Family:Thomas Sherwood and Mary Unknown (1)

Examination of Evidence

“What, may one inquire, is the record evidence for the statement that Mary, second wife of Thomas Sherwood… was born a Fitch? In 1886 an account of the Sherwood family appeared in Orcutt’s History of Stratford, which carefully distinguishes between the Fairfield and Stratford Sherwoods, and states the name of the second wife of Thomas Sherwood of Fairfield as Mary, without any indication as to her name at birth. Three years later, Mrs. Elizabeth Hubbell Schenck published the first volume of her History of Fairfield, and in the account of the Sherwood family, in page 408, states the second marriage of Thomas Sherwood to Mary (without any mention of the name Fitch) and also the second marriage … to John Banks; yet on page 351, in her account of the Banks family, she states of Mr. John Banks: ‘His second wife was Mary Fitch, wid. of Thomas Sherwood 1 of Fairfield.’

“This seems to be the origin of all subsequent statements that this Mary was born a Fitch. It cannot fail to strike the careful genealogist as odd that Mary was identified as a Fitch in the account of her second husband’s family, but was not identified at all in the account of the family of her Sherwood husband, who was the father of all her children.

“…On turning to the Sherwood family, it will be seen that … Matthew Sherwood, the son of Thomas and Mary, did marry a Mary Fitch. In view of the many demonstrable lapses of this character which may be found in the genealogical section of Mrs. Schenck’s book, it is perhaps fair to suggest that her eye was caught by this marriage of Matthew Sherwood to Mary Fitch and that in a moment of abstraction she wrote the name Fitch after the name of Matthew’s mother, Mrs. Mary Sherwood-Banks.”

Source: Jacobus, Donald Lines. "The Second Wife of Joseph Loomis of Windsor, Conn." The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. 92, 1938, pg. 303

Your Ancestors

From Your Ancestor's March 1949 p. 337:

Thomas Sherwood, the Puritan Pioneeer ancestor born in Nottinghamshire, England 1586 with his wife Alice Seabrooke Sherwood and children Ann, Rose, Thomas and Rebecca sailed for America 1634. Thomas Sherwood and family had evidently lived in London prior to this time since his son Thomas was baptized at St. Bottolph's church, London Oct. 1630. They landed at Plymouth Rock, Cape Code, Mass. July 1643. After a short stay at Boston and Concord, Mass. they moved to Wethersfield and later to Fairfield, Conn. He was one of the 17 settlers of Fairfield, a Deputy to the general court of Conn. at Hartford, from Fairfield.

Thomas Sherwood m. 2nd. ca. 1640 Mary Fitch, daughter of Thomas Fitch and his wife Anne Reve dau. of John Reve and Mary Brock b.ca. 1619 Bocking, Essex, England whose ancestry has been traced back to the time of the Norman Conquest and beyond. At the time of the trial of Good Dame Knapp for witchcraft in Fairfield, both Thomas Sherwood and Mary Fitch Sherwood were defense witnesses, Mary Fitch Sherwood walked to the gallows with Dame Knapp and prevented the mob from desecrating her body. At this time both Thomas Sherwood and his wife Mary Fitch Sherwood were spoken of as some of the most respectable persons in Conn. Their children all born in Fairfield, Conn.: Stephen , Matthew, Isaac, Margery and Ruth.

Thomas sailed from Ipswich 21 April 1634 in the good ship "Frances" landing in Boston accompanied by 1st wife Alice and 4 children. He settled first at Wethersfield. He settled in Fairfield as early as 1643 when his name appears o the Stanford land records. He served as deputy with Roger Ludlow in the Genera Court 1650. He brought with him to Fairfield his 2nd wife Mary. Will dated 21 July 1655

Jacobus debunks report from Your Ancestors in The American Genealogist, 27, #3 1951:

"A more recent account of the Fairfield family, and a badly garble one, appeared in Your Ancestors [3:338 ff; March 1949]. In this it is stated that Thomas Sherwood, Sr., was born in Nottinghamshire, England, and his two wives are partly identified as Alice Seabrook, daughter of Robert Seabrook and Alice Goodspeed, and Mary Fitch. A County Nottingham origin for Sherwood seems to be based on nothing more substantial than the fact that Sherwood Forest is located there. The only reason for concluding that any Thomas Sherwood married a daughter of Robert Seabrook is that deeds of children of Thomas Sherwood of Stratford refer to their grandfather Seabrook. Hence any statement that Alice wife of Thomas Sr. of Fairfield was a Seabrook is based on a confusion between the two families. Alice was called 47 in the shipping list in 1634, hence born not far from 1587. One Robert Seabrook married Alice Goodspeed at Wingrave, Bucks, 12 Sept. 1596, some nine years after their alleged daughter was born. For a detailed explanation of the origin of the error, which has often been repeated, that Mary, second wife of Thomas Sherwood Sr., was a Fitch, see my note in The New England Hist. and Gen. Register [92:303: July 1938]."

1. ↑ Thomas Sherwood, in Anderson, Robert Charles; George F. Sanborn; and Melinde Lutz Sanborn. The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635. (Boston, Massachusetts: NEHGS, 1999-2011)
   6:308.

   (Thomas Sherwood married) (2) By about 1638 Mary _____. (In 1938 Jacobus presented the evidence that Mary was not a Fitch [NEHGR 92:303].) She married (2) by 4 June 1658 John Banks [Fairfield LR A:496-97; FOOF 1:25, 548].