Origin of The Shreve Family There are various and conflicting accounts of the origin of the Shreve family. Luther Allen and Melvin Steadman trace the family origins to a Sir William Shreve. As Steadman reports it: Another group of interest to us is the Shreve family. A 300-year old document tells the story of Sir William Shreve, the first of the family in England. Sir William, a man of noble birth and largely of Greek ancestry, married Lady Elizabeth Fairfax. A grandson, Thomas, left England and settled in Rhode Island, thus founding the family in America (Steadman, 1969). It is not known what the “300-year old document” might be, although, certainly, if it were still extant it would be of extreme interest to Shreve genealogists. In the volume The Landed Gentry, the authors claim that the family line stems from a Lawrence Sheriff, of whom Sir William Shreve is a nephew. William Hornor, author of This Old Monmouth of Ours, also mentions Lawrence Sheriff, claiming him to be an uncle of Sir William Shreve: Sir William Sheriff, the first of the line of whom we have definite record, is believed to have been a nephew of Lawrence Sheriffe, who, in 1567, founded Rugby School, in England (Hornor, 348). Thus, there are two conflicting genealogies. The first genealogy (which will be termed the “Lawrence Sheriff Ancestry”) is detailed in the book The Landed Gentry under the genealogy of Captain Arthur Lee Shreve. The second I will call the “Traditional Ancestry,” and is primarily detailed in Allen and Steadman. One of the purposes of this section of the present volume is to assess the evidence supporting either of these ancestries. It should be understood that both of these lineages are primarily sheer speculation. There is a dearth of primary evidence to support either of them. Following is a summary of the two competing ancestries: I. Lawrence Sheriff Ancestry [TLG] [1]. (SIR) LAWRENCE SHERIFF of Rugby County, Warwick, b. (?), m. ELIZABETH, d. 1567 [2]. SHERIFF, LAWRENCE of Rugby County, Warwick, b. (?), m. ISABEL HOLDEN, d. 1612-13 [3]. WILLIAM SHERIFF, b. 1587, m. ELIZABETH, d. ca 1643 [4]. THOMAS SHERIFF, b. (?), m. MARTHA before 1649 II. Traditional Ancestry [Allen; MS; TOMO] [1]. (SIR) WILLIAM SHREVE, b. 1564 (MS), m. ELIZABETH FAIRFAX [2]. WILLIAM SHREVE, b. ca. 1592, m. OARA OARA [3]. THOMAS SHREVE, b. (?) or SHERIFF, m. MARTHA Note that in the above account William Shreve who married Oara Oara (traditional ancestry) has a birthdate close to that of William Sheriff who married Elizabeth (Lawrence Sherrif ancestry). One possible reconciliation of the ancestries is that the William Shreve who married Oara Oara is in fact the same William who married Elizabeth in the Lawrence Sheriff line. They have similar birth dates in both ancestries (1592 vs.1587), and; further, it may be this same William Shreve, confused with Sir Lawrence, who became identified as Sir William Shreve. It may be that the forces of oral tradition working on family history have collapsed the generations preceding William Shreve, associating the title granted to Lawrence the elder with his grandson (or nephew, depending on whether Sir Lawrence had issue). Such a “foreshortening” of distant events involving the collapsing together of generations often occurs in family history. There is no credible evidence to date that any Shreve or Sherrif other than Sir Lawrence was knighted. This explanation fails to deal with the existence of an individual named Oara Oara, the alleged Dutch wife of William Shreve, son of Sir William in the traditional ancestry. There was a group of colonists who came to America via Holland (the so-called “Leiden Pilgrims”), and William Shreve may somehow have been associated with this group. In Leiden he may have met his Dutch wife. Unfortunately, there is no evidence that William Shreve and Oara Oara were part of this group and their name does not appear in the lists of the Leiden or London Pilgrims. To further confuse the ancestry issue, L.P. Allen makes an interesting observation on page14 of his History and Genealogy of the Shreve Family, shortly after commenting on certain “facts” contained in a letter from a Barclay White: [the letter] requires the removal of the traditional ancestry back one generation and a correction of assumed dates and facts to conform, making William Shreve that married Elizabeth Fairfax born about 1590 and Sir William Shreve who married Oara Oara born about 1560. Even Allen turns the traditional ancestry on its head! It is interesting to note, however that the adjustment Allen makes conforms the traditional ancestry more closely with the Lawrence Sherrif ancestry, giving William Shreve (married Elizabeth) birthdates of 1587 or 1590. Hornor’s identification of the Shreve ancestry with Lawrence Sheriff supports the ancestry given in The Landed Gentry, except that the latter does not mention Oara Oara and says that William who married Elizabeth was born about 1587. There is little to be concluded about these competing ancestries without primary research in early English records. The secrets to the early Shreve origins lie in England. In the present genealogy, we have maintained a description of both ancestries, with appropriate comments about which seems most reasonable given the current state of research. There are numerous problems with both ancestries. The primary issue is lack of documentation. We agree with the philosophy enunciated by fellow Shreve researcher, Sue Gardner Shreve: Without DOCUMENTATION, from reliable sources these pedigrees are worthless. One Shreve pedigree states that Thomas Sheriff, American progenitor of the Sheriff / Sheve family, was descended from Lawrence Sheriff born about 1500 & died 1567. He was an English spice merchant of London, who founded the Rugby School in England. He was granted arms by Oueen Elizabeth in 1559. When I wrote to the Rugby School in Warwickshire, England I was advised that this Lawrence Sheriff died without issue. This letter was signed by R. MacLean, Librarian and Archivist for the Rugby School. Other information states that the Sheriffs were from the Isle of Wight. I wrote to the genealogical society on the Isle of Wight and was advised that there were no records for a Sheriff family on the isle. There is very little documentation (what there is is given here) for early Shreve ancestry. The earliest Shreve ancestor for whom strong primary documentation exists is Thomas Shreve (Sherrif) of Plymouth Colony. Recent facts (February 1999) unearthed by an inquiry made by Betty Jane Kimble, sheds some light on the question of early Shreve origins. In response to an inquiry forwarded to the Fairfax Society of England by John Thomson, the following information was located in Joseph Foster's Pedigrees of the County Families of Yorkshire: Sorry to be the bringer of bad tidings. No “Lady” Elizabeth. Elizabeth Fairfax was baptised at Bolton Percy (no castle) on 11th. December 1607. She was the daughter of Henry Fairfax and Dorothy Aske of Street Houses, in Yorkshire. Siblings included Gabriel (1563), Edward (1565), Francis, Henry, William, Thomas, Mary and Frances. She married, as you say, William Shreve, but unable to confirm the date or the place. The Street House Fairfaxes were related to Lord Fairfax of Virginia. Best wishes, John Thomson, Leeds, England This information, while still from a secondary source, is the most credible information to have emerged in years. It provides more support for at least the latter half of the Lawrence Sherrif genealogy and indicates that baptism and / or marriage records may exist to be uncovered by more thorough research in Yorkshire and Warwickshire. This latest research from Yorkshire would make William some years older than Elizabeth, but not impossibly so, and the birth dates of 1587-1590 are traditional. We really don't know William's exact birth date. If, for the sake of argument, we assume that William was born sometime around 1590, or even later, and that Elizabeth, born in 1607, was married at about the age of 16 - 18, then we get a marriage date around 1623-1625. William Shreve would have been about 30 -35 at the time of marriage. This marriage date requires a re-evaluation of the probable birth date of Thomas Shreve. We've placed this date previously as early as 1611, an extrapolation from his apparent period of indenture. We had assumed Thomas's age at indenture to be in his early twenties. Shreve's indenture papers place his arrival at Plymouth at somewhere between 1633 and 1638. The later 1638 date is documented in the Plymouth Church Records [12:32]: "On the fourth of August 1638 John Barnes sold Robert Bartlett the remaining three years of Thomas Shreve's indenture." Assuming a William-Elizabeth marriage date between 1623-1625 and Thomas's arrival in Plymouth Colony in between 1633 and 1638, we have a Thomas Shreve ranging in age anywhere from 8 to 15 years of age. This scenario remains a possibility, especially assuming an earlier marriage and a later arrival. These dates do explain why Thomas and Martha's first child is born in 1649; his age at marriage might have been anywhere from 24 -26 years. The earlier birth date of 1611 makes him relatively old (38) when the first child is born. Thus, many of the dates fit, if one accepts an early indenture and Atlantic transportation for an adolescent Thomas Shreve. The scenario certainly makes a better fit with known dates, such as the birth of Thomas's first child, and with the birth dates of William Shreve and Elizabeth. The whole scenario also does us the favor of dropping the (probably) mythological Oara Oara as Thomas's mother by supporting the latter half of the Lawrence Sherrif genealogy more closely. An amended ancestry, deduced from the most credible available facts would read as follows: III Amended Ancestry [Allen; MS; TOMO] [1]. WILLIAM SHERIFF, b. 1587-1590, m. ELIZABETH FAIRFAX (b. 1607), d. ca 1643 [2]. THOMAS SHERIFF, b. 1623-1625, m. MARTHA before 1649 Hornor, William S., Polyanthos, Cottonport, New Jersey, 1974, p. 348 [TOMO]; Foster, Joseph, 1864. 3 volumes (Volumes 1-2, West Riding; Volume 3, North and East Riding); Steadman, Melvin Lee, Jr., The Arlington Historical Magazine, Volume 4, October 1969, No. 1, pp. 5-10 [MS]. London House and Maxwell, 1971, p. 2910-2911 [TLG]. I Generation SHERIFF, LAWRENCE Circa 1500 of Rugby County, Warwick, and London 1567 Elizabeth Founder of the Rugby School, 2nd Second Warden of the Grocers Company 1566, sometime connected with the household of Princess Elizabeth, and granted arms by her when Queen 1559, viz., Azure on a fess engrailed between three griffins’ heads erased or, a fleur de lis of the first enclosed by two roses gules, which are now the arms of Rugby School. He died 1567 leaving issue by Elizabeth, his wife, a son. There is is some question of Lawrence Sherrif's position in our Ancestry. Sue Gardner Shreve, a long-time Shreve researcher, wrote a letter of inquiry to R. MacLean, Librarian and Archivist of the Rugby School in Warwickshire, England some years back. MacLean returned the information that (this) Lawrence Sheriff had died without issue. This information, of course, contradicts the information given in The Landed Gentry. A larger representation of the coat of arms in black and white: Origins-Shreve-Arms.jpg Lawrence Sheriff and the History of Rugby Town Origins-Lawrence-Sheriff-Rugby-History.xml London House and Maxwell, 1971, p. 2910-2911. SHERIFF, ( ) ELIZABETH Circa 1500 of Rugby County, Warwick, and London After 1567 Lawrence Sheriff London House and Maxwell, 1971, p. 2910-2911. II Generation SHERIFF, LAWRENCE Circa 1550 of Rugby, County Warwick, and London 1612-1613 Isabel Holden London House and Maxwell, 1971, p. 2910-2911. SHERIFF, (HOLDEN) ISABEL Circa 1550 of Cheston Court, County Derby ca. 1612-1613 Isabel was the daughter of Thomas Holden of Cheston Court, County Derby London House and Maxwell, 1971, p. 2910-2911. III Generation SHREVE, (SIR) WILLIAM Circa 1587 in England (TLG), 1564 (MS) 1643 (TLG) Lady Elizabeth Fairfax [MS]; or Elizabeth (_____) [TLG] According to Steadman, the Shreve family descends from: Sir William Shreve (born 1564) and wife Lady Elizabeth Fairfax. Lady Elizabeth (Fairfax) Shreve (of Bolton Castle, Percy, England) was related to Lord Fairfax of Virginia. William Shreve, son of Sir William and Lady Elizabeth (Fairfax) Shreve, was born in the Isle of Wight, England. If the Lawrence Sheriff Genealogy represents the true line of descent, then the title of “Sir” probably has been ascribed improperly to the grandson of Sir Lawrence. According to this ancestry William Sheriff left “issue by Elizabeth, his wife, a son” named Thomas. Allen, Luther P., p. 11-14; Foster, Joseph, London: J. Foster, 1864. 3 volumes (Volumes 1-2, West Riding; Volume 3, North and East Riding); Steadman, Melvin Lee, Jr., Volume 4, October 1969, No. 1, pp. 5-10. London House and Maxwell, 1971, p. 2910-2911. SHREVE, ELIZABETH (FAIRFAX) possibly "LADY" ELIZABETH FAIRFAX Circa 1560-1570 England Sir William Shreve Hornor states: The present writer believes the name Fairfax to be derived from Ffairfach, a place in Wales, and not, as is generally supposed, from the Anglo-Saxon word meaning Fair-hair (TOMO, 348). Recent research unearthed by an inquiry made by shreve list member Betty Jane Kimble sheds some light on the question of William Shreve and Elizabeth Fairfax. In response to an inquiry forwarded to the Fairfax Society of England by John Thomson, the following information was located in Joseph Foster's Pedigrees of the County families of Yorkshire: Sorry to be the bringer of bad tidings. No “Lady” Elizabeth. Elizabeth Fairfax was baptised at Bolton Percy ( no castle) on 11th. December 1607. She was the daughter of Henry Fairfax and Dorothy Aske of Street Houses, in Yorkshire. Siblings included Gabriel (1563), Edward (1565), Francis, Henry, William, Thomas, Mary and Frances. She married, as you say, William Shreve, but unable to confirm the date or the place. The Street House Fairfaxes were related to Lord Fairfax of Virginia. Best wishes, John Thomson, Leeds, England Allen, Luther P., p. 11-14; Foster, Joseph, London: J. Foster, 1864. 3 volumes (Volumes 1-2, West Riding; Volume 3, North and East Riding); Hornor, William S., Polyanthos, Cottonport, New Jersey, 1974, p. 348. IV Generation SHREVE, WILLIAM Circa 1592 in England Oara Oara This generation is missing from the Lawrence Sheriff genealogy. It is with this William Shreve, alleged son of Sir William Shreve, and his supposed wife Oara Oara, that the Lawrence Sheriff genealogy (where the present William and his wife are missing) diverges from that espoused by Steadman and Allen. Certain sources also claim that William Shreve and his wife Oara Oars were the first Shreves to come to America. There is little or no independent evidence of this assertion. Most evidence indicates that William’s son Thomas Shreve (Sheriff) was the first Shreve to come to the United States.Hornor reports: According to the family records of Miss Kate M. Shreve, of Bordentown, “William Sheriff, or Shreve, married the daughter of a wealthy nobleman of Amsterdam Holland. Her name is given as Oara Oara. Traditionally, to escape the power of an unreconcilable parent, they sought refuge in America.” Allen, Luther P., p. 11-14; Hornor, William S., Polyanthos, Cottonport, New Jersey, 1974, p. 348. SHREVE, OARA OARA Circa 1594 in Amsterdam, Holland William Shreve The first waves of immigrants into Plymouth were so-called “Pilgrim” groups that had had emigrated from both London and Leiden, Holland. This latter group of religious dissenters moved from England to Holland in 1607 where they were given more religious freedom than in England. They remained there about 11 or 12 years before one group of them set sail for Plymouth on a ship called the Mayflower. The majority of this religious community remained behind in Leiden, but some followed the Mayflower on other ships later. It is possible that William Shreve and Oara Oara might have met during the Leiden years. The “Leiden Theory” might be an explanation about where Oara Oara, who is in almost all the traditional accounts held to have been of Dutch extraction, might have come into the Shreve story. The theory explains the “Dutch” connection in the traditional ancestry, a connection which has been the most inexplicable part of that lineage. An examination of existing Leiden Pilgrim records and passenger lists of the early ships, however, shows no evidence of a William Shreve and Oara Oara. Allen, Luther P., p. 11-14; Mythical Shreve Brothers In the Lawrence Sheriff ancestry, Thomas Shreve is the only (named) son of William Shreve who married Elizabeth (III). In the traditional ancestry, he is the son of William Shreve married Oara Oara (IV). There has been a persistent (but unproven) family tale that has William (married Oara Oara) as the first Shreve in America, and that he had three sons, John, Caleb and William. This tale emerges in Shreve family history as early as 1895, when a Samuel H. Shreve of New York wrote in a letter to L. P. Allen that William Shreve married Oara Oara and: After their marriage, the story of which is quite romantic, they came to Portsmouth, R. I. They had positively two sons, Caleb and John, and probably a third, William, who left no descendants (Allen, p. 8). Recently this tale has been replicated in World Family Trees [4: 3265] with the note that William was a probable brother of Caleb and John and apparently left no descendants. The source is ascribed to Allen. Allen, however, makes no mention of a William of this generation except in the context of the Samuel Shreve letter (which Allen rejects a few pages later as an interesting family history). This tale is part of the “traditional ancestry” of the Shreves and should be disinguished from an ancestry based on detailed and painstaking research. As far as we know there are only the two Williams of the traditional ancestry, born (if you accept the traditional genealogy) about 1560 and 1592 respectively. This third and younger “William” born circa 1620 is apparently a family fable. Thomas may have had brothers or sisters, but no mention of them appears in history; nor did Thomas, apparently, name any of his eight children William. Finally, this William could not have been the father of Thomas, as Thomas was at least eighteen to twenty-four years old, if not older, in 1635, when he was apparently indentured. Thus, we list these individuals here as “possible” brothers of Thomas, but more likely they are “figments” of the traditional ancestry whose names are partially derived by foreshortening from individuals born a full generation later, e.g., Thomas Sheriff’s second and third sons, John and Caleb. SHREVE, CALEB Circa 1618 in England See above. Allen, Luther P., p. 8; SHREVE, JOHN Circa 1620 in England See above. Allen, Luther P., p. 8; SHREVE, WILLIAM Circa 1618 in England See above. Allen, Luther P., p. 8;