Phillip (Ward) Sherman (abt. 1575 - aft. 1617)

Born about 1575 in Essex, England [uncertain]

Ancestors

Wife of Samuel Sherman — married about 1598 in Dedham, Essex, England

Descendants

Died after 8 Jan 1617 after about age 42 in Ardsleigh, Essex, England [uncertain]

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Bob Nichol [send private message], Brian McCullough [send private message], and Fred Remus [send private message]

Biography

In the book "Genealogical and family history of central New York : a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the building of a nation, " they list her name as Phillis.

Her Christian Name is Phillip not Phillipa. Per Gilly Wood:

In response to my request to Michael J. Wood, London Genealogist, regarding the Christian name Phillipp Michael has replied:

"Phillip was sometimes used as a girl's name 400 years or so ago. In Wethersfield, Essex, England I found a relative of Samuel Sherman's wife with that name as well. In English records, before spelling became settled about 1700, it could be written with one or two Ls and one or two final Ps, and with or without a final E. Phil(l)ippa, the modern form of this girl's name, ends in A, which was the Latin for the female name, the Latin for the male name being Phil(l)ippus. (As you may know, legal records were usually still written in Latin then.) I now spell the name of Samuel's wife, and that of his youngest daughter, and the grandchildren so named, "Phillipp" as a compromise, the double L and double P being an artificial distinction from that of a man named Philip. I am sure it was not at that time spelt with a final A in English records, or pronounced with final A in the families."

Birth

Date: BET 1570 AND 1585

Place: England

Research Notes

An open letter from Michael J. Wood, London Genealogist notes: Several hundred databases on, the now defunct rootsweb, but available here: [1], 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

Sources

• NEHGR Vol 167 Jan 2013; Whole Number 665, page 44 The Earliest Shermans of Dedham Essex. Michael Johnson Wood.
• Our Sherman Immigrants The Shermans of Yaxley. [2]