Читать книгу History of Westchester County, New York, Volume 3 - Группа авторов - Страница 16

The ancestry of the Sherman family, of which our subject is a representative, can be traced back to William Sherman, bailiff of Debenham Stoneham, in Suffolk, England. He flourished about 1410, and was the father of John Sherman, of Suffolk, whose son, Thomas Sherman, of Dedham, England, died in 1564. The last named was the father of Henry Sherman, also of Dedham. His wife was Agnes Sherman, and his will was dated 1589. Edward Sherman, the son of Henry and Agnes Sherman, married Ann Clerc, made his home in Dedham, England, and left a will dated 1598. His son, John Sherman, was the next in the line of direct descent to our subject, and his will bore date 1654 or 1655. The last named was the father of Captain John Sherman, the founder of the family in America. He was born in Dedham, England, in 1613, and came to America in 1634, locating in Watertown, Massachusetts. His daughter was Martha Palmer, daughter of William Palmer, and their son John was killed in the Narragansett Indian fight. It was Edward Sherman, of Dedham, England, an uncle of Captain John Sherman, from whom descended General William T. Sherman and Senator John Sherman, of Ohio. Joseph Sherman, a son of Captain John Sherman, married Elizabeth Winship, daughter of Lieutenant Edward H. and Elizabeth Winship, of Cambridge, on November 18, 1673, and of this union was born William Sherman, of Charlestown, Massachusetts, who married Mehitable Wellington.

They became the parents of Roger Sherman, the great-grandfather of our subject, one of the most distinguished patriots who promoted the cause of liberty and freedom in that period which gave birth to the republic. He was married May 12, 1763, to Rebecca Prescott, daughter of Benjamin and Rebecca (Minot) Prescott, of Danvers, Connecticut. He was a member of the continental congress in 1774, was one of the signers of the address to the king in that year, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and one of the committee who drafted that document. He was also one of the signers of the articles of confederation and of the constitution of the United States. He had the distinction of being the only person who signed all four of these great state papers in the early history of the country; in fact no other signed three of them. From 1791 up to the time of his death he was a member of the United States senate, and was also a judge of the supreme court of Connecticut. He had graduated in Yale College with the degree of Master of Arts, and was a most scholarly and diplomatic statesman. He left the impress of his strong individuality upon the new republic and took a leading part in formulating its policy. He was the grandfather of three United States senators, his daughter Rebecca being the mother of Roger Sherman Baldwin, who was governor of Connecticut and a member of the United States senate; Mehitable, another daughter, was the mother of William M. Evarts, a member of the senate; and Sarah, the third daughter, was the mother of Frisbie Hoar, United States senator, and the late E. Rockwood Hoar, judge of the supreme court of Massachusetts. Roger Minot Sherman, the eminent jurist of Fairfield, Connecticut, was also a relative of the same family.

Roger Sherman, the grandfather of our subject, was likewise a native of New Haven, Connecticut, and there spent his entire life. He was a member of the firm of Prescott & Sherman, prominent merchants, who were extensively engaged in trading with the West Indies. He died at an advanced age. In 1801 he married Susanna Staples, who was born August 1, 1778, and died November 22, 1855. She was a sister of the great lawyer, Seth P. Staples, and the granddaughter of Hannah Standish, whose grandfather was Miles Standish, one of the colonial governors of Massachusetts.

The father of our subject, Edward Standish Sherman, was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and there spent his early life. In his younger manhood he began dealing in iron and other metals. He removed to Fairfield, Connecticut, where he made his home the greater part of the time until his death, which occurred in 1882. He was quite successful in his business dealings, but at the time of the civil war met with heavy losses. In politics he was a Republican, and was one of the charter members of the Union League Club, of New York city. He married Catharine Augusta Townsend, of Boston, a daughter of Dr. Solomon David and Catharine (Davis) Townsend. Her father was an eminent surgeon of Boston, and in his honor the Townsend ward in the Massachusetts General Hospital was named. Mrs. Sherman's grandparents were Dr. David and Elizabeth (Davis) Townsend, and the former was a son of Shippie Townsend and a grandson of David Townsend. Mrs. Sherman is still living, at the advanced age of seventy-three years, and is a member of the Episcopal church. In their family were eleven children, ten of whom are still living.

Frederick William Sherman, the honored representative of the family of Rye, New York, was born at No. 42 East Thirty-first street, New York city, February 10, 1862, and spent his childhood days in Fairfield, Connecticut, until about twelve or fourteen years of age, when he accompanied his parents on their removal to Rye, New York. He was educated in the public schools and Park Institute of Rye, and, having determined to make the practice of law his life work, completed a course of study by his graduation in the Columbia Law School of New York, in 1883. He then began the practice of his profession in New York, where he remained for four or five years, after which he opened an office in Port Chester, near Rye, where he has since made his home in a sightly residence recently built by him and overlooking Long Island sound. He practiced in Port Chester, in White Plains and in Rye, and now has a distinctively representative clientage. Since his arrival in the county he has been connected with much of the important litigation heard in the courts, and is attorney for the local street railroad company and other local corporations. To an understanding of uncommon acuteness and vigor, he added a thorough and conscientious preparatory training. His preparation of cases is exhaustive; he seems almost intuitively to grasp the strong points of law and fact; his arguments are forcible and his logic convincing, while his familiarity with the facts, the law and with precedents is comprehensive and accurate.

Mr. Sherman was united in marriage to Miss Grace Blanchard, a daughter of Anthony Blanchard, ex-surrogate of Albany county and district attorney for Washington county. New York. Mr. Sherman is a member of the Episcopal church, and in politics is a Republican. In the fall of -1892 he was the candidate for county attorney, but the entire ticket was defeated at that election. In his profession he has attained a prominent position, and, being yet a young man, still greater successes are probably in store for him. His life has always been upright and honorable, in harmony with the untarnished record of the prominent family of which he is a representative.