Individual Details

Hester Sherman was baptized at Dedham 1 Apr 1606. Daughter of Edmund Sherman and Grace (surname probably Makin).

Hester, wife of Andrew Ward, testified that Goodwife Knapp of Fairfield, convicted at New Haven of being a witch, told her that the wife of Thomas Staples was also a witch.
May, the thirteenth, 1654
"Hester Ward, wife of Andrew Ward, being sworne deposeth, that aboute a
day after that goodwife Knapp was condemned for a witch, she goeing to
ye prison house where the said Knapp was kept, she, ye said Knapp,
voluntarily, wthout any occasion giuen her, said that goodwife Staplyes
told her, the said Knapp, that an Indian brought vnto her, the said
Staplyes, two litle things brighter then the light of the day, and told
the said goodwife Staplyes they were Indian gods, as the Indian called
ym; and the Indian wthall told her, the said Staplyes, if she would
keepe them, she would be so big rich, all one god, and that the said
Staplyes told the said Knapp, she gaue them again to the said Indian,
but she could not tell whether she did so or no.


Hester's will of 27 Dec 1665 (proved 28 Feb 1665/6) leaves £ 5 "to my son William", 40 shillings "to my daughter Mary Burr". "Sons Andrew and Samuell" received £ 8 each, "daughter Abigail" £ 10 and "the children of my daughter Anna Nichols nine
pounds to be equally divided among them"; "my grandchild Hester Ward" received £ 9 and "son John's children" received the same amount. "My grandchildren Sarah Burr and Nathaniell Burr the children of my daughter Sarah nine pounds to be equally divided among them". Her wearing apparel was to be divided between daughters Ann, Mary, Sarah and Abigail. She appointed sons William Ward and Andrew Ward as "executors and residuary legatees and also gives "Daniell Burr and Hester Burr ten shillings apiece". And finally, "to my son William .. my great Bible and if Andrew outlive him then Andrew shall have it." The inventory of her estate, was taken 30 Jan 1665/6 and amounted to £ 139.
-Jana Wellman Ulrich

Hester did not mention Edmund, believed to be the oldest son, likely named for her father and possibly deceased. Apparently no records of Edmund have been located in Connecticut. The Families of Old Fairfield proposes another alternative, given that Andrew's will of 1659 mentioned Edmund, who was to have 20£ "if he come to this place". One Elizabeth Barker of Suffolk, England, in her will of 1627, named a grandchild, Edmund Ward. There exists the possibility that Andrew Ward had married first, a Barker, mother of Edmund, and Edmund returned to England at some point; therefore not being of "this place". That would indicate Edmund was not a son of Hester and she would not likely have mentioned him in her will.

Hester Sherman's Parentage:
Hester was the daughter of Edmund Sherman of Dedham whose wife's given name was Joan. Apparently this makes me kin to Roger Sherman, the only man to have signed the Declaration of 1774, The Declaration of Independence in 1776, The Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution of the United States. Unfortunately, another kinsman is Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, who burned Atlanta during the Civil War.

The genealogies of Edmund Sherman found online are unbelievably confused and scrambled. There were several men of the same name, father & son, cousins, nephews, etc. What seems to be the most accurate source for placing these men and their wives in the proper order is Sherman Genealogy, Including Families of Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk, England; Descendants of the Immigrants Captain John Sherman and Rev.John Sherman, etc. Thomas Townsend Sherman, Published by T. A. Wright, New York, 1920. The book is online by subscription at the Family & Local Histories section of Ancestry.

Edmund's grandfather Henry Sherman, in his will dated 20 Jan 1590, gave a bequest to "Edmonde Shearman, the son of my son Edmonde", a little over 13£ to be given to him when he reached the age of "two and twenty". Edmund's father's will, dated 1 Aug 1599, gave to "son, Edmond, after decease of my wife all the houses and lands before given to said wife and a house and seven acres called Ryes where he now dwells" [Will is printed in the NEGHS Register, Vol 50, p.283]

Some place Joan Makin, daughter of Tobias Makin of Fingringhoe, as the wife of Edmund. Tobias Makin named Edmund Sherman in his will. He also named a daughter as Grace Sherman but he did not state that she was married to Edmund. It is suggested likely Grace was the wife of John Sherman - he died and Grace apparently married three more times - to Thomas Rogers, William Palmer, and lastly to Roger Porter. Various records referring to children of Grace suggests she was not the mother of the children of Edmund Sherman. The article in The American Genealogist, cited next, proves that Grace was still a Sherman in 1621 when named in her brother's will, and could not have been the wife of John Sherman, Thomas Rogers who had a child baptized in 1617 and Roger Porter. Tobias Makin also named a Richard Sherman in his will - he did not state that Richard was a grandson but did name him as a son of Edmund Sherman - Richard received 5 £ as did a named grandchild. In the Dedham Parish Register is the following baptism entry: "1608 Oct 16, Richard son of Edmund and Jone Sherman" [NEGHS Register, Vol 51, p.313]

The American Genealogist, 61:79-82 [Jul-Oct 1985] has an article stating that Joan, daughter of Tobias Makin, married Richard Stone as her only husband, disputing the above Sherman research. She was also a generation younger than Edmund Sherman.

The remote possibility remains that Grace could have been called "Joan" in error in the baptismal record in 1608, but that seems doubtful given that the Richard baptized in 1608 was probably the fifth child of that Edmund & Joan and singling out a 5th child in a will, as did Tobias Makin, seems unlikely. There were Shermans living in Dedham at that time and it seems probable that Edmund Sherman's wife was not one of the daughter of Tobias Makin.

Edmund was found at Wethersfield, CT in 1635. He died in New Haven in 1641 where the New Haven Colony Records, Vol 1, p.52, state "3 Mon 1641 an Inventory and will of Olde Father Shirman was delivered into Court". Neither the will nor the inventory has ever been found.

Edmund's children were baptized in Dedham, in England.

Samuel Sherman, of Dedham, brother of Edmund, left a will dated 14 Jun 1643 in which he made a bequest to his "loving sister Sherman, Edmond's widow, and to her son Samuel...her son John ....her daughters Grace and Ester Ward and her youngest daughter. "Ester" Ward can only be Hester Sherman who married Andrew Ward.

Birth	1606	Dedham, Essex, England
Baptism	1 Apr 1606	Dedham, Essex, England
Marriage	Abt 1628	England - ANDREW WARD
Death	Bet 27 Dec 1665 and 30 Jan 1665/66	Fairfield, Fairfield County, Connecticut

Spouse	ANDREW WARD (1597 - 1659)
Child	Edmund Ward ( - )
Child	Anne Ward (1628 - 1718)
Child	William Ward (1632 - 1675)
Child	Hester Ward (1634 - 1666)
Child	Mary Ward (1636 - )
Child	John Ward (1638 - 1683)
Child	Sarah Ward (1640 - 1711)
Child	Abigail Ward (1643 - 1718)
Child	ANDREW WARD (1644 - 1691)
Child	Samuel Ward (1648 - 1692)

Father	EDMUND SHERMAN (1572 - 1641)
Mother	Grace ?Makin (1585 - )
Sibling	Edmund SHERMAN (1599 - 1673)
Sibling	Ann SHERMAN (1601 - )
Sibling	Joan SHERMAN (1603 - )
Sibling	Richard SHERMAN (1608 - )
Sibling	Bezaleel SHERMAN (1611 - )
Sibling	Rev. John SHERMAN (1613 - 1685)
Sibling	Grace SHERMAN (1616 - 1691)
Sibling	Samuel SHERMAN (1618 - 1700)
Sibling	[Daughter] SHERMAN ( - )