March 20, 2025
Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues her series on Mayflower descendants, focusing on the Doty and O’Brien family lines. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.
Recently I posted a story on Revolutionary hero Captain Jeremiah O’Brien (1739-1818), famed for carrying out the first naval victory of the American Revolutionary War when he captured a British ship off the coast of Machias, Maine, on 12 June 1775.
In 1937 sculptor John Paramino created a plaque for the Massachusetts State House commemorating O’Brien’s distinguished services. It is located on the staircase next to the Hall of Flags. Below are photos of this plaque (courtesy of Shawn Moran of Boston), and a pendant depicting Captain O’Brien (courtesy of Wikimedia Commons).
Captain O’Brien had one daughter born out of wedlock with his housekeeper Thankful Whitney (1780-1864), daughter of Nathan and Patience (Bernard) Whitney. That daughter was Lydia Whitney O’Brien (1804-1888), born in Machias, Maine.
Lydia married Aaron Simmons Sherman (1798-1881) of Marshfield, Massachusetts, a direct descendant of Mayflower passengers Edward Doty, Myles Standish, John Alden and Priscilla Mullins.
The couple were wed in Machias, Maine, on 10 March 1823, and subsequently had descendants. More on their offshoots coming soon.
Another photo card image of Aaron Simmons Sherman is found in the research papers of Leonard F. Tibbetts.
Mr. Sherman was a drummer at age 15 in the War of 1812. Later, his career as a designer and master carpenter earned him great renown.
He is best known for his Ruggles House in Columbia Falls, Maine. Source: Early Pleasant River Families of Washington County, Maine.
Below is genealogy from “Mayflower Families through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims Who Landed at Plymouth, Mass., December 1620,” published by the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1975-2015, which documents the descendants of the Pilgrims. Also known as the “Silver Books,” this series provides separate volumes for each of these founding families.
Lineage
- Edward Doty and Faith Clarke (came on the ship Francis in April 1634 with her father Thurston Clarke
- Desire Doty and William Sherman
- Ebenezer Sherman and Margret Decrow (also known as D’Esqurureaux)
- Elisha Sherman and Lydia Walker
- Ebenezer Sherman and Mary Simmons, daughter of Aaron and Sarah (Holmes) Simmons
- Aaron Sherman and Lydia Mitchell
- Aaron Simmons Sherman
One important detail in this family tree is the three marriages of Desire Doty, daughter of Mayflower passenger Edward Doty, and how they connect Mr. Sherman’s ancestors.
Desire Doty was born 19 April 1645 in Plymouth, and married first on Christmas 1667 to William Sherman, son of William and Prudence (Hill) Sherman. Their son Ebenezer Sherman married Margret Decrow.
On 24 November 1681, Desire Doty married 2nd Israel Holmes. Their son John Holmes had a daughter, Sarah Holmes, who married Aaron Simmons, son of Benjamin and Pricilla (Delano) Simmons.
Priscilla Delano is the daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (Standish) Delano; granddaughter of Alexander and Sarah (Alden) Standish; and great granddaughter of Myles Standish, John Alden and Priscilla Mullins.
Priscilla Delano’s husband Aaron Simmons is the son of John and Mercy (Pabodie/Peabody) Simmons; grandson of William and Elizabeth (Alden) Pabodie; and great grandson of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins.
On 8 June 1686, Desire Doty married 3rd Alexander Standish, who was previously married to Sarah Alden.
Edward Doty
Edward Doty was the fourth signer of the Mayflower Compact, who came on the Mayflower as a servant indentured to Stephen Hopkins.
The inscription reads:
To the Glory of God and in loving memory of Edward Doty, Mayflower Pilgrim born in England, place and date unknown. Indentured servant to Mayflower Pilgrim Stephan Hopkins and signer of the Mayflower Compact, November 1620. Worked off indenture, became a free man, married Faith Clark[e], January 9, 1635 and lived at “High Cliffe,” Plymouth. Father of nine children, died at Plymouth, August 23, 1655. Dedicated by the Pilgrim Edward Doty Society September 9, 2017.
The second stone lists eight of his nine children, and this article focuses on his daughter Desire Doty (1645-1731).
In the Pilgrim social order, Doty was more a “sinner” than “saint,” and his many transgressions are quite colorful.
Here is one drama that will forever make Edard Doty infamous in the annals. Below is the skinny from the Daily National Intelligencer on what was known as the first duel in America, Doty being one of the duelers.
This article reports:
The last number in the Law Reporter gives some amusing facts illustrating the modus operandi of jurisprudence in the days of our fathers. We select the following: “The second offense committed in the Plymouth Colony was, as Governor [William] Bradford informs us, ‘the first duel fought in New England, upon a challenge at single combat with sword and dagger, between Edward Doty and Edward Leister, servants of Mr. [Stephen] Hopkins. Both being wounded, the one in the hand, the other in the thigh, they are adjudged by the whole company to have their head and feet tied together, and so to lie twenty-four hours, without meat or drink.’”
According to the records, the punishment only lasted an hour, and the hot heads were released by the governor.
Among those Mayflower antiquarians who have written on Plymouth Colony scandal is Caleb Johnson, and Doty was one of his forbearers. Stay tuned for more…
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Note on the header image: “Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor,” by William Halsall, 1882. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
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