My famous progenitor

Originally posted HERE on Sunday, December 3, 2006

Anyone reading this will probably think I've abandoned this journal. Sorry for the long break!

I wanted to share some pictures my husband, John, took for me last summer when he was doing some contract work in Connecticut. One evening, at my request, he drove to Portsmouth, RI, to look for a plaque in Founders Brook Park that mentions my ancestor Philip Sherman, who was a signer of the Portsmouth Compact. If you are interested in more information, please visit the Wikipedia entry here.

John had a difficult time finding the actual park, but was lucky to run into a man, Michael Ford, who has made himself the unofficial caretaker and gardener of Founders Brook Park. He was able to point John in the right direction and gave him more information about the two women who are prominently honored with plaques in the park, Anne Hutchinson and Mary Dyer. The night before these pictures were taken, there had been a huge storm which resulted in a broken tree across the path to the plaque, which you'll see in the photos. John had quite an adventure, and I hope to be able to visit the park myself someday!

The plaque on the stone reads:

1638-1936

Erected to honor the memory and perpetuate the spirit and the ideals of the founders of the first government in the world to allow and to insure to its citizens civil and religious liberty. Established on this site in the year 1638

THE PORTSMOUTH COMPACT

We whose names are underwritten do hereby solemnly in the presence of Jehovah incorporate ourselves into a Bodie Politick and as He shall help, will submit our persons, lives and estates unto our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, and to all those perfect and most absolute laws of His given in His Holy Word of truth, to be guided and judged thereby.

William Coddington
John Clarke
William Hutchinson, Jr. [husband of Anne Hutchinson]
John Coggeshall
William Aspinwall
Samuel Wilbore
John Porter
John Sanford
Edward Hutchinson, Jr. Esq.
Thomas Savage
William Dyre [Dyer, husband of Mary Dyer ]
William Freeborne
Phillip Shearman [ Philip Sherman ]
John Walker
Richard Carder
William Baulston
Edward Hutchinson, Sr.
Henry Bull
Randall Holden
Thomas Clark
John Johnson
William Hall
John Brightman Esq.

I hope you will take the time to read the external links I have provided here!

PS on 6/01/08...I also made a post about my feelings when I first found out about another person you might recognize who also has Philip Sherman as an ancestor. I no longer write in that blog, but you can still read the entry I made on Nov 30, 2004, which I titled "Family Disgrace?"

PPS on 11/28/08...Since AOL has closed their journals, I have recreated "Family Disgrace?" in this blog as "Repost from old Blog".