Hi Tim It appears that this explanation appears in more than one history book. It is in "History of Chenango & Madison Counties NY" by James H Smith, 1880 where it states "It was suggested by a Member of Legislature in consideration that the Settlers sang the tune at their Meetings. It also appears in the Gazetteer and Business Directory of Chenago Co. 1869-70 by Child, where it states the following: "From consideration that the Settlers were accustomed to singing the tune of Sherburne at their Meetings" Their were 11 early Settlers around 1792-93 and their names were as follows: Nathaniel Gray, Necombe Raymond, Elijah Gray, Eleazer Lathrop, Josiah Lathrop, James Raymond, Joel Hatch, John Gray Jr., Abraham Raymond, Timothy Hatch, Cornelius Clark. All settlers migrated to Sherburne from Duanesburgh where they were unable to purchase the land they had settled on in Duanesburgh and it indicates they were all originally from CT. In the Gazeteer it states that the 1st Town Meeting was held at the home of Timothy Hatch on the 1st Tuesday of April 1795 (By this time the number of Settlerers had grown to 20). It appears that this Meeting was after the Town was formed from Town of Paris in March 1795. However settlement was prior to that and some settlement was also prior to their Certificate of Purchase from William Smith in April 1793. It is very possible prior Meetings among these Settlers were held during their settling and prior to this April 1795 Meeting. These books do give us 2 secondary sources and it does supply the date the town was named. It's always possible there is a Primary Source existing to confirm this information on the naming of Sherburne. One could check at the Chenango County Court House for old County Meeting Records on the formation of the Town of Sherburne and if not available one could review Chanango County Records on Sherburne at the NYS Archives. Bottom line is that no other explanation appears. Pat R