John Sheldon (abt. 1660 - abt. 1705)

Born about 1660 in South Kingston, Washington, Rhode Island

Descendants

Died about 5 Dec 1705 at about age 45 in South Kingston, Washington, Rhode Island

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This profile is part of the Sheldon Name Study.

Biography

The John Sheldon, b. ca. 1653, ^[1][2][3]who was the son of John Sheldon (S#13) and his wife Sarah, is number S#23 in the Sheldon Family Association numbering system.

NOTE: As the identity of John's wives is unknown, none are shown. Please do not add wives unless you can provide proof of their identity.

Identity of Wives Unknown Tradition says that John Jr married Deliverance Palmer and Susan Cleremont, but there is no evidence to prove this. It should also be noted that no one is entirely sure who the mother of John Sr's children was. The Sheldon Family Association currently has Susan Cleremont, as noted in the original magazine from 1855. The name of Susan Cleremont has become suspect as there is no known "Cleremont" family in New England at the time. Deliverance Palmer has also been suggested, however it seems that both are pure speculation based on family tradition passed down through the generations. There is no current documentation either way. The mother, whomever she was, seems to have died prior to her husband in 1704 as she is not mentioned in his will, but he does list all of his children and his "honored mother Sarah".

From his Will and also from the Sheldon Family Association website, John had the following children:^[4]

• John (b abt 1685), m. Herodias Watson
• Isaac (married Susanna Potter and Sarah)
• Joseph, m. perhaps Mehitable Godfrey
• Elizabeth (married Daniel Sunderland before 1704),
• Abigail
• Mary
• Dinah (married Jabez Gifford)

This family lived in the Narraganset Country and later in South Kingston.

The first record of John Sheldon Jr was on July 29, 1679 when, along with his father and 40 others, he signed a petition to King Charles asking him to make a final judgment as to which colony the Narragansett Country belonged - Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut or Rhode Island - so that which ever the colony, they could make some change in the area and rebuilt their lives.

It would not have been too long after this as the very latest that his daughter Elizabeth could have been born is 1688, as she was married to Daniel Sunderland by 1704 when John Jr wrote his will.

This will, the best original document regarding John's life, does not mention his wife or father. We can therefore presume that they were both deceased by this time. However, his "honored mother Sarah" is mentioned along with his children. The will, dated August 15, 1704 and proved January 16, 1706, reads as follows:

"To eldest son John, dwelling house I now live in and land belonging to it. To son Isaac, half of a tract of land in Kings Town (except 20 acres formerly given my son-in-law Daniel Sunderland), the western part with dwelling house. To son Joseph, eastern part of said tract. To daughter Elizabeth Sunderland, L4. To daughters Abigail, Mary and Dinah Sheldon, each L4. To son Joseph, two steers, two heifers and a saddle. To son John, rest of estate and he to take care of my honoured mother Sarah Sheldon, and pay children as thy come of age, said legacies.

Inventory of estate (1706) - L125, 7s, 6d, viz: a feather bed, 3 wool beds, pewter, warming pan, books 10s, gun, cutlass, bandolins, stillyards, carpenter's tools, 4 cows, 2 steers, 2 two year old, a yearling, 2 calves, 4 geldings, 4 mares, 31 sheep and lambe, 15 swine, 2 pair wool cards, 4 chairs, 2 tables, shoemaking tools, 20 loads hay, &c."

In reference to the "dwelling house" noted above in 1704, there is an additional notation given in the book "The Gardiners of Narragansett, Being a Genealogy of the Descendants of George Gardiner, The Colonist- 1638" by Caroline E. Robinson, 1919 (page 23). It gives a quote attributed to the Hon. Elisha R. Potter (1835): "The house of John Sheldon [husband of Herodias Watson] appears to have been one of the first, if not the very first, built in this purchase [the Hall's Purchase], being referred to as a well-known landmark in the oldest deed. This house stood where --- Tanner's house now stands, not far from Judge John G. Clarke's."

This notation helps to confirm that the Sheldon homestead in Narragansett was likely already built at the time of the petition to King Charles in 1679 and that the family lived at that location continuously during the period.

Notes

John SHELDON of South Kingston, RI is considered to be the progenitor of the Sheldon line called William. According to the Sheldon Magazine, S0013 John SHELDON's father was William SHELDON (SO003), born in 1611. and came to Boston, MA with Gov. Endicott. To date, William's residence in Boston or his association with Gov. Endicott has not been positively authenticated and/or documented by the Sheldon Family Association. Therefore S0013 John SHELDON has been used as the progenitor of this line. The use of William to designate the line has been done to differentiate the two John lines tracked by the Sheldon Family Association. These lines are known as the John of Providence and John of South Kingston lines respectively.

"John Sheldon Beinge by Recognzence bownd to this Court and by the Cenrl Aturny indicted for an afray by Disorderly Carridges acted in and at Thomas Coulds howse on the 6th janr 1657. The jurry impanelled: upon the Traverce pleads not guilty And refferrs him Selfe to god and Guntry for Tryall. ^[5]

The jurry returned and their answer is that the indictments came not Soe orderly to them as to justify them to give in A verditt because it had not beine passed on by A grand in quest before hand.

Thomas Gould Robert Griffin Edmund Audly John Sheldon and Thomas Winterton all of newptt Beinge bownd over to this Court for Disorders Done at Thomas Goulds house on Wedensday night the sixt of January last and the Court haveinge had a verry strict and a Searioushereinge and inquiry into the matter are convinced that the sayd persons in their then drinkinge helths intended nothing against the dignity of his highnes the lord protector, &cr thay also Solemly Denyinge any indignity intended in the same, and also confesinge their sorrow for their Rude and unorderly Caridges at the afore-sayd time and place, and of makeinge soe much disturbance therby and promisinge every one of them to Endeavour to avoyd the licke Disorderly actions againe, the Court are pleased noe longer to continue the sayd persons to stand bownd but upon paying Fees due to officers of Court thay are Discharged by proclamation in open Court."

From: (Rhode Island Land Evidences Abstracts, Vol. 1, pp.229-230.) 4 July 1693. Henry Hall of Westerly, weaver, deeds to John Sheldon of Kingstown planter, 200 acres northwest from John Sheldon's dwelling house that Henry Hall purchased from Coganaquoant. (John Sheldon had previously purchased on 20 Oct. 1683 230 acres from Benjamin Congdon near the Pettaquamscutt Purchase (Austin, p.176), hence the reference to his dwelling house in this deed.)

lbid, pp.6-7: 19 Jany. 1664. Indian chief Cogamaquoant sells two square miles of land in Narragansett Country to Richard Knight and Henry Hall, both of Newport, RI. (This was the Hall-Knight Purchase which bordered on the Pettaquamseutt Purchase.)

lbid, p.76: 13 Oct. 1652. John Sheldon and Richard Knight witness a covenant between Peter Easton and Henry Stevens, both of Newport, RI.

From: (Colonial Records of RI, Vol. 111, pp.58-60, J.R. Bartlett) 29 July 1679. A Petition of Narragansett Country inhabitants to King Charles 11 included John Sheldon and John Sheldon, Jr. - "that he would put an end to these difference's about the government there, which had been so fatal to the prosperity of the place-anomosities still rising in peoples minds, as they stand affected to this or that government." In 1681 John Sheldon with about 40 others left Narragansett and founded South Kings Towne, RI. At the signing of the above petition, S0013 John would have been about 49 years old - his son S0023 John - 17.

Sources

1. ↑ Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2495/images/41254_265468-00175?pId=81315681, 16 Apr 1660.
2. ↑ Dillon, Arthur Orison, The Ancestors of Arthur Orison Dillon and His Poems, 1927, 58, abt 1653.
3. ↑ Margaret B. Jones, Ph.D., "Sheldons of South Kingstown The First Two Generations," Presented at The Sheldon Family Association Meeting Providence, Rhode Island, August 3, 2002 , born in 1660.
4. ↑ Margaret B. Jones, Ph.D., "The Sheldon Family Association, https://sheldonfamily.org/
5. ↑ Rhode Island Court Records, 1647-62, Vol. 1, p.37

• Last Will, see above biography for transcription
• Petition to King Charles, 1679
• The Sheldon Magazine by Rev Henry O. Sheldon, 1855. This book was a compilation of several decades of work by the Rev Sheldon who corresponded with Sheldon's across the country. He printed his extensive genealogy over a course of five long volumes.

• Shaking Our Family Tree

• Our History Told - by Dale L. Sheldon

• Gardiners of Narragansett by Caroline Robinson, 1919