She was born on May 14th, 1857 in Kendalville, Iowa. They had one child that is known of: LeRoy Ensign Sherman.
LEROY ENSIGN SHERMAN was born on January 17th, 1881 in Neligh, Antelpoe County, Nebraska. He married a woman by the name of Elizabeth Rosaland Beller on February 18, 1904 in Neligh. She was born on July 17th, 1885 in Neligh. Together they had 5 children: Vernal William, Richard "Dick" Vance, Wayne LeRoy, Iola Almyra, and Virginia Mildred.
RICHARD VANCE "DICK" SHERMAN was born on May 23rd, 1910 in Rapid City, South Dakota. He married a woman by the name of Phyllis Marie Ritz on November 3, 1943 in Madison, South Dakota. She was born on March 25, 1921. Together they had 4 children: Richard Larry, Geraldine Marie, Joyce Ann, and Ray Eugene.
JOYCE ANN SHERMAN was born on September 2nd, 1947 in Pierre, South Dakota. She married a fellow by the name of Michael Eugene Cummins who was born in Madisonville, Kentucky on April 2nd, 1948. They were married in Downer's Grove, Illinois on June 4th, 1969. They had two children: Michael Eugene and Evelyn Marie.
MICHAEL EUGENE CUMMINS II was born in 1970 in Elksgrove Village, IL. Michael married the former Wendy M. Madara in a public ceremony aboard a Motor Yacht from which they and their guests released numerous butterflies. Wendy has a son, Daniel P. Tallman from a previous marriage that rounds out their happy family of three.
William Sherman appears on the tax list of 25 March 1633, but not in the list of 27 March 1634, and not in any other Plymouth Colony record for the next five years. This might be interpreted in a number of ways, including the possibilities that William Sherman returned to England, or that we are dealing with two different men of the same name. Were the gap much greater than five years, we would lean toward the latter solution, but in the absence of further evidence have concluded that only one William Sherman is represented by these records. On 5 March 1638/9 William Sherman was presented "for drinking tobacco contrary to order" [PCR 1:118]. A William Sherman is mentioned in the records of the Massachusetts Bay Company on 26 February 1628/9 [ MBCR 1:25], and some have thought that this might be the immigrant to Plymouth. It is more likely, however, that the William Sherman of the 1628/9 record was one of the many tradesmen supplying goods for the ships bound for Salem, rather than being himself an immigrant. BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE: A comprehensive and well-documented account of the family of William Sherman was published in 1936 by Mary Lovering Holman [Descendants of William Sherman of Marshfield, Massachusetts (Brookline, Massachusetts, 1936)]. |
