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