| Notes |
- One source states that he was born 2 May 1797 in New York andHe married Hannah Nelson in New York and moved to Ontario Canada.
!NOTE: (from Vernon Sherman's transcripts)
Andrew Sherman was born 2 may 1797. He moved to Ohio with his father, Daniel, a farmer from the east, about 1800. The family is believed to have originally settled in the general vicinity of Mansfield. They may have later moved toward Toledo, possibly into Ottowa County. Insofar as we knew, their work was farming in the main and possibly canal work or work in the woods in the off season.
Andrew married Hannah Nelson in Ohio in1823. Andrew was 25 and Hannah 14 at the time. Her birthday was 19 November1808. In the "horse and buggy" era, it is quite certain that Andrew was living in the same rural community as the Nelsons when he met Hannah.
Hannah's father, Rodney Nelson, was said to have been born in England. Hannah's family, or a branch of it, appear to have settled later in and about Fairground, Ontario. 56 years later (1880), "Uncle Ruben" Nelson was the doctor who delivered Milton Kellum Sherman at Kings Mill just a few miles from Fairground. Milton recalls that his father, James, who was born and raised near Fairground, Ontario, had an "Uncle Rodney" Nelson. Uncle Rodney, born about 1810, was quite possibly Hannah's brother and his own father's name sake. He would know family history. In any case there was so much bitter animosity between James Sherman and his Uncle Rodney Nelson that the children were forbidden to call him "Uncle". Milton recalled that his great-uncle Rodney Nelson died a very old man about 1890, and that even after the old man was buried, Milton's father declared he "ought to go down and stomp in the old so and so's grave."
1825. Andrew and Hannah moved the Michigan Territory, had a farm near Berlin MI in Ottawa Co, about 15 miles northwest of Grand Rapids MI. He built a log house and barn with rail fences. Berlin MI named changed in the 1940s to Marne MI (mc/mp; mc/sp).
Hannah was not quite fifteen at the time her first baby, Adney, was born, 25 Aug 1823. Then Unas Ann was born 2 May 1825. Their five other children were born in Michigan. All of the children were raised in Ottawa County, Michigan.
Andrew and Hannah moved to the Michigan territory about 1825. There were several possible reasons for this move north and west. Times were not good, they were in fact deteriorating toward the great depression of 1837 when credit collapsed, trade became paralyzed and banks reneged on their circulating bank notes. By 1825, Andrew, married with a two year old son and baby daughter, needed a place of his own. This nearby Michigan Territory, (or Michillimackinac as it was also called), was top conversation among his friends and family.
John Sherman (U.S. Secretary of Treasury) speaking of his boyhood in Ohio said, "nearly every able-bodied man served in the Indian Wars or in the War of 1812". He mentions Shermans who fought at Detroit. Andrew or another of his family might well have been there. In any case, by the time he was 29, (1825), he'd heard a great deal about Michigan including the call for men to work on the new road from Detroit to Chicago.
Andrew and Hannah had a farm near Berlin, in Ottawa County, Michigan. It was a cross-roads rural center, about fifteen miles northwest of Grand Rapids. He built a log house and barn with rail fences. In later years (1860), the old Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad ran through Berlin, which was on the line from Grand Rapids to Grand Haven. Berlin was renamed Barne sometime aroung 1917 when the anti-German feeling of World War II was intense. Cooperville, the county seat, is the next town west along the rail line. Andrew's son, William (born 1841) is known to have lived in or near Cooperville around 1875.
Andrew's son Adney, became a physician of note and the Principal of a Medical College somewhere in Southwest Michigan. Andrew's daughter, Unas Ann is believed to have married a Dr. Harvey and to have lived in Chicago. Joseph Henry was the only one known to have gone to Southern Ontario, Canada, about 1848. This explains why so few Shermans appear in Ontario records. I found not one Sherman in the 100 year records (1850 to 1950) of Oxford County Coal at Woodstock, Ontario. The Sheriff at Woodstock in the old days served both Oxford and Norfolk Counties. I found only three in the records (prior to 1900) of the Norfolk County Home at Simicoe, Ontario, Canada.
During Andrew's first years in Michigan, He cleared his land and built a log house and barn. Split rail fences, stump fences and pole fences were built. Wire fence was unknown in the 1820's. His farm was noted for an exceptionally fine sugar bush. His neighbor and very good friend was a Frenchman, Andrew Chappella. Andrew Sherman reminisced frequently during his last years on the experiences they had shared. When Andrew and Hannah went to Michigani it was known as the Michigan Territory. On maps of the day it was frequently referred to as Michillimackinac, the original Indian name. As recently as 1813 the territory had been recovered from the British. Andrew and Hannah were there in 1837 when Michigan was admitted to the Union. They were truly pioneers.
Andrew and Hannah's Michigan was the nation's lumber pile. The people and its settlements followed the saw mills in their endless attack on the virgin forests. Birth and death records did not exist. Things were happening too fast, everything was too new. people were too unsettled to bother with records. The planned only against the deep snow of the coming winter. Strong green tea, heavy Mackinaw clothing, a barrel of flour, a side of beef, a sack of beans, yellow corn meal, and rolled oats were much more important. You would probably be snowed in and if you were not self-sufficient, you would certainly suffer the consequence. Michigan winters were long and cold. Water in the tea kettle would freeze before morning, when the match would be put to cedar shavings under a new pine fire. Every log house and rough lumber shack had its outdoor root cellar, dug well below the four foot frost line, for vegetables and canned goods. Everyone who could walk, went "berrying" when mother gave the word, for come winter, her jars had to be filled.
In his last years (around 1865) Andrew went to Canada to live with Joseph for a time. It is probable that both Andrew and Hannah had previously stayed with other children in Michigan at or near Cooperville, Lumberton, Hungerford or Big Rapids. By 1850, Grand Rapids was joined to Tilsonburg (some 300 miles away) by the Michigan Central railroad. Sherman families visited back and forth. For example, Joseph Henry's daughter, Mary Jane, had visited his brother William's family at Cooperville, Michigan, about 1879 when she was 18. There she met Charlie Mercier. He visited her in Ontario next year at which time they were married (1880). They raised their family of five children in Ontario near Fairground. Also about 1875 William's boy from Cooperville, Michigan, had visited his Uncle Joseph at Fairground, Ontario.
Andrew is said to have died at Tilsonburg, Ontario, Michigan about 1867. The exact date and place of burial has not been found. Hannah had died before him but again the date and place are unknown. She might be buried in the Baptist Cemetary on Lake Road less than a mile east of Hemlock, Ontario. A daughter-in-law, matilda Jane, and five infant great-grandsons of Hannah's are buried there. It is more likely, however, thet Hannah lies buried in a now forgotten grave near one of the Michigan towns mentioned above.
Joseph's grown son, James Milton, lived at Lumberton, Michigan, (1881-1883) then moved back to Fairground, Ontario, and lived there until he finally moved to Oscoda, Michigan (1900). It follows that family data for the period 1827-1900 may exist at either end of this Ontario-Michigan axis, particularly near the towns mentioned or along logical travel routes between them.
http://www.sherman-roots.com/sherman/pioneers/sp'ott.doc
1797. May 2d, Andrew born in CT (mc/mp; not in SD).
1800. About, Andrew moved with parents from CT to OH, probably in the vicinity of Marshfield OH, later moved towards Toledo OH possibly Ottawa Co. (mc/mp).
1808. Nov 18th, Hannah Nelson born, father Rodney Nelson (mc/mp).
1822. About, Andrew married Hannah Nelson in OH (mc/mp).
1825. Andrew and Hannah moved the Michigan Territory, had a farm near Berlin MI in Ottawa Co, about 15 miles northwest of Grand Rapids MI. He built a log house and barn with rail fences. Berlin MI named changed in the 1940s to Marne MI (mc/mp; mc/sp).
1863/64. Possible: A Sherman a harness maker of Lamont MI (MI Gazetteer & Business Directory p374).
1865. Andrew went to Canada to live with his son Joseph
1867. Andrew Sherman died Tilsonburg, Ontario Canada (mc/mp). 7 Children:
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1797 - 1867 (69 years)
