Family:Henry Sherman and Agnes Butter (8)

DISCUSSION RELATED TO HENRY SHERMAN (THE ELDER)

Beware the Duplicate Names Henry Sherman b. abt 1511/12 of Dedham Essex is frequently confused with Henry Sherman b. abt 1529-33 (in many data-bases incorrectly stated as born about 1524), son of Thomas Sherman of Yaxley, Suffolk, however as Michael Johnson Wood points out in THE EARLIEST SHERMANS OF DEDHAM,ESSEX AND THEIR WIVES; [PART I; HENRY SHERMAN THE ELDER AND HIS WIVES]; NEHGR Vol. 166 October 2012)

“In New Light on Henry Sherman, Mrs.B. L. Stratton conclusively proved that Henry Sherman the elder was not the Son of that name of Thomas Sherman of Yaxley, Suffolk”

Henry (The Elder) Sherman was born 1511/12 in England, and died 20 Jul 1590 in Dedham, Essex, England. He married Agnes 1541 in Dedham, Essex, England, who perhaps was the daughter of Robert Perpoynt and Unknown. He married Marion (Smyth) Willson Jun 1581 in Dedham, Essex, England. She was born Abt 1524 in Dedham, Essex, England. He married Marjory Kerrick Aft 1581. She was born 1542, and died 1610.

GILLY AND MICHAEL ARE DECENDED FROM HENRY 1511/1512 OF DEDHAM

http://gillywoodfamily.blogspot.com/2013/02/discussion-related-to-henry-sherman.html

Oct 13, 2006 letter from Michael Wood - noted genealogist - to an open forum on RootsWeb..

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Several hundred databases on worldconnect.rootsweb.com <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi> say that Henry Sherman of Dedham, Essex, clothier, who died in 1590, was son of Thomas Sherman of Yaxley, Suffolk, d. 1551. I am sending this message in batches, as time permits, to the creators of the 181 databases (as at 1 Oct 2006) on which Henry has been allocated the year of birth 1524, for no reason I can see. This date does not fit the fourth son of Thomas of Yaxley, who in his will dated 20 Jan 1550/1 said his son Henry was then still an apprentice, that is, under 21. More particularly, that Henry probably lived at Diss, Norfolk, where his only known son Thomas, named in the will of that Henry's brother Richard of Diss dated 1587, was living in the early 1600s. [B L Stratton, Transatlantic Shermans (1969), esp. pages 37, 47, 49.] Nor does it fit the Dedham clothier, several of whose great-grandchildren settled in New England, either as young adults or with their parents. More than 50 years ago B L Stratton in New Light on Henry Sherman (1954), pages 1-10, pointed out that the clothier deposed on 11 October 1574 that he was then aged 62 and had lived in Dedham for 40 years, so was born 1511/12 and settled there in 1534. His daughters Alice Fince and Judith Petfield were both married before 1561 (when Henry son of Thomas of Yaxley was no more than 30), and his son Thomas was buried at Dedham 16 March 1563/4, probably aged 8, which is why he is not named in Henry's will dated 25 July 1590. So as not to mislead viewers of your database(s) [some addressees have more than one], please amend the year of birth of Henry Sherman to 1511 or 1512 and disconnect him from his pretended "Yaxley" ancestry; and while doing so, please delete also the conjectural surname of his wife Agnes. I have examined all surviving pertinent records, and can affirm she was NOT daughter of Henry's friend Thomas Butter of Dedham, whose surname was once misprinted "Butler", which has led to ludicrous, and wholly fictitious, speculations as to her ancestry on some databases. If you want to retain on your database the disconnected pedigree of the Shermans of Yaxley, I commend to you B L Stratton's Transatlantic Shermans (1969), pages 31-54 and the pull-out pedigree at the end, which identifies all the sons of Thomas & Jane (Waller) Sherman and their families. "Sherman" being an occupational surname, it is quite possible the Yaxley and Dedham families were not even distantly related agnately.

Yours sincerely, Michael J Wood

Michael has authored a 6 part Sherman and a Raven study explaining these facts

There is another study by Hyde & Richardson re the Makin’s that tells us that Grace Makin married Edmund not John Sherman. [It was a Grace Ravens who married John]

The proof for Henry of Dedham year of birth and the reason why he was not the Henry son of Thomas of Yaxley is shown below

THE EARLIEST SHERMANS OF DEDHAM, ESSEX, AND THEIR WIVES PART I: HENRY SHERMAN THE ELDER AND HIS WIVES

Michael Johnson Wood

The New England Historical and Genealogical Register 166 (October 2012):245–58 (Part 1)

KEY DOCUMENT FOR HENRY SHERMAN

On 11 October 1574, depositions were taken in Dedham in respect of a suit in the Duchy of Lancaster between Thomas Seckford, lord of the Manor of Dedham Hall, and Robert Forthe concerning the entering and intruding upon certain lands and tenements in Dedham. One of the deponents for the plaintiff was Henry Sherman, who gave his age as “62 years or thereabouts.” He said he had lived in Dedham “for the space of 40 years,” and that he had been a copyholder of Dedham Hall for 20 years. He did not depose that he knew either party, only as to the nature of the land tenure in Dedham; he may have met each of the parties seldom, if at all. He and the other deponents were interviewed in Dedham by Matthew Smith and Edmond Bocking, Esquires, who were not local men but outsiders appointed for that purpose by a commission dated 30 June 1574.

SO THE ABOVE EXTRACT BY PROFESSIONAL HISTORY AND GENEALOGICAL RESEARCHER, MICHAEL J WOOD, TELLS US

1) He was aged 62 yrs in 1574 2) He was not born in Dedham 3) He had lived in Dedham as of abt. 1534 4) He was the copyholder of Dedham Hall as of abt. 1550

Importantly for us this means Henry Sherman of Dedham was born abt.1511/1512 not in Dedham but it’s likely he was born in England, to unknown parents. We know Henry was living in Dedham, Essex, England from abt. 1534 as he was consulted by the court during the Seekford v. Forth case in 1574

In his Will of 1551 Thomas Sherman of Yaxley, Suffolk, England, refers to his son Henry as being an apprentice which tells us his son Henry was UNDER 21 yrs old in 1551, so the earliest the Henry of Yaxley could have been born was abt. 1528 almost 20 yrs after Henry of Dedham was born! Henry of Yaxley would have been a small boy in 1534 and still with Thomas his father, we know Thomas remained in Yaxley until his death in 1551

THEREFORE THIS ONE EVENT ALONE TELLS US HENRY OF DEDHAM B. 1511/12 WAS NOT THE SON OF THOMAS OF YAXLEY!

Below link to my media on ancestry does have T. T. Sherman study on it but do not rely on it due to the few mistakes he made.

More importantly Michael's and the Stratton and the Hyde & Richardson Makin study are there and very reliable. Remember Michael is a professional genealogist who is also related to Henry Sherman!

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/102403796/person/222280666260/gallery

1.   Roberts, Gary Boyd. Ancestors of American Presidents. (Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009)
   p. 463.

   Ancestors of four U.S. presidents: William Taft through son Edmund, and Herbert Hoover, George H.W. Bush and George Bush (3) through son Henry.

2. ↑ Estimate based on appx birth date of oldest known child