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Elizabeth (UNKNOWN) Robinson (abt. 1615 - bef. 1667)

Elizabeth Robinson formerly [surname unknown] aka Sherman
Born about in Dedham, Essex, Englandmap
Daughter of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Wife of — married 1635 in Dedham, Essex, Englandmap
Wife of — married after 26 Oct 1661 in Massachusetts Baymap
Died before before about age 52 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts Baymap
Profile last modified | Created 16 Sep 2011
This page has been accessed 446 times.
The Puritan Great Migration.
Elizabeth (UNKNOWN) Robinson migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640).
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Contents

Biography

Elizabeth (______) married first Richard Sherman by year 1635.[1]This date is based on the birth of his daughter with his wife Elizabeth on December 1, 1635. A house plot for "Richard Sherman's wife..." was granted on April 17, 1637 and on December 30, 1639 the Boston selectmen granted to "Richard Sherman a great lot for seven heads at Muddy River."[1] These seven heads were evidently for the couple, their daughter, Elizabeth, and some of the children of Richard Sherman and his former wife, Alice. The will of Richard Sherman clarifies the seven heads: daughters Anne and Priscilla Sherman were in Old England; so Martha, Abigail, Samuel and Alice, children of Richard Sherman and his 1st wife Alice were in the immigrants household.

Elizabeth married second Thomas Robinson. His will (dated 17 March 1665/6, probated 27 April 166[6?]) mentioned his wife Elizabeth. "Though my wife hath not carryed her selfe as a wife should have towards me, but Contrary to the Law of God & Man hath withdrawne her selfe from Living with mee as she ought to Doe" He did however leave her £10, if she was willing to take it.[2][3]

Her will dated 21 Aug 1666 and proved 16 Nov 1667 mentions her former husband Richard Sherman[4]and also mentions her husband's children and grandchildren.[1]

Elizabeth and Richard Sherman had one child, a daughter:[1]
  1. Elizabeth Sherman was born at Boston on December 1, 1635. She died at Boston on September 30, 1648 (as reported by Governor John Winthrop.)
Step-children of Elizabeth Sherman; children of Richard Sherman and his first wife Alice:[1][5]
  1. Ann Sherman was baptized at Dedham, Essex on November 21, 1613 and was living in England (unmarried) at the time of her father's will, April 7, 1660.
  2. William Sherman was baptized at Dedham, Essex on October 22, 1616. no further record.
  3. Priscilla Sherman was baptized at Dedham, Essex on September 27, 1618. She married Martin Garwood at Dedham, Essex on March 25, 1658. Married (2nd) William Smith at Dedham, Essex on September 11, 1683.
  4. Samuel Sherman was born about 1621. He was named in his uncle Samuel Sherman's will on June 14, 1643 but not in his father's will of April 7, 1660.
  5. Alice Sherman was born about 1624 and married Thomas Spaule by 1644. Their oldest child was born at Boston by September 1644.
  6. Martha Sherman was born about 1626. She married Edmund Brown by 1652. Oldest child was baptized at Dorchester on August 22, 1652.
  7. Abigail Sherman was born about 1628. She married John Damon by 1649. Their oldest child was baptized at Dedham on August 5, 1649.

Anderson in his "Great Migration" says, "...we conclude that the first wife of Richard Sherman died sometime after 1628, probably at Dedham, Essex, during a gap in the parish registers there, and that his second wife (Elizabeth Sherman, this profile) was mother only of the last child, Elizabeth." He continues, "If Richard Sherman actually arrived in New England in 1635, he must have married his second wife in England. If he arrived in 1634, at the same time as his brother Edmund, then this second marriage (to Elizabeth) might have taken place in New England."[1]

Lawsuit

Embroiled in a famous lawsuit, Elizabeth Sherman stood her ground. The case known as "Goody Sherman's sow," had substancial constitutional consequences that has affected the bicameral legislature we are familiar with today. The story goes... that in 1636 the swine owned by Boston residents were brought back to the town from Deer Island. Robert Keayne lived neighbors to the Shermans and retained a sow that was not his, later butchering it. Elizabeth Sherman, with the assistance of George Story (since her husband was in England at that time) brought a law suit against Keayne. Eventually Keayne sued Elizabeth Sherman for slander, giving him damages of L20. This slander suit aggravated the deputies and general population since Keayne was known as a price-gouger. The lower house believed that the court was siding with the wealthy against a poorer Bostonian. Some believed that the case of Sherman vs. Keayne should be decided by combining the vote of the upper and lower houses with the majority deciding the case. leading ultimately to the larger lower house casting more of the votes in favor of acquittal. The magistrates, however, held out for what was called "the negative voice," wherein each house would vote separately, with a majority of each house being necessary to settle the matter; essentially what we have in our legislature today.[1]

There was evidently no animosity between the Shermans and the General court. since the treasurer on May 14, 1645 paid 13 1/3 s. to the wife of Richard Sherman as a gratuity for her care and pains in this court schedule. Also on this day it was "ordered, that Richard Sherman should be allowed 19s. for lodging 3 of the deputies and the Governor's men."[1]

An interesting side note, in 1642 Governor John Winthrop "prepared a careful, detailed summary of the case between Richard Sherman and Robert Keayne." Plus two modern scholars have written about this case's constitutional significance: Arthur Prentice Rugg in 1920[6] and Robert Emmet Wall Jr. in 1971.[7]

Marriage

Husband: Thomas Robinson
Wife: Elizabeth Sherman
Marriage:
Date: 10 JAN 1652/53
Place: Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Imported only 10 JAN 1652 from Marriage Date and marked as uncertain.

Note

Bridget Locke, of (Faucet, Eng. —Elizabeth Robinson, the wid. of Thomas Robinson, of Boston, (and formerly wf. of Richard Sherman of Boston, merchant, who d. 1660) d. at Boston 1666, left property which she had by Sherman to the children of her sister Bridget Locke of ffaucett, Eng. — to the daus. of Thomas Spuul or Spall of Boston, to her kindred John and Mary Greenleaf of Boston, to Samuel Demon (Damon) of Redding, and to John Brown, son of Edmund, of Dorchester.
Book of the Lockes: A Genealogical and Historical Record of the Descendants ... By John Goodwin Locke Google Books

Sources

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Great Migration 1634-1635, R-S.
  2. New England Historical and Genealogical Register vol. 111 no. 1 (January 1957):5-18. Early Cogans English and American, by George E. McCracken F.A.S.G. (cont. from vol. 110, p. 276).
  3. The American Genealogist. New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937-. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .) Rising, Marsha Hoffman.
  4. Sherman, Thomas Townsend. Sherman Genealogy Including Families of Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk, England: Some Descendants of the Immigrants, Captain John Sherman, Reverend John Sherman, Edmund Sherman and Samuel Sherman, and the Descendants of Honorable Roger Sherman and Honorable Charles R. Sherman. (1920) p. 112
  5. Sherman, Thomas Townsend. "Sherman Genealogy Including Families of Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk England"
  6. American Antiquarian PDF. "A Famous Colonial Litigation"
  7. https://www.amazon.com/Massachusetts-Bay-Crucial-Decade-1640/dp/0300014848
  • Great Migration 1634-1635, R-S. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2012.) Originally published as: The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume VI, R-S, p. 294ff. by Robert Charles Anderson. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009. Featured name: Richard Sherman.subscription site
  • American Antiquarian PDF. "A Famous Colonial Litigation"copy
  • The American Genealogist. New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937-. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .) Rising, Marsha Hoffman. "Enigmas #12, Was Elizabeth, Wife of Richard Cutter of Cambridge Massachusetts, a Daughter of Robert Williams of Roxbury?" Vol. 74 (1999). pp. 297, 298subscription site
  • Sherman, Thomas Townsend. "Sherman Genealogy Including Families of Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk England" p. 111, 112.see at google.com






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Comments: 6

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Locke-1222 and UNKNOWN-109639 appear to represent the same person because: similar dates, same husband and "story" Her sister Bridgett Locke, Locke could have been her sister's married name, Not sure that it proves her maiden name.
posted by Robin Lee
She is inaccurately attached here as mother of all Richard Sherman's children, but per Anderson, she was mother of only the last, Elizabeth. And Molly is right, the birth year is too early. More likely she was born about 1615.
posted by Jillaine Smith
I don't have a source for Elizabeth's birth, obviously, but I question a birth year of 1580. That would make her nearly 30 years older than Thomas Robinson and 80 years old when they married. Unlikely, no? It would also make her 55 years old at the birth of her daughter Elizabeth.
posted by Molly Cunningham
Richard, where did you find that Elizabeth married Richard Sherman in 1612 at Dedham, Essex, England? That piece of information needs to be added to the biography if you have a good source; and that would change a lot of what I've written and sourced by Anderson's Great Migration.

Thanks.

Richard, I enjoyed this research and bio very much.

Her CLN will need to change to Robinson, though, since he was her last husband.

Sherman can go under OLN

Uncovered: Elizabeth (_____) Sherman Robinson - A plucky, audacious woman who in 1636 affected the bicameral legislature of the present day United States of America!

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Categories: Puritan Great Migration