Hello lal, reading a few of your Sherman posts I realise we must have a fairly close family link. Your Alice Sherman(Sharman) b.1851 is my g.g. grandmother. I have an old tapestry which I believe was worked by her in1864 when she was 13. It reads "Death has been here and borne away A sister from our side Just in the morning As young as we she died Not long ago she did fill her placeAnd stood with us to learn But she has run her mortal race And never can return". Unfortunately the tapestry is in very poor condtion though the text is not something I would want to display, but its lovely to have as a link to the past. I havn't figured out which of her sisters it refers to - any idea? It was found in an attic at Cut Lane,Aughton.
I also think that her daughters Mary and Martha are the 2 "old sisters" whom my dad remembers as having a shop which he used to walk to for ice cream.
I'd love to see that! Have you any photos of it you would be willing to share? Yes, Alice Sherman was my g.g.grandmother's (Ellen Sherman, later Leatherbarrow) sister, and the families must have remained close as I've got memorial cards for both the funerals of Alice and her husband William Taylor. I wouldn't be surprised if they were close though as the families link up twice!
Alice's son James (born 1869) married Ann Mawdsley (born 1872) in 1893, and Ellen's daughter Jane Leatherbarrow (born 1870) married Thomas Mawdsley (born 1868) in 1908. Both families lived in Cut Lane which is literally just in Aughton, across a field from Primrose Hill. In 1911 Alice Sherman and the rest of her family lived on Small Lane South so her tapestry must have been passed on to son James?
I'm not sure which sister it would have been in honour of but my suspect is Elizabeth. I've done quite a lot of work on the Shermans now and she's the one who still foxes me. There's:
William (1831-? but lived to an old age).
Margaret - 1832-3
John 1834-5
Mary 1836-? but lived towards old age).
Jane 1838-44
Martha 1848-1911.
Elizabeth 1843 - ? Had two children, was unmarried as far as I know, children were Thomas (1859) and James (1862).
Ellen (my g.g. grandmother) 1847-1924.
Alice 1851-1918.
If the tapestry was made in 1864 and was in honour of Elizabeth, then perhaps she died after having her second son? Which would make her about 19-21 years of age. There's an 8 year age gap. I'm going to look into this one some more...!
I'm not sure about the ice cream shop, I'm sure my mother said there was one in Halsall...I think a Sherman had the post office too....I'll go and look in a book I've got about Halsall....
