Family History ~ First Generation~ George Sherrod

Introduction

This story is the beginning of one line of our family tree. It is Sherrod line which will merge with the Richards line and on down to our immediate family.

We start with George Sherrod. I have documented history of his day to understand the motivation for a young man to leave his homeland which was England in the early 1600's. It was an interesting journey for me.

I hope you will enjoy the story that unfolded for me.

June Daab

2008

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First Generation

George Sherrod was born in England on the Isle of Wight about 1600.

I, personally, am the tenth generation down from him.

He is my g. g. g. g. g. g . g. g. grandfather.

Where is the Isle of Wight?


The Isle of Wight is a small island in the English Channel off the southern part of England.


The small island has rich history.

The Isle of Wight is a British island and county in the English Channel between three and five miles from the south coast of Great Britain. It is situated south of the county of Hampshire and is separated from mainland England by the Solent.




Popular since Victorian times as a holiday resort, the Isle of Wight is known for its outstanding natural beauty and for its world-famous sailing based in Cowes.

It was home to the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson, and Queen Victoria.

Queen Victoria built and made her most beloved Osborne House on the Isle of Wight her summer home for many years and later, her permanent home. As a result, the Isle became a major holiday resort for fashionable Victorians including Julia Margaret Cameron, Charles Dickens and members of European royalty.

The island has some exceptional wildlife set in natural beauty ~and is also one of the richest fossil locations for dinosaurs in Europe.

Today,
it is possible to get a flight into the Isle of Wight and rent a cottage, which is something that really appeals to me.


I had traveled extensively before actually spending time in England. It amazed me as I felt "at home" there. Was the first and only place in the world that I didn't stand out as a foreigner. The people on the streets looks as if they could be my family.


As a child, I poured over National Geographic Magazines which brought the love of exotic locations into my life. Egypt, the Amazon, Great Wall of China, etc...England wasn't actually a place I cared to see in this world, however, once there, have returned many times and love it more each time. I love that 'at home' feel when there.

REASONS GEORGE SHERROD LEAVES ENGLAND

Travel across the Atlantic Ocean was unpleasant and dangerous, and moving to the Virginia colony was a great risk. However, that was the easiest way for many Englishmen to become landowners, and for the lower gentry to climb into the upper ranks of wealth and power.

That option was not available in England, where land was controlled by the hereditary aristocracy. Roughly half of the English population owned no land, and had few opportunities to acquire it no matter how hard they worked. In the days before the Industrial Revolution created a middle class, and wealth could be acquired through manufacturing, land was the basis of wealth. The English population grew from 3 million in 1500 to 5 million in 1650, unemployment was high, and the social unrest erupted into the English Civil War in the mid-1650's.1

Reading the Early History of the Island, perhaps his future was limited there.

The small island, Isle of Wight, had become a major Military Defense Post. After the Spanish Armada in 1588, the threat of Spanish attacks remained and the outer fortifications of Carisbrooke Castle were built between 1597 and 1602.

(George was born 1600)

Elizabeth I, Armada Portrait c.1588

History of what was going on around him is interesting.

The defeat of the Spanish Armada (invading Fleet) is one of the most famous events in English history. It was arguably Queen Elizabeth's finest hour. For years she had been hailed as the English Deborah, the savior of the English people, and now it seemed that this is what she had really become. She was now Bellona, the goddess of war, and in triumph she had led her people to glory, defeating the greatest power in the 16th century world.

Spain was the most powerful country in the world. Philip II ruled vast territories of land, and had unparalleled wealth from the New World. England was a small country, with little wealth, few friends, and many enemies. If Queen Elizabeth ever felt nervous about challenging the greatest power in the known world, she never showed it, and appeared to believe completely in the devotion and loyalty of her people. By believing in them, they believed in her.

Our ancestor George, being a young man and unmarried at the time, had good reasons to change his life and sail for the NEW WORLD.




My heart is proud to know, young George Sherrod was on a ship that came to Jamestown, America's first permanent English Settlement.

On May 14, 1607, 13 years before the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts, a group of 104 English men and boys landed on Jamestown Island, to establish the Virginia English colony on the banks of the James River 60 miles from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. The community suffered terrible hardships in its early years, but managed to endure, earning the distinction of being America's first permanent English colony.

Just think, it is possible that George could have met Captain John Smith, John Rolfe and Pocahontas, although my guesstimate is that he didn't arrive in the Jamestown area until a about 1620. Pocahontas and John Rolfe, a wealthy tobacco grower, were married in 1614. He took her to England, where she died of pneumonia in 1617 at age 22. She had a child just before she died and there are descendants.

Isn't that interesting to think about?
To the right is a photo of statue of Pocahontas erected in Jamestown, Virginia.

HERE WE HAVE TO GUESS that our George Sherrod arrived in Jamestown about 1620-1625 time frame. We know he married and moved to a location south of Jamestown. We hope he had a land grant. He had only one son that we could find.

The area where they lived in the NEW WORLD was later named Isle of Wight.

History of The ISLE OF WIGHT, VIRGINIA

During the 17th century, shortly after establishment of the settlement at Jamestown in 1607, English settlers explored and began settling the areas adjacent to Hampton Roads. Captain John Smith in 1608 crossed the James River and obtained fourteen bushels of corn from a tribe of Native Americans called Warrosquyoackes.

In the next few years, several plantations were established along the shore in the area south of the river.By 1634, the Virginia Colony consisted of eight shires or counties with a total population of approximately 5,000 inhabitants.

To cultivate, build and otherwise establish a working plantation help was needed. A ship arrived in Jamestown with the first Africans brought to the English colonies in North America came on a Dutch privateer that landed at Jamestown, Virginia, in August 1619. The Africans were sold and became the first slaves in the New World. There were other indentured servants brought over from England as well.

One of these was Warrosquyoake Shire, renamed Isle of Wight County in 1637, after the island in the English channel of the same name. The name was probably changed due to the difficulty of spelling and pronouncing its Native American name and because the Isle of Wight, England had been the home of some of the principal colonists.

We can be proud that our George Sherrod and now wife and son were among those principal colonists. We hope he was one of the Plantation Owners.

George and wife (unnamed ) had one son.
John Sherrod.

George died in Isle of Wight, Virginia. Age unknown.

It is exciting to know we will visit this area later in the summer as we drive thought that area to go to the beach each summer. It isn't far from Jamestown and Hampton. We lived in Hampton years and years ago...ah...another reason to explore that area.

June