Sherman Genealogy Notes: Saturday, August 28, 2010

Every day I seem to find something very interesting! So far, I have found out that, yes, Henry D(uke?) or D(uncastle?) or B(oyce?) Sherman (my elusive great-grandfather) was born in Alabama, not Virginia. Because his grandfather Thomas Duncastle Sherman had two sons, Thomas D(uncastle) or D(uke) Sherman (b. 1789) and Mexico B(oyce?) Sherman. These guys married Eidson sisters (Frances Ann and Mary "Polly" respectively) and seemed to live near each other for much of their lives.

In 1810-1815, the brothers both bought land in Alabama (Madison County records) and several of their numerous children were born there. The happy couples had numerous children, and unfortunately seemed to view each other as alter egos, for they gave their children very similar names, and it has taken a lot of US Census checking to sort them out. Mexico (or his namesake son) even appropriated his cousin & wife's names (Samuel Hawkins Sherman) for one of his offspring. How close—how confusing for us researchers— can you get?

But none of their offspring seem to have been named Adam—so that re-opens the puzzle of who was the Adam Sherman in DeSoto, Miss., who took in Henry & Mary Ellen's children in the 1870 Census? Grrrrr!

In the meantime, our ancestry seems solidly rooted in the Bedford and Henrico Counties, Virginia, and all of those German-Swiss forebears I was so eager to claim, must belong to someone else.

This new Sherman line, including lots of Thomases and Henrys, is edging back into the 1600s, and puts us solidly in the DAR both time-wise and record-wise. I’ve found at least one indentured Irish servant, and that, too is a story which will take some more digging. But Elizabeth Doncaster (Duncastle) is listed as having sailed as a “bonded” passenger on the ship “Justitia” in 1771, arriving in Philadelphia in Dec. of that year. She married Thomas Sherman and became the mother of the two brothers above.

However, (this is for you, Jill) In my searching I found a fascinating pedigree listed under Farrar, which takes that line back to early English royalty and finally leads up to a Cicely Farrar marrying a Sherman. “Cicely Farrar, born 1627 in Farrar's Island, Henrico Co., VA; died 1703; married Henry Sherman, Sr.”
http://www.poetsvisions.com/genealogy/farrar.htm

I’m not positive this is one of our Henry Shermans, but what an interesting pedigree! Hmmm. Does this mean those current West Point Farrar men are hard-wired for the military?