Eleanor Sherwood was the second daughter and fourth of eight children born to Daniel Sherwood III (1749-1838) and his first wife Frances Linthicum (1749-1806). She was probably born at either Auctill or Sherwood Manor, plantations in Talbot Co., Maryland belonging to her father. Her parents moved from Maryland to NC around 1778 or 1779, probably to avoid taking the oath of allegiance that the new State of Maryland began requiring at that time, which many early Methodists objected to on religious grounds. Daniel and Frances were close friends of Bishop Francis Asbury, known as "the father of the Methodist Church in America," and had been converted to Methodism by him.

The Sherwood settled at Pleasant Garden, Guilford County, NC. I am told that in his diaries, Bishop Asbury mentions visiting them on his preaching tours of the South. They were founding members of the Pleasant Garden Methodist Church, where Frances Linthicum Sherwood is buried. After her death, Daniel married Rachel Layton and had three more daughters. He died at the age of 90, and his burial place is unknown. (If he was buried at Pleasant Garden, the grave is not marked.)

Sometime in the early 1790s, Eleanor married Jeremiah Field (c.1764-1830) and they had eleven children: Martha "Patsy" Field (c.1795-1863, m. Miles McDaniel, went to Indiana), Rev. Benton Field (1797-1871, m. three times, lived in Rockingham Co., NC, has entry on Find A Grave), Frances Field (m. Eli Staley in 1828, no further info.), Rebecca Field (1805-1844, m. John Tyler), Elswick Sherwood Field (1808-1867, m. Guilianna Lindsay, has entry on Find A Grave), Hugh Henry Field (c. 1811-aft. 1880, went to Mississippi, then California, md. 3 times), Mary Ethel Field (1813-1908, m. Kindred Craven, see her entry), Eleanor Field (1815-1899, m. David Teague, see entry), Jeremiah Field (c. 1818-aft. 1880, went to Mississippi), Tabitha Field (c.1819-aft. 1880, m. William Taylor, went to Indiana) and William Field (c.1820-1852, m. Cleopatra Henley).

In his autobiography, Rev. R. Brantley York (1805-1891) mentions that, when he began his preaching career in the Spring of 1832, he preached alternate Sundays at Bethlehem Church, and conducted Sunday evening services at the home of "Widow Field." I presume this is a reference to Eleanor, whose younger half sister, Frances Sherwood (c.1809-1834), was married to Brantley York. It may well have been at the home of Widow Field where a group of Methodists and a group of Quakers got together, led by Rev. York, to found a school, Union Institute, in 1838. It was later renamed Trinity College, and is now called Duke University.