in the story) & was cast out of the church." Scores of the followers of Wheelwright and Hutchinson were ordered out of the Massachusetts colony, but before leaving, a group of them, including Sherman, signed what is sometimes called the Portsmouth Compact, establishing a non-sectarian civil government upon the universal consent of the inhabitants, with a Christian focus. Planning initially to settle in New Netherland, the group was persuaded by Roger Williams to purchase some land of the Indians on the Narragansett Bay. They settled on the north east end of Aquidneck Island, and established a settlement they called Pocasset, but in 1639 changed the name to Portsmouth. William Coddington was elected the first judge (governor) of the settlement. Sherman was in Portsmouth by May 1638 when he was present at a general meeting, and the following year, he was selected as Secretary. In 1640, he and four others were chosen to lay out lands within the town, and the following year, he was made a freeman. From 1648 to 1651, he was the General Recorder for the town, and from 1649 to 1656, he was the town clerk. He sat on the Portsmouth town council for many years from 1649 to 1657, and again in the early 1670s, but appears to have stayed out of public service between 1657 and 1665. From 1665 to 1667, he once again served in a civil capacity when he was elected as a Deputy from Portsmouth. Though Sherman was never the governor or deputy governor of the colony, that he was highly esteemed by his fellow citizens was made very clear in 1676, during the difficult times of King Philip's War. On 4 April in that year, it was voted by the General Assembly that "in these troublesome times and straits in this Colony, this Assembly desiring to have the advice and concurrence of the most judicious inhabitants, if it may be had for the good of the whole, do desire at their next sitting the company and counsel of...Philip Shearman.." and 15 others, including several former governors and deputy governors such as Benedict Arnold, Gregory Dexter, and James Barker. Sherman wrote his will on 30 July 1681, and it was proved on 22 March 1687. He had become a member of the Religious Society of Friends, better known as Quakers. His house, originally built in 1670, still stands in Portsmouth as a