Recollections of Forty Years in the House, Senate and Cabinet: An Autobiography.Sherman, John
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Recollections of Forty Years in the House, Senate and Cabinet: An Autobiography.
Sherman, John
Sherman, John, 1823-1900; Statesmen -- United States -- Biography; United States -- Politics and government -- 19th century
A sketch of my mother and father will throw some light upon the
lives of their children, but it is a delicate task to write of
one's parents. As I was but six years old when my father died I
have only a dim recollection of him, but materials for an interesting
sketch of his brief but active career are abundant. I know of no
citizen of Ohio of whom more anecdotes have been told, or whose
general and social life has been more highly appreciated, or whose
popularity has been more marked, than that of my father. During
the early years of my life at the bar I met many of the older
lawyers, contemporary with my father, and they all spoke of him in
the highest praise, and generally had some incident to tell of him
that happened in the days of the "Stirrup Court."
Charles Robert Sherman, my father, was born in Norwalk, Connecticut,
September 26, 1788, the eldest son of Judge Taylor Sherman and
Elizabeth Stoddard. He received the best educational advantages
of his day, and, when fully prepared, commenced the study of law
in the associated offices of his father and the Hon. Judge Chapman.
He was admitted to the bar in 1810, and on May 8, of that year,
married Mary Hoyt, also of Norwalk, who had grown up with him from
childhood. He could not go into the northern part where his father's
land lay, as it was then roamed over by hostile Indians, but followed
the usual route to Ohio by Pittsburg and Wheeling to Zanesville.
He located at Lancaster, but returned to Norwalk, Connecticut, in
the fall of 1810. In 1811 he returned to Lancaster, accompanied
by his wife. Ohio was then a frontier state, and in large portions
of its territory an unbroken wilderness. The way to it from their
New England home was far and weary, beset with many hardships and
exposed to great dangers. My father and mother were obliged to
journey the greater part of this distance on horseback, alternately
carrying their infant child upon a pillow before them. I only
advert to these incidents as they illustrate the self-reliant
character of the man, and the brave, confiding trust of his wife.
The little boy they carried upon the pillow, then their only son,
was Charles Taylor Sherman.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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