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December 1997 Newsletter
Margaret Sherman
Lutzvick
This bit of trivia may interest SOY members who descend from Phillip SHERMAN (1610 -1687) and Sarah ODDING. (1610-aft 1681) While most of us have mostly dwelled upon our SHERMAN heritage, it is interesting to note the tangled web of families, marriages, and divorces that included our ODDING ancestry. It is quite a [convoluted] story. The Reverend Michael Gardner (1552-) and his wife Margaret Browne (1562-) married in Middlesex, England. They had a son George GARDNER (1600-1677) who married his first wife Sarah SLAUGHTER (1604-1637) in 1630 in London, England. Together, between 1631 and 1636, they had three children all born in London.
Unfortunately, Sarah died in 1637 at sea probably while on her way to RI in America. Poor George then married for a second time in 1645/46 in RI. This wife was a divorcee named Heordias (Herod) LONG (1623-) of London. Together they had six children all born between 1645 and 1658 in Newport, RI. But George fared no better in his marriage to Herodias' than her first husband did, for she apparently grew tired of George and divorced him in 1664/65.
Herodias was married first in 1637 to John HICKS. (1613-) After her divorce from her second husband George Gardner, she remarried for a third time in 1671 to the religious man, John PORTER (1590-1674) who in the mid 1630s had gotten our Phillip SHERMAN into a lot of trouble in Roxbury, MA. John was previously married to Margaret _________, (1590-) who was married first to our ancestor George ODDING. (1585-) George and Margaret ODDING were the parents of Sarah ODDING SHERMAN, thus by marriage, John PORTER was Sarah's stepfather. Of course the Shermans came along in the story when our ancestor Phillip SHERMAN married Sarah ODDING in 1633 in Roxbury, MA.
In summary, while there is no blood relationship – that we know of anyway – between the Oddings and the Gardners, Slaughters, Hicks, Longs or Porters, it is interesting to see what Sarah ODDING may gave been witness to in her lifetime. It should tell us how her childhood and early adulthood may have been as she observed the actions of those around her. And for those who think that divorce is a modern invention, one only needs to look into the history of our families to see that it has occurred from very early times creating intricate webs of relationships along the way.
As for George GARDNER, he never gave up on marriage, for he went on to marry a third time in 1665 in RI to Lydia BALLOU. (1640-1722) They had five children born between 1666 and 1674 in Newport, RI. And after George's death in 1677 she married a second time in 1678 to William HAWKINS. (1640-1723)
Sources:
Beaman, Alden G. 1986. The RI Genealogical Register. Vol. 9, nos. 1 & 2. East Princeton, MA.
Lutzvick, Margaret Sherman. 1997. Going to Palmyra; Sherman Deeds. Gateway Press. Baltimore, MD. pages 35-44.
Reprint Copyright Margaret Sherman Lutzvick January 2001
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