First Generation

1. ANDREW WARD^1,2,3,4,5 was born about 1597 in Suffolk or Essex County, England.⁶ He died in 1659 at the age of 62 in Fairfield, Fairfield County, Connecticut.

The "Historical" chapter of Andrew Warde and His Descendants 1597-1910, discusses the lineage of Andrew in England. The earliest researchers had concluded Andrew was a son of Richard Ward of Homersfield in Sussex, England. Richard died in 1598, extremely old, and Andrew was born circa 1597 making such a connection highly unlikely. Richard said to have named a son Andrew in his will and given no indication such son was of minor age. There was an Andrew Warde, buried Jan 23 1615, St. Michael's, Cornhill, London. Possibly he was the son of Richard, perhaps not. Although there are disclaimers that no positive proof has been found, the author of Andrew Warde continues to state that Richard married into the Gunville/Gonville family of Gorleston. The claim is made that likely this Andrew of Connecticut was a grandson of Richard rather than the son. Lineages based on this claim are continued quite far back in English history. Families of Old Fairfield makes the following statement on p.643, "....family of Richard Ward of Gorleston or Homersfield have been investigated. No such person as Richard Ward was found; no Gunville family existed in that vicinity as lords of the manor; and every reference given has proved to be fictitous. It is likely that these statements were the invention of a fraudulent genealogist, innocently accepted by members of the Ward family, through whom they found their way into the book."

It is certain that Andrew married in England, Hester Sherman, daughter of Edmund, who was baptised 1 Apr 1606 at Dedham Co, Essex, England. Other references have been found for Wards in Essex. This would seem to be a more likely place for Andrew's family. One David Rawson of St. Gregory's, London, named in his will of 1616, an uncle John Ward, and Andrew Ward, a minor, son of his uncle Ralph Ward. A Dr. John Ward of Ipswich, MA, mentioned various Sherman cousins in his will of 1652 and gave 20£ each to the two youngest sons of his "Cousin Ward of Wethersfield". The word cousin in that time frame generally referred to a nephew. Dr. John Ward is known to have been the son of John Ward [will of 1631] of Stratford St. Mary Co, Suffolk, just across the River Stour from Dedham Co, Essex.

Andrew Ward first settled in Watertown, Massachusetts. He was noted as Freeman of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Watertown, 14 May 1634. He was a founder of the Connecticut Colony and one of eight original settlers at Wethersfield in 1635. He was a founder of Stamford [first called Wethersfield Men's Plantation]; he and Robert Coe on behalf of the Wethersfield men arranged with New Haven Colony for the settlement there. Andrew was one of the first thirty families who moved to New Haven in May of 1640 [Connecticut Puritan Settlers by Royal R. Hinman]. He removed to Fairfield about 1647, where he died in 1659.

In the 1644 Watertown Inventory of Possessions & Composite Inventory, Nicholas Busby held the homestall that had been granted to Andrew Ward and the Great Dividend, Plowland and Remote Meadows lots that had been granted to Edmond Sherman. This implies that Edmond Sherman purchased the homestall of Andrew Ward when the latter left for Westhersfield in 1635, after which Sherman received further grants based on the proprietary share attached to that homestall, and that Nicholas Busby purchased all these parcels from Sherman before 9 Apr 1638 when Busby was granted six acres at the Town Plot, based on the proprietary share attached to the homestall that came from Ward by way of Sherman. [Sketch of Edmund Sherman, The Great Migration online]

The Great Migration Newsletter, Vol. 11, No. 3, Jul-Sept 2002 explains more about the division of the land at Watertown. About 1634, the leaders of Watertown tidied up the allotments that had previously been made [there is no extant records of these although in 1630 homelots were granted in some manner]. The New England proprietary system was that a homestall carried certain proprietary rights to share in any future divisions of town property. During 1634 and 1635, two small pieces of land, one of meadow and one of arable upland was granted to the holders of the homelots. 25 Jul 1636, the Great Dividend allotted additional land. The Beaverbrook Plowlands were allotted 28 Feb 1636/7, and the Remote Meadows, 26 Jun 1637. The next division was for town lots - the grantees being requested to build on and remove to these lots. The town lots were granted to 40 men and women 9 Apr 1638. Then on 17 Jul 1638, those that had no town lots received 12 acres lots beyond the Beaver Plain and the townsmen to have 6 acres lots - these were referred to as the upland beyond the Further Plain, on land in Lieu of Township. There is no surviving list of these but they can be reconstructed from the land inventories. The last division of Watertown lands was 10 May 1642, with granting of the Farms - large parcels in the far western end, which was later set off as the town of Weston.

WorldConnect Posing:
Barbara Hathaway <[email protected]> Updated 5 Jun 2005
Andrew arrived in New England aboard the ship Arabella in 1633 [The Arbella was one of the Winthrop Fleet of 1630 and Andrew Ward is not listed as a passenger. The only passenger list for the Arabella was in 1671. It is not known when Andrew Ward arrived.] He was a freeman in Boston in 1634 and was a member of the Watertown church in May of that year. He was granted a ten acre homelot in Watertown in 1633 which he apparently either sold or granted to his Sherman in-laws (Edmond, either father or brother - it was the father, the younger Edmond did not come to America.) when he moved to Connecticut.
On 3 Mar 1635/36 he was appointed by the Massachusetts General Court to serve as one of eight commissioners governing the colony of Connecticut for the next year. On the 24 Mar 1640 land inventory in Wethersfield, MA he is listed as owner of eight parcels:
Homelot - 4 acres
Great meadow - 14 acres and 2 "roods"
Great meadow and swamp - 4 acres and 3 "roods"
Backlots - 2 acres and 3 "roods"
Dry swamp - 8 acres
Wet swamp - 6 acres
West Field - 54 acres
East side of the Connecticut River - 264 acres
"While in Wethersfield, Andrew was named "Connecticut Assistant" April 1635 - May 1637 which made him one of the first judges in the colony. He served as Deputy to the General Court for Wethersfield from November 1637 to the term served by his last appointment there in January of 1640 at which time he moved his family to Stamford CT. From Stamford, he again served as Deputy to the General Court in April 1644 and was a judge at New Haven in October 1646. In 1648 he made his final move, settling at Fairfield CT from which he continued his public service having been appointed Deputy to the General Court from May 1648 to October 1658.

Andrew's will made 8 Jun 1659, estate inventory dated 18 October 1659, will proved 2 Nov 1659; May be son of Richard of Gorleston, Co. Suffolk England - this is doubful and jnproved, however. He called himself "Andrew Ward of Fairfield" and bequeathed to:
'Ester my beloved wife .. £ 40 and one third part of all my lands & housing in Fairfeild during her widowhood' "my son John .. £ 50 at age twenty-one" "my daughter Sarah .. £ 40 within one year after her marriage" "my daughter Abigail .. £ 40 at age eighteen" "sones Andrew & Samuel" .. all the rest of his property when they attain the age of 21. "Item 7 .. And for the rest of my children, they have received their full portion all ready except my son Edmond, who if he come to this place my will is that out of my two youngest sons Andrew and Samuel's portions there may be paid £ 20".
Fairfield Probate Records indicate that the inventory of Andrew Ward's estate was taken 18 Oct 1659 and amounted to £ 242 10s including "house and lands" valued at £ 80."

There is a large monument at the Old Burying Ground, Fairfield, CT - with the following inscription:
IN MEMORY OF
ANDREW WARD
BORN IN ENGLAND 1597
ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF
WETHERSFIELD & STAMFORD
______
AN HONORED CITIZEN OF
FAIRFIELD, CONNECTICUT
WHERE HE DIED IN 1659
_____
MEMBER OF A COMISSION GRAUNTED TO
SEVAL P'SONS TO GOVERNE THE PEOPLE ATT
CONNECTICUT BY THE GENERAL COURT
OF MASSACHUSETTES BAY UNDER
JOHN WINTHROP JLGOVERNOR 1635-1636
_____
ERECTED BY
THE ASSOCIATION OF DESCENDANTS
OF ANDREW WARD 1907

ANDREW WARD and HESTER SHERMAN were married about 1628 in England. HESTER SHERMAN^2,3,7, daughter of EDMUND SHERMAN and Grace ?MAKIN, was born in 1606 in Dedham, Essex, England. She was baptized on 1 April 1606 in Dedham, Essex, England.⁸ She died between 27 December 1665 and 30 January 1665/6 at the age of 59 in Fairfield, Fairfield County, Connecticut.⁹

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.

ANDREW WARD and HESTER SHERMAN had the following children: