Genealogy Jottings

For more than half the year as I have searched for information on my ancestor Thomas Sherman (1841-1912), I have focused on people with a Sherman surname, namely Thomas and his brothers Anderson, John, and Jasper. I feel that I have about exhausted the research I can do on them from home.

Now I will turn to the Sherman sisters, Polly, Evaline, Emily, Eliza, Gilla, and an unknown sister. As genealogists know, finding information on women presents a more difficult case. So far, I have this evidence for them:

1. Polly A. Sherman. She appears as a tick mark in her father’s household on the U.S. census for Morgan County, KY in 1830. She still lived in his household Estill County, KY in 1850, where she is named with an estimated birth year of 1828. She did not live with her father in 1860 or with her mother in 1870.
2. Unknown daughter. This girl also appeared as tick mark on the 1830 census. The 1840 census for the Daniel Sherman household has not been found, and by 1850 this daughter was not in the household.
3. Evaline Sherman. She was born 5 Aug 1834 in Kentucky, and she married John Alvey in Estill County, KY in 1851. They had a daughter Roena before John was killed in the Civil War. Evaline migrated to Illinois where she worked as a dressmaker in Coles and Edgar Counties. She died in Paris, Illinois on 9 September 1922 and is buried in the Mound Cemetery in Charleston, Illinois.
4. Emily E. Sherman. Her first appearance in the record was the 1850 U.S. census listed above with an estimated birth year of 1836. She did not live in her father’s household in 1860.
5. Eliza A. Sherman. Like Emily, her name first appears on the 1850 U.S. census. She was born approximately 1838.
6. Gilla Ann. Her name appears variously in the records as Gilla Ann, Gilly Ann, and Gillian. This sister was born 26 March 1843 and married John Cobb in Johnson County, Indiana on 4 August 1864. They had five children (Albert, William, Amanda, John, and Walter). They ultimately settled in Barton County, MO. Gilla died 16 March 1923 and is buried in the Lake Cemetery in Barton County.

The Kentucky records present a couple of interesting questions for these girls:

1. Who was the Elizabeth Sherman who married John H. Glover in Madison County, KY in 1853? Was she Emily E. or Eliza (who would have turned 15 that year) or the unknown sister? The marriage bond was signed by the father Daniel Sherman and witnessed by the brother Anderson and the sister Pollyann. The 1880 census record for the John H. Glover household in East Nelson, Moultrie County, IL gives Elizabeth’s birth year as approximately 1836, the same as for Emily E. Sherman.
2. Who was the Louisa Jane/ Luezah Jane Sherman who married Stephen Dyke in Madison County, KY in 1856? Again, the marriage bond was signed by Daniel Sherman. Was this the same couple that appears in 1870 in Johnson County, Indiana (near the Anderson Sherman household) with a wife named Eliza Jane born about 1839?

I have more documentation for Evaline and Gilla Sherman than I have for the other sisters. This is because they are named as survivors of Thomas Sherman in his 1912 obituary. Given their places of residence that year, it was not too difficult to find additional records on them.

After the nineteenth century, I have no information on the other sisters. I plan to begin hunting for the remaining Sherman sisters by following the paths of the Glovers and the Dykes to see where this leads me.