On June 5, 1632, Henry Sherburne arrived in Boston on the James. He came from Odiham, Hampshire, England where he was baptized on March 28, 1611. He married his first wife, Rebecca Gibbons, on November 13,
1637 and she was the mother of all of his children. Sherburne settled in southern
New Hampshire where he owned land in the Little Harbor and Sandy Beach regions
of the Piscataqua settlement. Henry ran a ferry and kept an ordinary or inn, and was
involved in town affairs, serving as town clerk for three years and a local
justice for twenty-five years among other offices. During that time, Henry and
his wife raised a family and seemed to have been good citizens of the colony.
Only two incidents indicate any conflict. In 1649, Henry successfully sued
Thomas Wedge for slandering his wife. Records do not reveal what Wedge said
about Rebecca. Then in 1665, when there was some opposition to the authority of
the Massachusetts Bay Colony over the Piscataqua area, Henry was arrested and
charged with sedition. His defense was that he was influenced by his neighbors
to attend a meeting at Strawbery Banke where a Mr. Corbett read a petition and
asked those present to sign. Henry refused to sign the petition because there
were some words in it “concerning the usurpation of power over the people here
by the Massachusetts government.” It is unclear whether Henry supported the aims of the petition but was simply astute enough not to sign the document or whether he truly supported the Massachusetts authorities.
After Rebecca died, Henry married Sarah, widow of Walter
Abbott. That seems to be the start of a series of troubles. Walter Abbott was a
Portsmouth innkeeper who died in 1667 and left his affairs in disarray. Because
he married Sarah, Henry became involved in several protracted lawsuits involving
Walter Abbott’s property and debts. Even more troublesome was the relationship
between Henry and Sarah. Within a year of their marriage, they were in court
where they each admitted to beating each other. Henry confessed to beating his
wife “several times” and was fined. Sarah confessed to “beating her husband and
breaking his head” and she also had to pay a fine. Two years later, they were
presented to the court again for “disorderly living and fighting.” The next year they
confessed once again to living “disorderly” and fighting and they were given the
choice of paying 50s. each or being whipped ten stripes. They paid the fines.
After Henry’s death, his neighbor, Edward Bickford, his wife
and children were summoned to appear before the court and “answer sundry
objections about Mr. Sherburne’s death” but they were released when no evidence
of foul play was found. There had been some conflict with this neighbor
regarding Bickford’s hogs, cattle, and horses causing damage on Henry’s land
and the Bickford children being accused of stealing Henry's pears. Neither of these minor disputes seems
like something to kill someone over but apparently Henry’s death was unexpected
and hard to explain so his family was seeking answers. Walter Goodwin Davis speculates that perhaps Henry disappeared during a winter storm in 1680 and his body was not recovered until spring. However, he notes that he has no evidence to support this hypothesis.
Henry Sherburne was my 10th great-grandfather. His name is spelled in a variety of ways as was common at that time - Sherborn, Sherborne, Sherburn, Sherburne, etc.
His youngest daughter, Ruth, married Aaron Moses.
Ruth Moses m. Timothy Waterhouse
John Waterhouse m. Alice Babb
Lydia Waterhouse m. Richard Garland
Alice Garland m. Isaac Hayes
Richard Hayes m. Rebecca Greenwood
Sidney Hayes m. Apphia Delphina Cole
George Hayes m. Anna J. Rowe
Eva Delphinia Hayes m. Estes Yates
Linona Alice Yates
Sources:
Davis, Walter Goodwin, and Gary Boyd Roberts. Massachusetts and Maine Families in the Ancestry of Walter Goodwin Davis (1885-1966): A Reprinting, in Alphabetical Order by Surname, of the Sixteen Multi-ancestor Compendia (plus Thomas Haley of Winter Harbor and His Descendants) Compiled by Maine's Famous Genealogist, 1916-1963. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical, 1996.
Robert Charles Anderson. Great Migration Begins Index: Immigrants to New England, 1620-33 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000.
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