Note: The birth year of 1642 is given by both Austin in the Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island (1887) and by Anderson in the Great Migration Begins (1995). Any more specific date of birth has not been found in documented records.

Samson was the son of immigrant Philip Sherman and Sarah Odding of Portsmouth, Rhode Island. He was married in Portsmouth 4 March 1674/5 to Isabel Tripp, the daughter of John Tripp and Mary Paine of Portsmouth. Samson's will was dated 5 Nov 1716, and proved at Portsmouth 14 July 1718, naming sons Philip, Abiel, and Job, and daughters Sarah Chase, Alice Tibbits, and Isabel Baker. Of Samson's surviving sons, Philip and Job remained in Portsmouth, RI, while Abiel moved across the Narragansett Bay to S. Kingstown. All three of his daughters married men from Bristol County, Mass. Children, all b. Portsmouth, RI:

* Philip, b. 16 Jan 1676, m. (1) 12 April 1699 Mary Anthony, b. Portsmouth 2 Jan 1679/80, d. there 21 July 1716, the daughter of Abraham-3 Anthony (John-2-1) and Alice Wodell/Wardwell. Philip m. (2) 11 March 1716/7 the Quaker widow Hannah (Wilcox) Clark. This Hannah may have been the daughter of Stephen Wilcox and Hannah Hazard, and the widow of Samuel Clarke, the son of Jeremiah Clarke and Ann Audley.

* Sarah, b. 24 Sep 1677, d. Swansea, Mass. 19 Sep 1748 per online accounts (I find no record), m. (1) Portsmouth, RI 28 Feb 1693/4 Joseph Chase, b. Yarmouth, Mass. c. 1673, d. Nov or Dec 1724, the son of William Chase (and Abigail Hale?). Sarah and Joseph had 14 children together, born 1695 to c. 1718. She m. (2) Freetown, Mass. 3 Oct 1737, as his third wife, John Read, b. c. 1668, d. c. 1751, the son of John Read and Hannah Peabody. The will of Joseph Chase was dated 8 Nov 1724, and his inventory was dated 22 Dec 1724, so he died between those two dates. His will was probated a month after the inventory, on 19 Jan 1724/5. John Read married first Mary Pearce, with whom he had twelve children, and married second Susanna Brownell. His will, dated 25 June 1750, was probated 2 July 1751. He was 82 when he died.

* Alice, b. 12 Jan 1679/80, d. c. 1724, m. (1) Portsmouth, RI 19 Oct 1701 Isaac Howland, b. Freetown, Mass. c. 1682, d. Portsmouth, RI 11 Jan 1705 (internet record), the son of Samuel Howland and Mary Sampson. Alice m. (2), by about 1719, as his second of three wives, George Tibbitts, b. c. 1676, d. 1746, the son of Henry Tibbitts and Sarah Stanton. George had married (1) Mary _______. Alice was living on 15 Jun 1723 when she and her husband George Tibbitts gave a receipt to her brother Job Sherman for a legacy from the estate of her father, Samson Sherman, deceased. Alice had died by 30 Dec 1725 when her husband married his third wife, Sarah Bliven, daughter of John Bliven. Alice appears to have had two children with her first husband: Job and Mary Howland, and then she had a daughter Alice Tibbitts, b. 27 July 1720, with her second husband.

* Samson, b. 28 Jan 1682, probably d. young

* Abiel, b. 15 Oct 1684, m. 20 Nov 1712 Dorcas Gardner

* Isabel, b. 1686, , d. Portsmouth 1742 (online account), and m. (Dighton, Mass. or Newport, RI 20 April 1711--online account only) Joseph Baker, b. Yarmouth, Mass. 1679 (online account), d. Swansea, Mass. 21 Oct 1729 (online), the son of Daniel Baker and Elizabeth Chase. Isabel and Joseph had six to eight children, born 1713 to 1725.

* Job, b. 8 Nov 1687, d. Portsmouth, RI 16 Nov 1747, and m. (1) 23 Dec 1714 Bridget Gardner, b. say 1690, d. c. 1731, the daughter of Benoni Gardner and Mary (Eldred?). Job m. (2) at the Newport Friends Meeting 1 June 1732 Amy Spencer, b. E. Greenwich, RI 14 March 1697/8, the daughter of Benjamin and Martha Spencer. Job had eight children with his first wife, born 1715-1730, and had seven more with second wife, born 1734-1744.

The burial location for Samson has not been determined, but he was likely a Quaker like his father, and may have been buried with other Quakers.