Shermans of Yaxley Newsletter December 1997 (Vol. 3, No. 2)
The origin of the name SHERMAN apparently comes from some early progenitor whose occupation was a dresser or shearer of cloth. One who shears worsted, fustians, etc., to even the nap, called clothiers (they dealt with cloth, not clothes). Referred to as the Shermancraft.
The statement that almost all English SHERMANS are descended from five particular emigrants has to be taken with a big grain of salt ... most researchers in the past did not consider Scots, Welsh or Irish to be "English" nor did they consider any non-English descent person with a Sherman or Anglicized Sherman name to be a "real" SHERMAN. Worrying about such an academia type statement is probably a great waste of time.
The name SHERMAN first appeared among some Savony people living along the Rhine River as far back as the 10th century. The SHERMANS could have come to England during the migration after the Norman conquest of England, under the command of William the Conqueror. Also, because of their profession, the Sherman could have very likely come to England from Flanders during the middle 1300's.
The SHERMANS of England were middlemen who bought lengths of cloth from cottage weavers, then they dressed or sheared it, dyed it if they had a woad house, sorted it for quality, baled it, marked it with their trademark, and sold it to the clothes makers. Many of the Sherman ancestors of England were wealthy landed Gentry and Yeomanry.
England used to export raw wool to Europe, especially Flanders, and then import the woolen cloth. As early as 1332 the crown forbade the importation of foreign cloth into England and the exportation of raw wool. Later, Edward III established duties to favor the export of wool cloth, rather than wool. Immigrant Craftsmen, skilled in the making of cloth, were lured by the English rules from Flanders to England. Woolen cloth became the decisive specialty of England by the end of the 14th century.
Robert L. Sherman,
Roswell, GA, Shermans of Yaxley
Historian
It seems that it is impossible to trace SHERMAN family records farther than Thomas Sherman who died in 1492 because there are very few records of people of any kind at that time. The use of surnames at all does not go too much further back. And unless someone is involved in some legal or court record, there would be nothing.
As to the origin of the name, it is recorded that June 8, 1274 a license to trade in wool was granted at Westminster to Richard le Shereman, merchant of Huthe (Hythe) in Essex near Colchester. (Cal. Of Pat. Rolls, Edward I). (Recorded by Bertha L. Stratton in Sherman Allied Families, page 3).
Roy V. Sherman,
Professor Emeritus, Akron, OH, 1968,
"Some of the Descendants of Philip Sherman the First Secretary of Rhode
Island"
"SHERMAN one who shears worsteds, fustians, etc: an employment known at Norwich, England by the designation of Shermancraft." Since names were seldom written, they were spelled as the writer saw fit to produce the desired sound. So one finds in the early records in England: SHERMAN, SHARMAN, SHEREMAN, SHURMAN, and SHEARMAN. It would seem that the name comes from the early clothiers, weavers, and workers with cloth."
Roy V. Sherman,
quoting Frank Dempster Sherman, in
"Some of the Descendants of Philip Sherman the First Secretary of Rhode
Island"
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