Ancestors

Samuel Sherrill

Samuel Sherrill was the first of the Sherrill family at East Hampton, on the eastern end of Long Island. He was probably born in 1633 at Cornwood, a parish in Devon, England, on the southern edge of Dartmoor. On 17 November 1633 the Cornwood transcripts record the baptism of "Samuel son of William Sherwill." No other Samuel of that family was baptized anywhere near that time. Transcripts were the yearly copies of a parish register sent to the bishop. At Cornwood only those for 1610, 1613, 1614, 1615, 1618, 1627 and 1633 survive before 1660, and the parish register itself is lost before 1685.

His father was probably William Sherwill of Cornwood. The same transcripts record "John son of William Sherwill" baptized on 23 November 1623, probably an elder brother. A William Sherwill was buried at Cornwood on 18 March 1633/4, four months after Samuel's baptism. The double year is the old calendar, in which the new year began on 25 March. An Elizabeth Sherwill had been buried there a month earlier, on 17 February 1633/4. She may have been William's wife, but the entry does not say so.

At East Hampton the family said Samuel was an Irishman, born in Ireland of English parents. That story came from Teunis D. Huntting of East Hampton, who in the end could point only to something an East Hampton Sherrill had once told him. The name itself belongs to Devon, where Sherwills were baptized, married and buried at Cornwood from 1613 into the 1780s. The East Hampton books write it Sherrill, Sheril and Sherry.

How he reached Long Island is a family story, and every branch of the family kept it. A ship was cast away on the East Hampton shore. A company of girls went to see the wreck, and one of them came back saying she had seen the handsomest man she ever saw. The shipwrecked mariner heard of it, and the two were married. She was a daughter of Samuel Parsons of East Hampton. Her given name is not known; Samuel Parsons's daughters are given as Lurana or Lois, Esther and Sarah.

From 1683 he is in the town's own books, and until 1698 he is the only Sherrill in them. He appears on a rate list as "Samll Sherrill," between John Chatfield and Robert More and near David Conklin, John Conklin, John Parsons and Samuel Parsons Junior. A rate list was the roll of householders assessed for a town tax. In 1686 he was one of ten townsmen who petitioned Governor Dongan for land. On 14 August 1699 he and James Brading witnessed the deed by which Abiel Carle sold land to Jacob Skellinx. He was later among the fifty five who raised money to bring the town a preacher.

His eldest son Recompence, born about 1678, became one of the leading men of East Hampton and of Suffolk County. A son John settled at Southold and died there without a will. On 12 April 1735 the letters of administration on his estate went to "his brothers, Recompence Sherill, and Thomas Brown." A Thomas Brown called a brother was almost certainly a brother-in-law, so a daughter of Samuel's married a Thomas Brown.

He died at East Hampton in April 1719. The minister, Rev. Nathaniel Huntting, entered under that year: "Apr. 25, Goodman Sherry, aged above 70 years, died." Goodman was the courtesy title of a householder below the rank of gentleman. Another East Hampton record gives his death on 29 April "at the age of 80," which would put his birth about 1639. A man baptized in 1633 would have been eighty five. His wife died on 10 December 1722, aged "ab't 80."

If Samuel Sherrill is in your family, start your own tree.

Cite: Heirology, "Samuel Sherrill (1633-1719)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/samuel-sherrill-1633-1719-1bd9e8.