Both the Shermans and Stoddards were strict Presbyterians, and of Mrs. Taylor Sherman (Elizabeth Stoddard) it is related that she could never be induced to enter a church of any other denomination. "She always made us stand around," says one of her grand-children. "Her will was law. I could coax mother to let me do as I pleased, but never grandmother." Judge Taylor Sherman, as already recorded, went to Ohio as a commissioner to survey and apportion the Fire Lands. The State of Connecticut ceded to the National Government in 1786 her claim to a part of the great western domain, but reserved a considerable district in what is now northern Ohio, which is even still known as the "Western Reserve." Half a million acres of this, known as the Fire Lands, and comprising the present counties of Huron and Erie, were to be divided among the people of Norwich, Norwalk, New London and other Connecticut towns whose houses had been burned by Generals Arnold, Tryon and other British raiders, to indemnify them for their losses. Judge Taylor Sherman received two sections of land in Ohio to pay him for his work as commissioner, and was much impressed by that country's prospects of future greatness. He, however, returned to Norwalk, where he died in 1815; after which the remainder of his family migrated to Ohio. His wife and daughter went to Mansfield, where the latter married Judge Parker; one of his sons, Daniel, settled at Monroeville as a farmer; and of the other son, Charles R. Sherman, some more extended notice is necessary. Charles R. Sherman was born in 1790, and during his early life lived in Norwalk, Conn., of which place he was a conspicuous citizen. He was married to Mary Hoyt, a member of a numerous and influential family, who were among the first settlers of Norwalk. Mr. Sherman was admitted to the bar in 1810, and during the administration of President Monroe was appointed Collector of Internal Revenue. While he held this office two of his deputies defaulted for large amounts, and as he was responsible for them, almost his entire fortune was taken to make good the loss. From this financial embarrassment he never fully recovered; but the incident had a most important effect upon the future history of the family, and indeed it is to this turn in affairs, apparently so disastrous, that the subsequent prosperity and greatness of the Shermans may be directly traced.