Among the most interested reunionists at Sandwich in 1921 were Mrs. Carrie Wing Hoover (Thomas C.) and her daughter, Mrs. Annie McPherson (Charles C.) and they made for themselves many friends. These will all unite in sincere sympathy for Mrs. McPherson and her family in the loss of a beautiful nineteen-year-old daughter, notice of which appears in another column.

Musings About The Family of Phebe (Wing) Foster

(Phebe, John, John, John of Harwich, Rev. John, Matthew)

By Lora Lewis Fairing (Mrs. John W.)

"It is a strange dotage and blindness of the world, as soon as anything is applauded, to be presently eager for it and hungry after it." This is an excerpt from the Rev. John Wing's "Crown Conjeugall" written three hundred years ago, yet it rings as true to-day as it did when it was penned by the "Pasteur of the English Church in Flushing in Zeeland."

As soon as genealogical research began to connect families with noted people or events of by-gone days; or, by means of proven ancestral activities, we were enabled to acquire some things we considered very desirable; or we were able to work along some line particularly interesting that we enjoyed and terest was awakened, the proportions thought worth while; a widespread inof which we are unable to determine.

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"Who's Who" has become an all-absorbing subject, and the more elusive the facts, the more determined we seem to be to untangle the ancestral knot. faithful few have kept records in many families, and historians, genealogists and public records public records have also preserved enough to help a great deal in this work which has acquired such momentum in the past decade. It is, however, very discouraging to follow a line quite successfully and then be halted by an omission in details that could so easily clarify the data.

We have followed the families of the four Johns above mentioned with absorbing interest, hoping to find the

"missing link" in our direct family line. Why could not the first recorder have added the family name of Elizabeth, Elizabeth, first wife of John of Harwich? We find his second wife was Miriam Dean, but we happen to descend from John, the son of Elizabeth. And just so again with the wife of this John, which wife we know only as "Mary". Savage thinks Elizabeth was the daughter of one of the "first Sandwich Undertakers", we also have read that "Mary" was assisted by Jonathan Bangs in settling her husband's estate, and the historian "thinks" she was Jonathan's sister. This whets our curiosity and again we delve into the histories only to come out baffled.

The families of Daniel and Stephen, sons of Rev. John and our immigrant ancestress Deborah (Bachelor) Wing, seem to be much more easily traceable than the family of John, the oldest son of the household. They are recorded as having allied themselves with the Quakers who were supposed to be a quiet people, yet Daniel and Stephen seem to have possessed opinions of their own; and, being true to their convictions, were often called before the court at Plymouth for "sundrie miscarriages of conduct" and forced to pay exorbitant fines. Looking back from our own time we feel these proceedings were unjust, but they surely did place the names of Daniel and Stephen on town and colony records where they, later could be found. Their posterity have been able, themselves, to judge of the sturdy characteristics of their ancestors who were willing to stand by their conception of what was right or wrong, and they have also been greatly aided in establishing family ancestral lines.

We have often wished that John had not been so "amenable to raison" for, otherwise, we might now be able to prove more items concerning his life and activities as well as of the lines leading down to ourselves.

Or, has the cause been, a lack of interest in historical details among John's descendants? We wonder! Certain it is that, while we have heard many family traditions, facts were never sufficiently recorded so that these tra

There were

ditions could be proved. "ancestors on both sides of the house who participated in the Revolution", but not once do we recall hearing a particular name mentioned, so that it took time and effort to prove and establish the records.

And it has been the same with many other family facts. We would like so much to know why John of Harwich took his little family and moved farther down the Cape to Sautucket. Was it as has been hinted, because the constant agitations and contentions among the church folk had become obnoxious to him and he concluded it was not wise to bring up his children in this enivronment? Or was it because he felt the new location would yield larger profits and thus afford more and better advantages for his growing family? Or again, as we read of the constant wanderings of his mother's life time-could he have been a victim of "wanderlust"?

We do not like to concede that John ran away; we would rather think of him as training his family to live worthily wherever they might find themselves, and striving to gain all he could to help themselves, be it land and what could be gained by tilling it, or by doing at all times what he could to serve well his town and colony, and above all by living an exemplary life himself. We know he was considered a man of judgment for he was intrusted with some duties in the colony that called for good judgment and we conclude this also from the facts gleaned as to the aid given his brothers in cases where it took reasoning power and good judgment to get justice for them.

We have also wondered why neither John, Daniel or Stephen followed in the footsteps of their illustrious father, the Rev. John, or their well-meaning but autocratic old grandfather, the Rev. Stephen Bachelor? There seems to have passed several generations in the line of Johns before the calling of the ministry "comes into its own" again, and even then it appears more as if the families into which the descendants married were the ministerially minded ones. Yet so rooted and rounded were they in their

A Reunion of Their Very Own

They were five old school friends, who had lived apart for many years, four of them were being entertained by the second from the left, Mrs. Fidelia (Johnson) Wing, at the Johnson Farm, So. Dartmouth, on Sept. 30th, 1908.

The one at the left of the picture is Mrs. Ruby Smith; in the centre is Mrs. Charlotte Smith; beyond her is Mrs. Susan Wordell, and at the right of the picture, Mrs. Nancy Sherman. The combined ages of the five were 382 years. And

faith of one or another creed that, as a rule, they have been "good pillars if not good preachers."

It

Then we wish the records could reveal more of the wonderful mother-Deborah. We should so much enjoy reading about the "twilght hours" of her life and being assured that she rested from her labors and found them good. would be inspiring for her sons and daughters of our time to stand by her last resting place where her memory might arouse all that is highest and best in their individual natures,-the world is in such dire need of those who will respond to the teaching of such Mother Deborah and her worthy husband, the Rev. John. And yet,-is it

as

how they did talk! No school-girls of the present day could have outdone them. And their reminiscences, sad and gay, funny and grave, were as much of an entertainment to the younger generation present as to the re-united old friends themselves.

These four guests were all Sherman descendants; and, inasmuch as the Shermans and Wings were many times connected by marriage, it suggested that there might be some who would be interested in the following short sketch of the earliest known of the Sherman family.

necessary to stand by her last resting place in order to be thus challenged to greater efforts for the good of mankind? "They rest from their labors and their deeds do follow them." Who can read these family histories in The Owl without feeling that they must not fail to carry the torch thrown to them by those who have passed on?

"Heed how thou livest. Do not acts by day

Which from the night shall drive thy

The Shermans, from Thomas Sher

man of Yaxley, England

The name came from the trade or occupation of wool worker or maker of woolen cloth,-Shearman-SheremanShirman Sharman. The shearer clipped the sheep and the shearman, or sherman, made the wool into cloth-and was also known as a woolen manufac-turer.

The first Sherman of whom there is any record is Thomas Sherman, gentleman, born probably as early as 1420, and living in Diss, County Norfolk, Eng. Married Agnes In his will dated

Nov. 4, 1492, proved Apr. 4, 1493, he mentions wife Agnes and son John (2), but no other children. He gives to John his "lands and tenements in Dysse and Yaxle", and bequeaths to the "four orders of Friars" at Norwich, to each of them "3s. 4d" and "will have suitable Priest to celebrate for my soul and the souls of my parents and benefactors for the space of four years."

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John Sherman (2), son of Thomas and Agnes, of Yaxley, County of Suffolk, Eng., married Agnes Fuller, daughter of Thomas Fuller. Their son Thomas Sherman (3), born about 1490, an attorney-at-law, lord of several manors, church warden of Yaxley, deputy sheriff in 1540 and 1546, married Jane Waller, daughter of John and Margaret Waller of Worthan, County Suffolk.

Henry Sherman (4), fourth of the ten sons of Thomas and Jane, clothier in Colchester, married Agnes Butler. They had six children. In the will of Henry, dated Jan. 20, 1559, he leaves his armor to his sons Robert and Henry. (This family spells the name Shearman)

Henry (5), oldest son of Henry, was a clothier in Dedham, Essex Co. and married Susan Lawrence.

Samuel (6), second of the twelve children of Henry and Susan, also a clothier in Dedham, married Philippa (Ward?). They had seven children, three of whom emigrated to America, Samuel, Henry and Philip.

Philip came to America in 1633, unmarried, but the same year married Sarah Odding. Had thirteen children.

He settled in Roxbury, but, becoming involved in the Anne Hutchinson trouble, he removed to Rhode Island in 1638, where he became one of the original settlers of Portsmouth. He was prominent in public affairs, being the first secretary of the Colony. He signed his name Philip Shearman. Died in the Province of Rhode Island, March, 1687. Peleg Sherman (8), third child of married Elizabeth Philip and Sarah, married I awton, and died in 1711. Had fourteen children.

Thomas Sherman (9), the oldest, born in 1658, married Lydia Wilcox, and had six children. He was a farmer in South Kingston, R. I.

Benjamin Sherman (10), born about 1712, married, first his second cousin, Mary Sherman, and married, second, Elizabeth Cook, who secured a divorce. Benjamin was a Tory sympathizer and staked his farm against a copper or a jackknife that the British would win; and, accordingly lost his farm. (The land records show that there was something unusual concerning the property).

James Sherman (11), born about 1762 enlisted in the Revolutionary army in 1781. Was afterwards a farmer in 1781. Oneida and Cayuga Counties, N. Y. In 1788 he married Ruth Brewster, a descendant of Elder Brewster.

James Sherman (12), son of James and Ruth, was born in 1796, near Rome, Oneida Co., N. Y. Later, he lived in Fairfax, Va., and in 1821 in Groton, N. Y. He married Fidelia Fairchild and had eight children.

John Dempster Sherman (13), son of James and Fidelia, was the father of Prof. Frank Dempster Sherman (14), of Columbia University, who died Sept. 19, 1916. The lately published Sherman Genealogy is his work.

New England Library of
Genealogy

From the Boston Sunday Herald of June 7

The New England Historic Genealogical Society Library on Beacon Hill, Boston, is the most complete of its kind in this country. It is said to excel similar collections abroad. Its number of manuscripts is as yet undetermined,

great quanities being in bundles and boxes. About 120,000 of them have been "gone through with" recently. They are being indexed as rapidly as possible. About 17,000 have been on deposit for several years with the Massachusetts Historical Society. Accessions are constantly being received.

The library has over 50,000 printed volumes, about 50,000 pamphlets, and probably several hundred manuscripts. The society's membership is over 2,100. The daily register of visitors contains names from all parts of the country, and often from abroad. Visitors who are not members are welcome, and granted the use of books, etc.

are

Genealogists say that one of the most difficult items of information for them to obtain is evidence of death. Often in early times the town and church records were few and incomplete. Recently the Dutchess County, New York, Historical Society published a large and handsome illustrated volume concerning the old gravestones of that county. It took about five and a half years to gather the collection of 19,000 inscriptions. It was a praiseworthy endeavor to contribute something to offset the deficiency that there existed. Generally they omitted stones bearing date in the latter part of the 19th century.

(Kelley) Wing, married Fanny Barnes, and lived in Ferrisburg, Vt. They had several children, some of whom were James, Daniel, Phebe, Sarah, Emily, Charles and Rhoda.

Rhoda Wing married a Kingsland, and was the maternal grandmother of Mrs. Blanche Field Miles.

Mrs. Miles writes: "There were two maiden ladies, distant cousins perhaps, who lived in Charlotte and left considerable property to the Congregational Church of that place. They owned Wing Beach Lake Champlain at Charlotte-now owned by Dr. Grenfell, the Labrador missionary."

on

"There were also two maiden Wings who lived in Moncton, owning a large farm, and possessed some rare antiques which finally fell into the hands of a farm hand."

(At page 1895 there is this record: Abigail, Mary and Phebe Wing, daughters of Gideon and Phebe (Holmes) Wing, all born Monkton, Vt., Abigail, Aug. 28, 1799, and Mary and Phebe, twins, April 30, 1809. They resided all their lives on the homestead at Monkton, unmarried. Phebe died March 28, 1881, but the others were living in 1887 at advanced age, but with unimpaired faculties, both of mind and body. These two were probably the ones referred to in the letter.)

In a letter of May 19th, Mrs. Miles writes:

"I have been groping about blindly trying to gather sufficient data to send Ferrisburg. you in regard to the Wing family of journeying to Ferrisburg, and Today I have spent in there turning off the main highway went up a narrow lane, overgrown with brush, for about two miles. I came to the top of a hill and there I found this old Quaker cemetery fenced in from a large stony meadow, and just a tangled mass of berry bushes Woodchucks have burrowed there and all the thin marble slabs are nearly flat on the ground. Some were just rough markers of stone with crude chiseling. It was almost impossible to make out the letters. However, the Wing family lot was a little apart and the names were quite distinct :