Thomas “of Stratford” Sherwood

Not the same as Thomas “of Fairfield” Sherwood, Sr.

Children of Thomas Sherwood, of Stratford and Sarah Seabrook:

1. Sarah Sherwood, born circa 1643, married to John Wheeler
2. Elizabeth Sherwood, born circa 1645, married to Samuel Stiles (Styles)
3. Mary Sherwood, born circa 1650, married to Josiah Tibbals
4. John Sherwood, born circa 1653, married to Sarah Hurd

DO NOT CONFUSE WITH THE CHILDREN of Thomas Sherwood Jr., of Fairfield and his wife, Sarah Wheeler.

See this link for references for this Thomas Sherwood.

iii. Sarah Seabrook was born in England about 1623. She married Thomas Sherwood of Stratford sometime before 1642. Note that he is not the Thomas Sherwood of Fairfield who is an ancestor in this genealogy.

According to the link below, no one has proven the relationship between Thomas of Fairfield and Thomas of Stratford.

links: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~dav4is/ODTs/SHERW...

Thomas Sherwood Born about 1623 in England Wife Sarah (Seabrook) Sherwood — married 1642 in Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut Father of Sarah (Sherwood) Wheeler, Elizabeth (Sherwood) Stiles, Mary (Sherwood) Tibbals, John Sherwood I and Thomas Sherwood Died 1657 in Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut

This is not the same man as Thomas Sherwood of Fairfield, Connecticut. Care must be taken to distinguish the two men. They both immigrated to New England, moved to within 10 miles of each other in Connecticut, and died within 3 years of each other. However, records easily show they are not identical. There is no known connection between the two men.

Biography:

The origins, immigration, and parents of Thomas Sherwood[1] [2] of Stratford, Fairfield Co., Connecticut, are unknown.

He was one of the 17 founders of Stratford, Connecticut. These families were organized about 1639 and mostly from Hartford and Wethersfield. [3]

Thomas SHERWOOD married Sarah Seabrook, daughter of Robert of Stratford, by 1642. Stratford deeds record property given to the grandchildren of Robert Seabrook, including John Wheeler's wife and Samuel Stiles' wife, respectively Sarah and Elizabeth, children of Sarah and Thomas Seabrook.[4] [4]

Thomas Sherwood, represented the town of Stratford, as a Deputy, at the General Court of Connecticut, several times: Sep 1645, Sep 1649, May 1650, Oct 1653, Oct 1654. On two of these occasions his name was spelled Sherratt, and both he and the other deputy from Stratford were absent from the meeting in 1649.[5]

In 1652, John Hurd and Thomas Sherwood undertook the work of building a mill to grind the town's corn (at the east end of Old Mill Green in current Bridgeport). When it was finished in 1654, the town granted them forty acres of upland near the mill, making a stipulation that it not be sold separately of the mill and that if the mill is sold, the town must agree to the person chosen. They were allowed to keep 1/16 part of the corn they grind. Thomas soon sold his share to John Hurd, who sold it to Richard Bryan in 1659. (p353-355) [6][3]

A war with the Narragansett Indians was anticipated and on 3rd Oct 1654, Thomas Sherwood & Thomas Fairchild, with the assistant and constable, were appointed, by the Connecticut court, for the town of Stratford as a committee “to press men and necessaryes in each Towne, for this expedityon” “The men are to bee uppon there march next Tuesday morning ; and are to meete in Hartford, from Windsor & Farmingtone.”[3][5]

Thomas died in 1657. His will was dated 4 June 1657.[7] Six months later, 1 Jan 1657 [1657/8] the town records "the sayd Tho: Sherwood being departed this life:"[8]

Will: The first line and a half of the page are illegible but then continue >

... equally divided between them [y with a squiggle over] when they shall come to ye age of 18 yeares & if it please God yt one of my sons should depart this life before they come to ye age of 18 years Then my will is yt my Daughter Mary shall have a fourth part of all my Lands: and ye Rest ye survived of my sons shall have: In Case both my sons should depart this Life before thire severall ages of 18 years yt then all my Lands and housings shall be equally divided amongst the Longest Living of my Daughters:

My will is yt my wife shall have and enjoy all my Lands & housing Till my Children come to ye ages of 18 years and bring ____ provide for my Children I give my wife my Black hogs.

I give unto every one of my children a mare or a horse. I give unto my wife libberty to take her a mare and to have choice of all my mares besides her own mare.

My [wife crossed out] will is yt my wife shall enjoy all my tooles & implements (several words crossed out or illegible) yt are necesary to Carry on her occassions & all ye rest to be layd upp for ye use of my two sonns: my will is yt every one of my Daughters shall have a Cowe att ye Day of thire marriage: my will is if my wife shall have my parte of the mill? freely to her selfe & give unto every one of my Children a ewe sheepe and ye Rest of my sheepe I Leave unto my wife.

I give unto my wife my oxen plows & Carts and Chaines: But my will is yt shee shall make good unto my two sonns each of them a yoake of oxen and takling fit to plow withall when they shall come unto their several ages of 18 years.

I give unto my two sons a good feather bed and beding belonging thereunto to have it at ye age of 18 years: I give unto my daughter mary a horse Colt or a mare Coult which shall first bee found more than any of her sisters. [note: in modern language colts are male, but the word is Coult, not foal]

I make my wife my full and sole executor to receive and pay all my lawfull debts and to enjoy all the rest of my estate not formerly given and bequested, and to bring up and educate my children until they come into their severall ages. I desire Mr Blackman and Isaak Nickolls, John Birdseye and Henry Wakely and John Wells to be overseers of this my last will and testament and see it truly performed according to the extent of this my will. I give my overseers if they see ___ for the good of my children, to dispose of them (‘if they’ crossed out) before they come to their severall ages of 18 years, and look after their welfare according to their best? disscression. My will is if ye overseres of this my will should advice my Children with my wife in thire matching and disposing of them selves: when they come to their severall ages of 18 years: and my will is if my Chldren should bee guided by them in thire matching or otherwise disposing of themselves; in Wittness hereunto and according to ye true meaning hereof I sett my hand this 4th of June 1657.[9]

Children

Sarah, b. say 1643;[4] died at Woodbury, Connecticut 12 Mar 1703/4;[4][10] married recorded at Stratford, beginning of Dec 1662 John Wheeler.[4][11] Her marriage record names her as daughter of Thomas.[11] Stratford deeds tell us the wife of John Wheeler had land from her grandfather Robert Seabrook.[4] Elizabeth, b. say 1645;[4] died at Woodbury, 3 June 1719;[4][10] m. recorded at Stratford, Elizabeth dtr. of Thomas m. Samuel Stiles last of December 1664.[4][11] Stratford deeds tell us the wife of Samuel Stiles had land from her grandfather Robert Seabrook.[4] Mary, b. say 1650;[4] m. 13 July 1670 Josiah Tibbals recorded at Milford.[4][12] John, b. about 1653;[4] He was four in 1657;[13]%29 died at Stratford 1689;[4] m. Sarah Hurd 23 April 1685 at Stratford.[4][11] Thomas b. about 1656;[4] was a suckling infant in 1657;[13] He died in 1676. His inventory was dated 6 May 1676[4]

Sources https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Sherwood-169 ↑ Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume VI, R-S. (Boston: NEHGS, 2009):304-312, biography of Thomas Sherwood. Available at AmericanAncestors.org PAID ↑ The American Genealogist, vol. 50 (2005):278-282. The English Home of Thomas Sherwood1 of Wethersfield, Stamford, and Fairfield, Conn., by Leslie Mahler. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Orcutt, Samuel. A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City of Bridgeport Connecticut. 1886. p. 182, 184, 185; Mill pp 158, 277, Narragansett War p. 144 ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 Jacobus, Donald Lines, MA (compiler, editor.) History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield. Fairfield, Conn.: The Eunice Dennie Burr Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution, 1930. Sherwood pp560/1; Seabrook p 523 ↑ 5.0 5.1 Trumbull, J. Hammond. (transcriber). The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut Prior to the Union with New Haven Colony May 1665. Hartford: Brown and Parsons, 1850. AKA Colonial Records of Connecticut. Volume I. 1636-1665 Link at Google Books (deputy pp 130, 195, 207, 248, 261; war committee p. 264) ↑ Wilcoxson, William Howard. History of Stratford, Connecticut, 1639-1939. Stratford, Conn.: Stratford Tercentenary Commission, 1939. link at Hathi ↑ Fairfield probate Vol. 1 p. 18 ↑ Stratford Town Records. Volume 1, p. 48 ↑ Chamberlain, Gene. "First Generation Thomas Sherwood (1) of Stratford. 2017. Transcription of Will made from copy of the will in this paper ↑ 10.0 10.1 Woodbury. Connecticut Vital Records to 1870 "Wallingford" (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011.) From original typescripts, Lucius Barnes Barbour Collection, 1928. Sarah p. 121; Elizabeth pp. 9, 102 ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Stratford. Connecticut Vital Records to 1870 "Wallingford" (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011.) From original typescripts, Lucius Barnes Barbour Collection, 1928. Wheeler p. 151; Sherwood p. 128; ↑ Milford. Connecticut Vital Records to 1870 "Wallingford" (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011.) From original typescripts, Lucius Barnes Barbour Collection, 1928. p. 144 ↑ 13.0 13.1 Banks, Charles E. (abstractor). “Genealogical Items from the Medical Journal of John Winthrop.” The American Genealogist. (vol. 24, p. 109 Chamberlain, Gene. "First Generation Thomas Sherwood (1) of Stratford. 2017. Henry R. Stiles, History of Ancient Windsor, Connecticut, CD-Local and Family Histories: CT, 1600's - 1800's, (Produced in collaboration with the Genealogical Publishing Company, 2000), vol 2, p 720. Reference to daughter Elizabeth m. Samuel Stiles. Susan Woodruff Abbott, Families of Early Milford, Connecticut, CD-Local and Family Histories: CT, 1600's - 1800's, (Produced in collaboration with the Genealogical Publishing Company, 2000), p. 797. Reference to daughter Mary Marrying Josiah Tibbals Avery, Samuel. The Avery, Fairchild & Park Families of Massachusetts, Connecticut & Rhode Island (University Press, Cambridge, 1919) Page 74 Torrey, Clarence Almon. Torrey’s New England Marriages Prior to 1700 (Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. Baltimore, 1985) Vol. 2, 1370 SHERWOOD, Thomas1 (-1657/8) & Sarah [SEABROOK] (?1623-); by 1642; Stratford, CT {TAG 24:109, 27:156, 157; Fairfield Fam. 1:523, 560; Moore Anc. 467, 468; Knapp Anc. 109, 115, 116; Fellows (1940) 201}