Eber Shearman

Eber married Amy Hazard 30 May 1734. Amy (daughter of Robert Hazard and Amy Champlin) was born 20 Sep 1715, North Kingstown, RI. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Eber was the grandson of Philip Shearman, who is also our ancestor. Eber's father was Eber, son of Philip; we are descended from Philip's son Benjamin.

The location of Eber & Martha's marriage, as well as information on their children, came from James N. Arnold's "Family Notes," Volume SHE, among unpublished manuscripts at the Knight Library in Providence.

Eber married Martha Remington Abt 1706, North Kingstown, RI. Martha (daughter of John Remington, III and Abigail Richmond) was born Abt 1683, North Kingstown, RI; died Aft 20 Jul 1744. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Eber possibly married second, Sophia A. Brown.

Eber — Mary Unknown. Mary was born Between 1645 and 1655. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Some genealogies show that the wife of Eber Shearman was Mary Wilcox, b. 1639. However, genealogist Alden G. Beaman wrote that he had found no evidence that Eber's wife was Mary Wilcox (see RI Genealogical Register, Vol. 2, No. 2, p. 91), who probably would have been too old to be the mother of Eber's younger children. So, it may have been a different Mary, or perhaps he was married to two Marys.

Notes:

(If you use any portion of these notes, please give credit to me, Lois Sorensen, and/or to other sources as noted herein.)
John and Abigail and family were residents of Newport and Kingstown, RI, according to "Representative Men of Old Families of Southeastern MA," V. I, p. 173.

Boyd Scott Remington's ancestry chart has John's date of birth as 12 March 1651.

He became a freeman 30 April 1678.

See notes for his father. Some of the information cited there could pertain to this John Remington.

John married Abigail Richmond 1679. Abigail (daughter of Edward RICHMOND, I and Abigail DAVIS) was born Abt 1656, Newport, RI; died 20 Jul 1744, South Kingstown, RI. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Abigail's parents were "of Haverhill, MA."

She was the widow of John Remington when she married Henry Gardner (see notes for Henry!).

The Rev. Dr. MacSparran in his diary (Sept 30th and Oct 4th 1744) speaks of the death of his wife's grandmother, at the great age of eighty-eight years.

If Abigail was the daughter of Edward's second wife, Abigail, she must have been born after Edward who was born in 1658, son of Amey.

Notes:

Philip emigrated to New England in 1633 or 1634, first settling in Roxbury, MA, near Boston. Being involved in some of the religious controversy in Massachusetts Bay Colony at the time, he and others went south to Providence Plantations, where Roger Williams advised them to purchase Aquidneck Island (Rhode Island) from the Indians. This purchase was completed on 24 March 1638. Their government was established in July 1638, with William Coddington chosen as governor, and Philip Shearman secretary.

Thus, he was the first Secretary (or General Recorder) of the Colony of Rhode Island. The early records, still at Portsmouth, show Philip to have been a very neat and expert writer.

In Rhode Island, Philip joined the Society of Friends (Quakers). He was know for being a devout but determined man. (see "The Sherman Family" by Rev. David Sherman, p. 189)

The Portsmouth Society of Friends was founded in 1658. The present meeting house was completed in 1700. Now known as the Portsmouth Evangelical Friends Church, it is the oldest active Friends' Church in the country.

Some genealogies have the following ancestry for Philip Shearman:
parents -- Samuel & Philippa (Ward) Shearman, of Dedham, Essex, England
grandparents -- Henry & Susan (Hills or Lawrence) Shearman, of Dedham, Essex, England
gr-grandparents -- Henry & Agnes (Butler) Shearman, of Yaxley, Suffolk, England
gr-gr-grandparents -- Thomas & Jane (Waller) Shearman, of Norfolk & Suffolk, England
gr-gr-gr-grandparents -- John & Agnes (Fuller) Shearman, of Suffolk, England

His son Eber may have been born in England. Possibly Philip was already married when he came to America. Philip's will mentions his wife Sarah; sons Eber, Peleg, Edmund, Sampson, Samuel, John, & Benjamin; and daughters Sarah, Mary, Hannah, & Phelep.

Philip married Sarah ODDING Between 1628 and 1634, England or MA. Sarah (daughter of George ODDING and Margaret Unknown) was born 5 Feb 1609/10; died Aft 31 Jul 1681. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

The New England Historical and Genealogical Register Vol 167 p 152 says that Philip and Sarah were married in Roxbury, MA, c 1633.

Notes:

(If you use any portion of these notes, please give credit to me, Lois Sorensen, and to other sources as noted herein.)
According to Boyd Scott Remington's genealogy chart at RIHSL, John, Jr. was born in 1633 in Rowley, England. He defended Jamestown against the Indians on 28 August 1669, and was granted land in East Greenwich in 1677. He resided in Haverhill and Rowley, MA, and Jamestown & Warwick, RI.

According to Carl Boyer III in "Ancestral Lines Revised," and genealogist Gordon L. Remington, John Remington II was born 1623-1624. However, a more recent article by Gordon L. Remington places John's birth c 1630 (source: The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. 147, p. 371).

Alden G. Beaman's article "A Line of Descent from John Remington of Jamestown and Warwick" (RI Genealogical Register, Vol. 20, p.39) gives his year of birth as c. 1625.

According to genealogist Armand Lariviere, "John Remington, the founder of the Rhode Island branch of the Remington family, first settled in Haverhill, MA, and became a citizen of Portsmouth, RI in 1669."

In Haverhill, MA, in 1661 when 53 lots were drawn, John Remington is listed among the names. He is also among the recipients of land in July 1667, when he received 4 acres in Haverhill. (source: "History of Haverhill Since Settlement in 1640" pp. 92 & 106; on Family Archive CD #502)

Some of the following information is from:
Paul Remington's web site: http://www.uftree.com/UFT/WebPages/Paul-Remington/REMFAM/
"Some History and Genealogy on the Remington Line in England and America" by J. W. Remington
"History of Warwick" by Oliver Payson Fuller (at Rhode Island Historical Society Library)
"Early Settlers of Rowley, Massachusetts" by Blodgett & Jewett

John Remington II, eldest child of John Remington I, was probably born about 1630 (ref: Gordon L. Remington). This John Remington is our ancestor. Boyd Scott Remington's ancestry chart gives his birth year as 1633. John, Jr. was with his family in Newbury in 1637 and in Rowley in 1638. In Rowley records he is mentioned as "junior" and in deeds as "carpenter." He most likely remained there with his father until 1649, when he married Abigail Acie/Acey, and then about 1654 he removed to Andover, where there is a record of him from 1654 to 1656. Around 1661 he settled in Haverhill, MA, but did not remain there very long, because shortly after 1664 he was identified as a member of the colony of Jamestown, RI. Later, in a deed dated June 2, 1670, he described himself as "of the Island of Quanonagutt" (probably phonetic spelling for Conanicut, native name for Jamestown, RI) in the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations." This deed transferred a parcel of land in Rowley to Anthony Crosby.

[The record states that] "On August 28, 1669, he (John Remington) and two others (John Holmes & Michael Kelly) were named as Conservators of the Peace, and ordered to assemble the inhabitants of Conanicut Island, to consider what may be most suitable for their defense and preservation against any invasion or insurrection of the Indians."

Also, in 1677 it was ordered that a certain 5,000-acre tract of land in the East Greenwich area be divided into 100-acre lots, to accommodate inhabitants of the colony as needed. "And further this Assembly do enact, order and declare, for the services rendered during King Philip's War, the persons here named" . . . There follow the names of fifty persons [to receive land] among which is that of John Remington. [Note: likewise our ancestor Capt. Benjamin Gorton, whose daughter Maplet later married Thomas Remington, Jr., grandson of John Jr.] On 6 Sept 1687, John Remington, Junior is on a list for taxes under Gov. Andros, assessing estates of the Towne of Rochester in the King's Province. (Rochester is a former name for North Kingstown, RI.) My observation -- this John Remington could be his son, who married Abigail Richmond and lived in South Kingstown.

Around this time [John Remington II] removed to Warwick, RI, where he on Aug. 13, 1709 confirmed an earlier deed of May 24, 1695 in which he had given to his son Thomas Remington of Warwick "all my right which I had at Haverhill, Mass. and [said deed being somehow damaged and nearly illegible], being willing gift, should stand, therefore for love, etc." His son Thomas received a house and town lot at Haverhill containing four acres, also two orchards and 40 acres called "Fishing River." [Note: this son Thomas is our ancestor.] John Jr. died in 1709 in Warwick, RI. Many of his descendants remained in this spot five or more generations later.

Like his father John the first, John Jr. was a carpenter. His eldest son, John, was born 12 March 1651 in Rowley, MA; he resided in Newport and Kingston, RI, and died in Jamestown, RI (not sure about this). [This son John (the third) married Abigail Richmond. His brother, John Jr.'s third son, named Thomas, married Mary Allen; this couple are our ancestors.]

According to Carl Boyer III, in "Ancestral Lines Revised," p. 337, John II married second to Martha (Unknown).

See also:
http://www.bugthorpe.eril.net/Bugthorpe%20Village.htm
http://www.bugthorpe.eril.net/churches_in_the_garrowby_hill_group_of_paris hes.htm
"The Remingtons of Utah, Their Ancestors and Descendants," by Ward J. Roylance

John — Abigail ACIE. Abigail (daughter of William ACIE, Jr. and Margaret HAITON) was born Abt 1628. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

This marriage is listed in "New England Marriages Prior to 1700" ( by Clarence Almon Torrey, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, 1985), which gives the year of the birth of their first child as 1650, and locations of record as Rowley/Haverhill/Andover.

Notes:

Apparently Edward married Amey Bull & Abigail Davis; some genealogies say it is not clear which one was the mother of Edward II. But, see marriage story below. Edward was Attorney General of RI from 1677 to 1680; he was General Solicitor (same job, different title) in 1667, 1669/70, 1672, and 1677. He was Deputy to the RI General Court in 1678/9 and 1686, and was also a captain and lieutenant at Newport. He was probably a son of John "Webb" Richmond b.1592 & Elizabeth Nicholas, who came to America in 1635.

In 1656, Edward's Richmond's attorneys unsuccessfully sued Richard Ussell, who was Abigail's legal husband, she having been forced to marry him when Edward was already "espoused to" her. Later they successfully argued the case on the basis of trespass for breach of covenant. A petition in Abigail's name was presented to the General Assembly resulting in a declaration that the prior marriage to Ussell was "an unlawful marriage." Edward and Abigail had to pay a fine of forty shillings for living together and conceiving a child. The Court of Trials married the couple "for preventing of the like Temptation." (from "the Transatlantic Constitution" by Mary Sarah Bilder)

The following is from Daniel P. Himes' genealogy at Geni.com: "Abigail Davis, the first wife of Edward Richmond . . went to court in 1657 to annul her forced marriage to Richard Ussell. The court committee, headed by Roger Williams, finally decided in her favor, but only after delaying the decision for six weeks . . . The following summer (1658) Abigail and Edward were charged with living together contrary by law, and having a child (Abigail, born 1656) out of wedlock. They were fined and then conveniently declared to be married by the court 'as they been twice published according to law but . . . (Rev.) Obediah Holmes forbade it.' "

See details at findagrave.com

Edward married Abigail DAVIS Abt Jun 1658. Abigail (daughter of William DAVIS) was born Abt 1637; died Jul 1682; was buried , Little Compton, RI. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Apparently Abigail was married when very young to Richard Ussell, but this marriage was declared unlawful by the Assembly, because she said her mother and stepfather, John Cowdall, had forced it on her. In 1656 she testified that her own choice was Edward Richmond. (see "Family Notes" at the Knight Memorial Library in Providence, RI; now at Providence Central Public Library)

The following is from Daniel P. Himes' genealogy at Geni.com:

"On May 20, 1657, Abigail Davis petitioned the Assembly alleging that her step-father John Cowdall and her mother had forced her into a marriage with Richard Ussell, and later in the same year the Assembly declared that the marriage was unlawful and that she was free to marry Edward Richmond, whom she declared in her petition to be her choice. When old Portsmouth was divided and Newport organized, Portsmouth was reorganized, and James Davice (Davis) signed (by his mark), April 30, 1639, forming 'the body politick' of Portsmouth: and in the list of the inhabitants of Acquednic Island (who had become such by consent of the goverment), dated September 1, 1640, James Davis's name appears; it does not appear again, and as there were no other of the name (save, possibly, Nicholas, who lived till 1671), it would seem that he was the father of Abigail Davis, and at the time Abigail married Edward Richmond, he had died and his widow had married John Cowdall.

"In one copy of "The Richmond Family" her father's name of James Davis was crossed out and the name 'William Davis' was handwritten in.

"Abigail Davis, the first wife of Edward Richmond . . went to court in 1657 to annul her forced marriage to Richard Ussell. The court committee, headed by Roger Williams, finally decided in her favor, but only after delaying the decision for six weeks due to the great disturbance made by the bystanders. The following summer (1658) Abigail and Edward were charged with living together contrary by law, and having a child (Abigail, born 1656) out of wedlock. They were fined and then conveniently declared to be married by the court 'as they been twice published according to law but . . . (Rev.) Obediah Holmes forbade it'.

"The Richmond Genealogy suggests that the father of Abigail Davis was James Davis of Portsmouth, but there was a William Davis, locksmith, of Boston, who died in 1643/4, leaving a widow, Mary, and a daughter, Abigail. The widow married John Cowdall and the family relocated to Portsmouth, RI."

"Ordered, that Mr. Richard Tew, Mr. John Greene, Jr., of Warwicke, Mr. Thomas Harris, of Providence, and Edward Greenman, of Newport, are apoynted a sub-committee to goe to Abigail, daughter-in-law to Mr. John Cowdall, and to carrie the petition that was presented to the court in her name, and to enquire of her if she owne it to be hers, and to informe themselves of other circumstances from her thereabout, and to make report thereof to the Court to-morrow morninge, at the meetinge of the Court.

"Upon a petition of richard Ussell, to this court for justice concerninge an execution graunted to him against Edward Richmond, or Newport, for the sum of three pound, thirteen shillings; which execution beinge unserved by reason that noe estate was found to serve it on, and now beinge adjitated in the Court for redress in the same, here appeared John Richmond, of Newport, Sen'r, and to the Court doth agree to pay the sayd sum mentioned in the execution to Richard Ussell or his assigns, before the 24th of June next, upon the penalty of a double bond forfeiture, payable to the sayd Ussell, recoverable by law.

"Concerninge the nihil dicit entered against Richard Ussell and John Cowdall, of Newport, by Edward Richmond, before the court of tryalls in October last, at Portsmouth, some difficulty arisinge in the Courts aboute it, and they referringe it to this Court to consider; the Court declareth that the Jury shall enquire of the damages upon the sayd nihil dicit, and judgment and execution shall be entered and graunted at the General Court of Tryalls a Warwicke in June next, in that case. . .

"The Report of the sub-committee yesterday chosen and sent to Abigall, daughter of John Cowdall is, that haveinge read the petition to the sayd Abigall, which was subscribed Abigall Davis, she owned the sayd petition to be her act, and likewise disclaimed Richard Ussell, and only owned Edward Richmond, and further professed that what she had done with respect to Richard Ussell, was for feare of being forced to it by her father and mother.

"Upon adjitation concerninge Richard Ussell and Abigall Davis, the Court declareth theire resolution to consider and debate the matter, as to theire sence concerninge the marridge of the sayd Ussell with the sayd Abigall Davis, whether it were legall or not.

"Upon the great disturbance made by standers by in the beginninge of the adjitation abovesayd, the Court hath for the present deferred the debate of the matter any further. . .

"It is ordered, and by this court declared, that the maridge of Richard Ussell with Abigall Davis was an unlawfull marridge."

"On May 20, 1657, Abigail Davis petitioned the Assembly, alleging that her stepfa. John Cowdall and her mo. had forced her into a m. with Richard Ussell, and later the same year the Assembly declared that the m. was unlawful and that she was free to marry Edward Richmond, whom she declared in her petition to be her choice."

Sources:

Joshua Bailey Richmond, The Richmond Family 1594-1896 and Pre-American Ancestors, (Boston: The Compiler, MDCCCXCVII).

Joan S. Guilford, The Ancestry of Dr. J.P. Guilford, Orange, CA: Seridan Psychological Services, 1990, Vol. 1.

Sybil Noyes, Charles Thornton Libby & Walter Goodwin Davis, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, (Portland, ME: Southworth-Anthoensen Press, 1928-1939), Vol. 1.

Bowerman, Robert H., "The Family of John & Elizabeth (Irish) Richmond," 2222 Miantonomi Ave, Middletown, RI 02840.