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- December 2000
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Published in SOY Newsletter, December 2000
by Al Beasley
Early in 1999 I met Jack Berl, a woodworker and carpenter for Delaware’s tall ship - the Kalmar Nyckel. It is a replica, constructed using the original methods, of a ship built by the Dutch around 1625 and purchased by two Swedish towns, one of which was Kalmar.
The ship brought the first Swedish group to Delaware in 1638. They ran into trouble in the North Sea and while having repairs done they picked up six Dutch passengers.
Jack knew I was retired and asked if I would help give tours on the ship for six weeks or so during the summer. I volunteered because I liked the history and the magnificent carvings on the ship. (I carve full sized carousel horses.) This summer (2000) I went through the sail training class while the ship was here in southern Delaware. It was difficult, especially for an old Air Force man who had never sailed. It was well worth the effort.
Sailing on this ship is an experience that almost goes beyond description. One of the original six Dutch passengers was a young 15-yr-old named Gerrit HENDRICKSEN that ended up in Rockland Co., New York. He was a flax farmer and the surname became BLAUVELT or "blue fields".
In May 1999 I found that my great-great Uncle Samuel Webster BEASLEY married Sarah BLAUVELT a descendant of Gerrit. Needless to say, that knowledge makes being a crewmember of this ship a little more unique for me.
You can see why I got involved with it as a tour guide last year and then went through the training this year. It received Coast Guard certification this past winter so it can take passengers out. I went out one Friday evening and just as we cut the engines and set sail, about 35 dolphin started to play around the ship. We tacked to come back in and watched a fireball sunset off the starboard side. Out of a 3.5 hour trip I only physically worked about an 1.5 hours and got to enjoy it the rest of the time.
Reprinted by permission of Al Beasley. All Rights Reserved. December, 2000
====================
[Ed. note: Al's Mom was Thelma Mae SHERMAN, and his Dad was
the Reverend
(Air Force Major) BEASLEY, Chaplain to the Flying Tigers (see
SOYNL-Jul99,
pg. 32). Philip1 (immigrant), Peleg2,
Samuel3,
Samuel4, Samuel5, Reuben6,
Bernea7,
Reuben8, Thelma9. A visit
to the web site is well
worth a few minutes. As a "retired" person, I can easily understand why
Al donates his time to this.]
Nathan Gould SHERMAN (1810-1896) - obituary
Published in SOY Newsletter, December 2000
from "The Firelands Pioneer"
(printed by the Firelands Historical Society, Norwalk, Ohio, October
1897)
Nathan Gould Sherman died November 8, 1896, at his home in Norwalk, Ohio, in the 87th year of his age. Mr. Sherman was one of the very oldest residents of the Firelands. He was born in Woodbury, Litchfield county, Conn., August 28, 1810.
He came overland with his parents at the age of 12 from New England to the new home in Wakeman, Huron county, Ohio, where Justin, the father of N. G. Sherman lived until his death in 1865.
He was a merchant farmer and has left us some interesting notes in his journal, viz: "I started from South Britain, Conn., August 22, 1822, and arrived in Wakeman, September 14, 1822." "Fruit trees set out April 15, 1823." "Barn raised May 24, 1823." "Saw mill raised on Chappelle creek, 1824." "Cider mill raised September 11, 1824." "House raised May 9, 1827, abandoning log house." "Store raised on Brandy creek September 10, 1842."
Mr. N. G. Sherman was very early identified with one of Norwalk's institutions, for we find in a catalogue of the Norwalk academy for 1829 that his name appears as an assistant under Mr. John Kennan, principal. In 1832 he was a young merchant in the flourishing village of Vermillion, which place was laid out by him and Ebenezer Warner.
About this time Jessup W. Scott was publishing at Florence, Erie county, a semi-weekly paper called "The Ohio and Michigan Register and Emmigrant's Guide," and Mr. Sherman undertook on foot a trip to Connecticut in the interests of Mr. Scott's paper. His route passed through Buffalo and Utica and his journal contains an exceedingly interesting account of the journey, during which he secured 252 subscribers to the Register and Guide.
In 1835 he was in the mercantile business in Florence with his father under the name J. Sherman & Son. A little later the firm became Sherman & Pierce, his father having retired from the firm.
It was about this time that the Ohio railroad company was organized and the road was nearly finished from Vermillion to Ashland through Florence and Wakeman. From 1855 to 1865 he moved to Norwalk, where he has since resided.
His first vote was for Henry Clay in 1832 and he has voted for every Whig and Republican presidential candidate since. On the 9th of November, 1896, he wrote to Governor McKinley, "I now have one vote in reserve for you." Great was his disappointment when he realized he could not cast it, but he ordered the flag out on "Flag Day" and lived to hear of the Republican victory.
Mr. Sherman was one of the early directors of the Wheeling and Lake Erie railway and to him belongs much of the credit for the construction of the same. For a number of years he was also director and acting president of the First National Bank.
By his first wife, Elizabeth Otis, of Berlin, who died in 1881, he had four children - Dora, who died in 1873; Otis, who died in 1877. His second wife, Hattie Phillips, son Walter G., and daughter Mary, wife of Richard A. Hayes, survive him.
[Thanks to Dick Cole for sending copies of these pages from
the Fireland
Pioneer. More sketches in future SOY NL's.]
Senator Lawrence Yates Sherman, 1858-1939
Published in SOY Newsletter, December 2000
Written by Deborah Williams
DWilli1062@AOL.com
The Honorable Lawrence Yates Sherman, Senator from Illinois from 1913-1921, was born in Piqua, Miami County, Ohio, November 8, 1858. When he was less than a year old, his parents, Nelson and Maria Yates Sherman, moved to the state of Illinois. There they purchased a farm and raised Lawrence to maturity. He attended the common country schools near his family’s farm and later attended Lee’s Academy in Coles County.
In 1879, at the age of twenty-one, Lawrence entered McKendree College in Lebanon, Illinois, but his parents were unable to help him financially. Determined to earn enough money to attend college, Lawrence taught at the Emerald Mound School north of Lebanon for three years while taking the Law Course at McKendree during the evening and on Saturdays. Although Sherman did not finish the regular college course at McKendree, records show that he did obtain enough credits to be classified as a junior. He did however, satisfactorily finish the Law Course, which was his main interest and graduated in the class of 1882 with the degree of LL.B. While at McKendree, he was a classmate of Charles S. Deneen who would later play a role in his political career.
Lawrence was admitted to the bar in 1882 and began a practice with Lyman B. Vose in Macomb, Illinois where he lived and served in several public capacities for twenty-three years. Two offices he held were City Attorney of Macomb from 1885 to 1887 and County Judge of McDonough County from 1886 to 1890. In 1890, Lawrence formed a new law partnership with George D. Tunnicliff that continued for the next 20 years. In 1896, he was elected to the Lower House of the Illinois Legislature and during his second (1899-1901) and third (1901-1903) terms, Lawrence was elected Speaker of the House.
In 1904, former classmate Charles S. Deneen was nominated for Governor on the Republican ticket with Lawrence Sherman as his running mate. Upon winning the election, Sherman served the state of Illinois as the Lieutenant Governor and as Ex Officio President of the State Senate from 1905-1909 giving him the distinction of having presided over both houses of the legislature. At this time Sherman also caught the attention of Washington and was appointed a member of the Spanish Treaty Claims Commission by President Taft. He was confirmed by the Senate, but declined the honor. In 1909, Governor Deneen appointed Sherman President of the Illinois Board of Administrators, which had control of seventeen state charities. He remained in this capacity until 1913.
In the fall of 1912, Illinois elected both a Democratic governor and legislature. That same year there were also two vacancies from Illinois in the U.S. Senate. One of the vacancies was due to the expiration of the term of Shelby M. Cullom while the other vacancy was the result of the expulsion of Senator William Lorimer. Lorimer had been charged with using "corrupt methods or practices" to obtain his seat and in July 1912, his election by the Illinois State legislature was declared illegal and void.
As U.S. Senators were selected by state legislatures at this time, it was first thought that the election of a Democratic legislature in Illinois would be favorable to President Wilson. However, election of the two United States Senators from Illinois proved to be considerable trouble for him. Divisions among both the Democrats and Republicans made the selection of two Democratic Senators impossible.
Governor Dunne favored a compromise. He wanted the election of a Democrat to fill the long-term vacancy and a Republican for the short term. But, President Wilson, on appeal by leaders of his party insisted upon the selection of two Democrats. To assure victory, Wilson had Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan undertake the assignment. Balloting, which began February 11, 1913, dragged without results for seven weeks before an agreement was reached and the Senators selected. In the end Governor Dunne’s compromise prevailed as James Hamilton Lewis, Democrat, was named the full six-year term Senator and Lawrence Yates Sherman, Republican, was named to fill the two-year Lorimer vacancy. It was shortly after the Lorimer scandal in 1913 that the 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed providing for the direct popular election of U.S. senators.
In 1914, Sherman was nominated by the Republican State Primary as a candidate on the ticket for a full six-year term as Senator. He ran a difficult campaign against Roger C. Sullivan of Chicago and a third party candidate backed by Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt made several platform addresses favoring his own Bull Moose Party candidate and assailing Senator Sherman in very bitter terms. Roosevelt’s candidate however, came in last while Lawrence Sherman was re-elected along with the entire Illinois Republican ticket that carried his name at its head. As a member of the Sixty-sixth Congress, Lawrence served as Chairman of the Committee on the District of Columbia.
World War I arose at the same time as his first full term in the Senate. During the war, Congress was cooperative with Wilson; but after the war everything changed. America was weary of foreign entanglements and favored isolationism. Still, Wilson worked diligently with Britain, France and Italy to negotiate the peace. Part of the peace agreement for which Wilson vigorously fought was the formation of the League of Nations. Wilson eventually won the fight with the European powers, but his next battle would be with the United States Senate for the treaty’s ratification.
Factions within the Senate brought about long and heated debates. According to the Congressional Record, Sherman took part in the debates and was one of the Republican Senators who were against the League. On March 19, 1920, Sherman was one of the thirty-nine senators who signed a public statement opposing the ratification and thus assured its defeat.
At the close of his second term of office, Sherman decided to leave the Senate. He returned to Springfield, Illinois and resumed his law practice with yet another partner, Noah C. Bainum. They opened two offices, one in Springfield, Illinois and a second in Daytona Beach, Florida where Sherman had a winter home.
But, his Washington career wasn’t over. From September 1921 to February 1922, Sherman served without compensation as Special Advisor to the Honorable Charles G. Dawes. Sherman had been appointed to this position by President Harding to help Dawes create the Bureau of the Budget.
By 1924, Sherman had returned to his home in Daytona Beach. There he became involved in another business enterprise. He and several associates organized and opened the First National Bank of Daytona Beach. Sherman served as the bank’s first president during its first year of operation and then became Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Despite Mr. Sherman’s success in the political and business world, his personal life was much more difficult. He passed through some particularly sad experiences although he was happily married twice. His first marriage to Ella M. Crews in 1891 was brought to an untimely end just two years later by her death. His second marriage on March 4, 1908 to Mary Estelle Spitler also ended within two years. Death claimed his second bride on June 7, 1910, just a few months after the birth of their daughter, Virginia. (b. February 12, 1910).
Lawrence Yates Sherman retired from active business pursuits in 1933 and died in Daytona Beach, Florida on September 15, 1939. He was interred in the Montrose Cemetery in Effingham County, Illinois.
© 2000 Deborah Williams, All Rights Reserved
Published in SOY Newsletter, December 2000
By Art Cohan
The township of Sherman, in Aroostook Co., is a plot of land approx. 6 miles square, and lies near the intersection of Rt. 11, Rt. 158 and I-95 in northeastern Maine. Settled in 1832 and incorporated January 28, 1862, it was named for a prominent abolitionist of the time, U. S. Senator John Sherman of Ohio (brother of Gen. WT).
Sherman Mills is the principal 'settlement' about a mile east on Rt 158, where the grocery store, laundromat and town square are. Sherman Station is a small settlement next to the railroad tracks, just a few miles west, near Stacyville in Penobscot Co.
The "History of Sherman, Me." compiled by Morris Robinson in 1943 from material in the scrapbook of Mrs. Willoam (Cushman) Gilchrist, an early settler of Sherman and wife of a Civil War veteran, reveals that the first settler was Alfred Cushman, a native of Sumner, ME, who felled the first tree on his property there on the 12th of June, 1832.
The next settlers were John Cream in 1834 from Lowell, MA; Spaulding Robinson in 1837 from Sumner, ME (who built a grist mill); and Thomas Trafton in 1838. Another settler, Richard Boynton, came prior to 1840. In 1840, the families of Edwin Parker from Rutland, VT, Samuel Chandler from ME, Leonaed Marsh and Luke Perry joined them, and several more families arrived shortly afterward.
The area became the Golden Ridge Plantation in 1845, was voted as part of Lincoln, ME in 1846 and became the Town of Sherman in 1862. The first school house began in 1850. Many men from Sherman fought in the Civil War. Nearby Mt. Katahdin is Maine's highest mountain.
The area first prospered in Lumbering and Agriculture, and is great potato country. Both occupations have been in decline for some time however, and this area, which was once prosperous, is now economically depressed. A 1979 Almanac shows the population at 949, with 581 registered voters (306 Rep and 100 democrats). More recent population figures for the three areas combined number about 1,055.
[Art’s note: Many thanks to Loreen Kalinowski (who lives in
Sherman)
and Jack Taylor (lives a "few towns away") for their gracious help.]
SHERMAN, Chautauqua Co., New York
Published SOY Newsletter, December 2000
By Art Cohan, with Jean Hanson
[A gracious lady of the young age of 82, Jean Hanson, who lives in Sherman, wrote and sent the material for the following article. She has been the town Historian for many years, but has just retired due to failing eyesight. The quote below is hers.]
Chatauqua Co., NY lies in the extreme western corner of the state, bordering Pennsylvania and Lake Erie, and the town of SHERMAN lies close to Chatauqua Lake and Mayville (the center of early activity), at the headwaters of French Creek. It was formed in April 1832, and was the second township formed in Chatauqua Co. It was named after the Hon. Roger SHERMAN who gave the money to buy the bell which hung in the belfry of the old Presbyterian Church.
Prior to the 1750's, the French claimed all of the territories west of the Allegheny Mountains, and the British claimed all of the territories from their colonies west to the Pacific Ocean. The vast wilderness of unexplored area encompassing and surrounding what is now Chatauqua Co. - not being in the normal path of travel of the pioneers heading west - and traversed by roaming bands of fierce and hostile Indians - remained virtually uninhabited.
By 1749, both the French and the English were pressing through the wilderness, keeping close to the shores of Lake Erie or following the larger streams. About this time, the French attempted to open this area, and drive the British out. This led to the French and Indian Wars.
The French began to built a system of roads and trading posts throughout the region, and a 21 year old George Washington was sent by the British (this was before his soul was opened to the fires of freedom) to negotiate with the French commander. Sherman lies in the heart of this historic area.
Dearing Dorman came from Batavia in 1823 with his young bride, and erected the first dwelling in what was later to be Sherman. The town settled very rapidly, and soon some stores and a tavern sprang up, and crops of wheat and general farming and dairy farming surrounded the town.
"At the turn of the century, Sherman was a big butter and egg center. From 1900 until the great depression, there were many stores, a State Bank, an apple dryer, furniture factory, and many small businesses. The Pennsylvania RR ran through the town from Pittsburgh, carrying coal to Brocton, NY, where it joined the main line of the New York Central. By the end of the depression all industry was gone and many of the great dairy farms were bankrupt."
Highway 86 passes through, joining Jamestown, NY to Erie, PA, and many folks still live here and commute. A local museum documents the days of the French/Indian wars, and a "little red schoolhouse" housing antiques remains as one of the first buildings in Sherman.
Published in SOY newsletter – December 2000
Submitted by Art Cohan
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Meet cartoonist Jim Toomey. The Lagoonies call him a hairless beach ape. (It's a fish thing.) |
More than likely, it was sightings of a shark and other marine creatures during a family trip to the Bahamas that instilled in a very young Jim Toomey a lifelong fascination with the sea and its inhabitants. The 37-year-old Alexandria, Va., native says Sherman, the dim-witted great white shark star of his comic strip, has actually been swimming in doodle form on his sketch pad since he was a child. One might have expected Toomey to become a marine biologist. However, his grandfather was an engineer. His dad was an engineer. So it came as no surprise to his family when Toomey graduated from Duke University with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 1983 and accepted a full-time position with a Virginia engineering firm. But Toomey eventually broke the family mold, becoming instead a successful nationally syndicated cartoonist within the next eight years. Toomey began honing his artistic skills in college, drawing daily political cartoons for the school newspaper and, from 1983 to1989, for two Virginia dailies. Between his drawing and a part-time engineering job, he found the money just wasn't coming in, so, after a short stint in the merchant marine, he packed up and moved to San Francisco. There he went to work for a company that built custom exhibits for museums and trade shows and started on a new project in his spare time -- creating a comic strip. After unsuccessfully attempting to interest several different California newspapers in his strip, Toomey finally hit pay dirt in May 1991, when the Escondido Times-Advocate agreed to run "Sherman's Lagoon." By the time Creators Syndicate signed Toomey to a seven-year contract for national distribution that fall, the cartoonist had already begun to build a loyal audience for "Sherman's Lagoon" in 17 client newspapers, including the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and the Denver Post. Now distributed by King Features Syndicate, "Sherman's Lagoon" currently appears in more than 125 newspapers, including The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Daily News, Dallas Morning News, Philadelphia Daily News, San Jose Mercury News, Denver Post, Arizona Republic and Columbus Dispatch as well as newspapers in Europe, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia and the Caribbean. "Sherman's Lagoon" has earned kudos from the Coral Reef Alliance. Based in Berkeley, Calif., it is an independent non-profit membership organization that works to educate divers and the general public about coral-reef conservation. In addition, it provides funding and technical support for various coral-reef projects around the world. Its president recently told Toomey that "'Sherman's Lagoon' has been a huge hit both with Coral's staff and our members! One of our members was so impressed that he wrote in saying how it's the first thing he turns to every time he receives one of our newsletters! 'Sherman' gets two fins up from the divers at Coral!" Bob Woollacott, a professor of biology at Harvard University, also praised the comic: "'Sherman's Lagoon' combines Mother Nature with Human Nature in ways that enlighten and entertain. Toomey's strip sets an important, upbeat tone for my undergraduate course in marine biology." Toomey's hard work has paid off in many areas. Andrews McMeel recently published a collection of cartoons strips, "Sherman's Lagoon: Ate That, What's Next?" A new line of stuffed "Lagoonie" animals has surfaced on the market. And, in his spare time since "Sherman's Lagoon" was launched on the waves of success, Toomey has taken acting classes and gotten a master's degree in liberal arts from Stanford University in 1997. In June 1998, Toomey and his girlfriend, Valerie, like Sherman and his girlfriend, Megan, got married.
[Art's notes: Sincere thanks to Jim for his patience in helping with this, and for his permission to reprint occasional strips, and his photo. I asked him if there was anything "sinister" to report in the decision to call his shark friend "Sherman". He answered, "Just a name that alliterates with "shark." Sooo - I guess that's another SHERMAN thingy for us to take pride in!! Jim was also spotted on Discovery Channel's "Shark Week" in August. "I've always admired sharks, since I was a kid. They're the most awesome animal. My lead character - Sherman - says stuff that most people wish they could say, but couldn't."
In the 1860’s, Captain Matthew Sherman was one of the pioneer land developers and civic leaders of San Diego, California. Sherman seems to have been a modest man; characterized by a sense of balance and restraint that was reflected in his civic life, his financial activities, and his handsome home.
Matthew was born in Charleston, Massachusetts on 11 October 1827. He enlisted in the Navy at the age of thirteen and served on the U.S.S. Columbus and later on the U.S.S. Independence. He first came to California in 1847, when the Independence landed briefly at Monterey during the Mexican War. He returned sometime in the next decade as a civilian.
During the Civil War, Sherman served as Lieutenant and later
Captain
of the 4th Infantry Regiment of the California
Volunteers. In
1862, he was stationed in San Diego, and liked it so well that after
his
discharge from the Army on 30 November 1865, he came back to settle
permanently.
Upon his arrival, Captain Sherman became the Customs Collector, a
position
he held for the next four years.
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On 10 May 1867, Matthew Sherman married Augusta Jane Barrett another transplanted New Englander. She was born on 17 April 1839, in East Sumner, Maine on a farm that had belonged to her family since the Revolutionary War. As a child she dreamed of going to California to teach school. After realizing that dream and teaching for a year or two in San Francisco, Augusta found herself drawn to the San Diego area where she met and married Matthew Sherman. |
After their marriage, Matthew bought from the City Trustees a 160-acre
plot of land for 50 cents an acre. Sherman’s Addition (or Sherman
Heights
as it was called because of its elevation) overlooked the flat lands of
what is now downtown San Diego. He and Augusta were the only
inhabitants
until the fall of 1867 when another couple moved into the area. Their
first
home consisted of a small house and the "Barracks." The Barracks had
been
framed in the state of Maine and were brought around Cape Horn on a
ship
and were put up about 1852. In the spring of 1868, Matthew and Augusta
built a small house and had moved into it by May. The house is still
standing
at the northwest corner of 19th and I Streets
according to the
San Diego Historical Society.
After moving to this section of San Diego, Sherman was determined to make it a livable place. Many regarded him as a "crazy darned fool" because he wanted to sink a well, put up a windmill, and raise vegetables and sheep on his land. The prevailing idea at the time was that there was no water to be had in this part of San Diego. But, during the Civil War the soldiers had dug a well and found water at a depth of about 24 feet. Within a few years others had followed his example, sinking deep wells from which they obtained good water for their gardens.
Sherman subdivided his land in 1869 and soon recouped his initial investment as he sold off lots. In fact, land was selling so quickly in San Diego that the City Trustees (of which Sherman was by this time a member) decided that it was imperative that some of the land be set aside for public purposes before it was too late. In October 1869, the City Trustees arranged for the dedication of a 1400 acre City Park and a 200-acre cemetery; it was Mrs. Sherman who selected the name, Mount Hope, for the cemetery. In addition, the Sherman’s donated land for one of the first schools and later gave more land for a more substantial building.
One of Sherman’s greatest hopes, one he shared with many other San Diego residents, was to bring a direct transcontinental rail link to San Diego. As early as 1869, Sherman began his efforts by establishing a committee to solicit gifts of land and to entice the Memphis and El Paso railroad to locate its terminus in San Diego. That project did not materialize. However, the following year Sherman and others organized the San Diego and Los Angeles railroad. It was a paper corporation with a land grant from the City Trustees, which they hoped would lure a transcontinental railroad.
In 1871, Sherman went to Washington to lobby for passage of legislation chartering the Texas and Pacific to build a rail line from Texas to California. While in Washington, Congressman John A. Logan worked out the final details of the bill that provided Federal government land grants and subsidies. After passage of the Texas and Pacific bill in 1871, Tom Scott, president of the railroad came to California where city officials and business leaders from San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego entertained him. He finally agreed to establish the terminus of the Texas and Pacific in San Diego in exchange for title to other railroad corporations such as the San Diego and Los Angeles.
The following year ground was broken for the road, and the roadbed graded for a short distance. But, the Texas and Pacific never completed the rail line as the company was ruined by the stock market crash of 1873. San Diego went into hibernation for the next decade and Matthew Sherman retired to his farm in the El Cajon valley to raise zinfandel grapes.
In 1885, the recently organized California Southern railroad made connections with the Santa Fe, running a line from San Diego to San Bernardino. At last, San Diego had the transcontinental connection. The population tripled and land sales boomed. Sherman came out of his semi-retirement, sold his El Cajon farm and vineyard, and had plans drawn up for a large new home in Sherman Heights.
The new home was a two-story, 11-room structure. It was described as "finely furnished" and cost $15,000. Since this was several times what the average residence cost in those days, Sherman and his family (including daughter Fannie 1872-1911 and son, Matthew 1878-?) had a handsome and comfortable home that was characterized by an air of dignified simplicity and classical balance.
After the collapse of the building boom of the 1880’s, San Diego settled down for another period of slumber. Sherman however continued to play an active role in San Diego’s civic life, serving as Mayor from 1891-92.
One of the most colorful events during his term of office was the first celebration in honor of Cabrillo’s landing at San Diego. The 350th anniversary of that occasion was marked by a dramatic re-enactment of the event. Manual Cabral, a fisherman from La Playa who portrayed Cabrillo, was attired in a costume that included velvet kneebreeches and an ostrich-feather hat. His ship was to land at one of the town’s piers, but because of delays, it did not arrive until the tide had gone out. As a result, the ship became stuck on a shoal some distance away. In the meantime, the excited crowd gathered onto the wharf and in the throng, the handrail broke causing many of the frock-coated officials, including Mayor Sherman, to spill into the mud. Fortunately, the remainder of the celebration was more successful.
Matthew Sherman died on 5 July 1898. Praised as one of San Diego’s earliest residents, he was described as a man of strong character, yet "gentle in manner and approachable…He was a man who had many friends and few enemies." His wife, Augusta, died in 1913 and was buried beside him in Mount Hope Cemetery whose name and location owed so much to the Shermans.
"Augusta Barrett Sherman, 1839-1913," Journal of San Diego History, Vol. 18, Number 4, 1972.
"Matthew Sherman, 1827-1898," Journal of San Diego History, Vol. 18, Number 4, 1972.
California Historical Society
Register of California Men in the War of the Rebellion 1861 to 1867, Abbreviation: CA Roster, J.D. Young, State Printing, 1890.
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