Justin Sherman

As I look back I recall the dread word "Tory" being used sometimes when questions were asked about this generation of the family and that the subject would be quickly changed. I was middle-aged before I learned that great grandfather Justin was a Loyalist and that he had died in the British Army. Both the Sherman and Botsford families were early communicants and staunch adherents of the Episcopal church. Many, perhaps most, Episcopalians were Loyalists and apparently Justin did his duty as he saw it though it meant the loss of all his property and torrents of abuse from

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his neighbors. He joined the British forces on Long Island, in November, 1776, taking with him his son Daniel, a lad of sixteen. The full tragedy will never be understood but it is known that Justin’s estate was confiscated, he having been adjudged "an Inimical person", that Hepsibeh his wife died while he was away, and that Justin himself died in March, 1782, still in the British Army, Daniel deserted the British forces after his father's death, returned to New Milford and later joined the Colonial Army where he served for about a year, Evidently Jotham, Justin's only brother, did not have as radical Loyalist convictions as did Justin, though he too was a pillar in the Episcopal church. He lived in peace and prosperity to a ripe old age and passed on a go ally estate to his children. Justin's children, left penniless, were obliged to cast about for a new start in life. About 1785 two of Justin »s daughters, Betsy and Vashti, started with their husbands for Nova Scotia where England had promised to reward the families of Loyalists with gifts of farm land or lots in the city of St. John. Betsy was drowned on the way and Vashti fell off a wagon. in which she was riding and broke her neck  Book by Henry David Sherman  esource:  http://www.thirdstbooks.com/sherman/hdsbio01.html