Sherman Articles For 2002
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The Sherman family claims English ancestry, and were first represented in America by the paternal great-grandfather, who left his native island during the latter part of the eighteenth century and settled in Vermont. He served during the Revolutionary war and was a man of prominence in his adopted locality. His son, Eli, the paternal grandfather, came to the United States with his father and spent his life as a farmer in Vermont. The next in succession, Isaac Sherman, the father of Jay, was also born in Vermont, and settled in Knox county, ILL., in 1832, being one of the first white men to supplant the Indians in that section of the country. On this inhospitable prairie farm, with his nearest neighbor five miles distant, Mr. Sherman cultivated his land and reared his family, and subsequently died in 1893, at the age of eighty-three years. His wife, Eliza (Wood) Sherman, became the mother of eight children, seven of whom are living.
In Knox county, Ill., Jay Sherman was born in March of 1846. He was reared to be a farmer and educated in the public schools. In 1867 he settled on his own farm in the neighborhood of his father’s, and became a practical farmer and stock-raiser. His ability and devotion to the public welfare were early evinced, and he became much interested in the undertakings of the Republican party. He held numerous local offices and was supervisor of the township for one term.
Before locating on his claim on the southwest quarter of section 8, Lexington township, Cleveland county, Mr. Sherman had familiarized himself with the conditions existing in the territory; having visited and inspected various portions of it a number of times. In 1894 he purchased the southwest quarter of section 17, which he rented out until he came with his family in February of 1897 and settled on his present farm. In the fall of 1897 he bought the northwest quarter of section 17, and thus acquired in all four hundred and eighty acres, which he is successfully farming, with the capable assistance of his sons. Three hundred and fifty acres are under the plow, and there is a fine orchard of six acres wherein are raised the finest quality of apples and peaches, and a vineyard, which is for family use only. While general farming is carried on, Mr. Sherman devotes considerable land to the cultivation of wheat, which is unsurpassed for abundance and quality, the average yield being from twenty-five to thirty-eight bushels of wheat an acre. In 1900 four thousand bushels of wheat and one hundred acres of corn (forty bushels per acre) were produced. In the stock line this model farm is not behind any in the county, and Durham cattle and Poland-China hogs are raised in large numbers.
In addition to the responsibility incident to the management of such large agricultural interests, Mr. Sherman has a field of occupation as a member of the jobbing house firm of O. E. Upp & Co., at Purcell. He is prominent in local politics and a firm believer in the principles and issues of the Republican party. On several occasions he has been a delegate to county and territorial conventions. He was a candidate for nomination to the legislature in a strong Democratic district, and was defeated by only twenty-eight votes, which shows his great popularity. He is greatly interested in the cause of education, and has served on the Lexington high school board of directors. He is a member of the Odd Fellows at Maquon, Ill., and is a past noble grand, and also a member of the post at Lexington. He was the organizer of the Lexington Post, G. A. R.
In other ways also he is identified with the material enterprises of the county, and is one of the most substantial and reliable of those who have brought a large fund of practical experience to the development and growth of this new and wonderful territory.
Mr. Sherman fought for his country during the Civil War, and enlisted in 1863 in Company A, Fifty-ninth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He was in the army of the Cumberland, under General Thomas, and participated in the battle of Atlantic City as a non-commissioned officer, and was also in the Nashville campaign. In 1866 he married Mirah L. Upp, a sister of W. W. Upp, of Purcell. Of this union there have been eight children, viz.: J. Milton; Charles I.; Lillie, the wife of C. W. Moses; W. Scott; Frank C.; Clayton; Leroy and Arthur.
N. S. SHERMAN, Sr., who conducts, at Oklahoma City, the best equipped machine shop and foundry in the territory, has followed that line of work all of his life, and may properly be termed an inventive genius.
Mr. Sherman was born in Erie, Pa., and is a son of Isaac Sherman. The family was established in this about the time of the landing of the Mayflower, by three brothers, who settled in New England. The grandfather of our subject was a millwright by trade. Isaac SHERMAN was born in Oneida county, N. Y., and there learned the trade of a machinist. In about 1825 he located at Detroit, Mich., where he built one of the first machine shops and became a pioneer marine engineer. In 1840 he returned to Pennsylvania, building machine shops at Girard, but later, because of poor health, he moved to Andover, Ohio. There he died April 21, 1871. He married Mary Pratt, who was born in Oneida county, N. Y., her father, Isaac Pratt, a native of New York and a farmer by occupation, having removed to Michigan, later engaged in farming near Ashtabula, Ohio, and finally settled in Erie County, Pa., where he died.
Mrs. Sherman died in 1888 at Dearborn, Mich. Five daughters and four sons blessed this union, and three sons and three daughters are now living. Isaac W., Jr., of Bay City, Mich., who served in four different regiments from Pennsylvania during the Civil War, was first in the drum corps, and at the time he was mustered out held the rank of lieutenant.
N. S. Sherman was born June 11, 1852, and was reared in Erie, Pa., where he attended the public and high schools. He was a machinist both by nature and training, working from boyhood in his father’s machine shop and foundry. In 1869 he went to Andover, Ohio, and worked there as a millwright until 1871, when he entered the Brooks Loco- motive Works, of Dunkirk, N. Y., as a machinist, continuing until the works shut down in February, 1873, owing to the panic. Going to Butler County, Pa., he worked for his brother-in-law in oil operating, and was superintendent of oil wells and pumps until 1876, when he became identified with the Sterns Manufacturing Company of Erie, Pa., as a machinist. He served as foreman of the engine erecting gang until March, 1877, when the plant blew up. Next he went to Sevren Bridges, Canada, where he was employed as master mechanic by the Georgian Bay Lumber Company for about two years, until they ceased operations. He then went to Woodville, Mariposa county, and conducted a novelty store for six months, when he re-entered the employ of the Sterns Manufacturing Company as a machinist. After a period of eighteen months with them he worked for the Taper Sleeve Pulley Works at Erie, next was with the Ball Engine Company, and in 1884 went to Jackson, Tenn., where he organized the Sherman Manufacturing Company.
After having manufactured engines, boilers, and saw-mill machinery with some success until 1892, Mr. Sherman moved to Greenville, Tex., and engaged in the manufacture of engines, boilers and nickel machinery. In 1893 he established the Lone Star Engine and Boiler Works and operated the same until February, 1898, when he sold out and visited in Ohio and Pennsylvania. On his way back he stopped in Oklahoma, prospecting.
In February, 1899, he took a trip through the territory and decided upon Oklahoma City for a location, making all arrangements to move at once and establish his business. Arriving May 17, 1899, he at once built the shops and foundry that are the equal of any in the United States. The shops are located on East Main street and occupy one-half block along the Santa Fe Railroad. Mr. Sherman is extensively engaged in manufacturing engines and specialties in agriculture implements and castings. He has the foundry work for the sewer system of El Reno and Guthrie, and Contractor Hindershot, in speaking of the character of his work, said that the castings
were the finest he ever had. Both brass and iron castings are manufactured. He has worked out numerous inventions of a high character, the best known of which is a combined corn and cotton planter, stock cutter and roller, by which corn or cotton can be planted two rows at a time, or cut and rolled two rows at a time. He has also invented three distinct engines, a steam whistle, and a single bell chime whistle.
At Girard, Pa., Mr. Sherman married Nellie M. Dewey, who was born in Dunkirk, N. Y., and is a daughter of John Dewey, also a native of Dunkirk. He is of an old New England family, and, with Admiral Dewey, descends from common ancestor. Four children were born to this union: Nathan Samuel, formerly assistant postmaster of Sulphur Springs, Tex., and now with his father in business; Warden Sevren, who is of a mechanical bent of mind and assisted in the establishment and arrangement of the shops; Nellie V., and Erie Wayne. Religiously Mrs. Sherman is a member of the Baptist Church.
Mr. Sherman served as president of the Texas Foundrymen’s Association for two years. He is a republican of the strongest type, and hung up the first banner of that party in Hunt county, Tex., opening the way for other men to come out in support of the party. During his residence in Texas he was a member of the state Republican central Committee with John Grant and Edward Green, and the state executive committee, and was very active in affairs of the party, serving as a delegate to all state conventions.
W. STORY SHERMAN, whose active life has been devoted to the electrical business, was the organizer of the El Reno Electric Light and Telephone Company, of which he is now secretary and manager.
Mr. Sherman was born in Boston, Mass., November 22, 1867, and is a son of A. F. and Mary (Story) Sherman. [Amory F. SHERMAN, b: 1817] A. F. SHERMAN was born in Boston, and was a rope manufacturer, an inventor of considerable prominence, a civil engineer and master mechanic. For forty-seven years he was with the Sewall & Day Cordage Company, and invented nearly all the machinery used in that plant. He invented some of the first machinery for rope manufacture used in the plant. His entire life was spent at Boston, where he died at the age of seventy years. He married Mary Story, who was born near Liverpool, England. Her parents moved to Buenos Ayres, Argentine Republic, and her father was engaged in the building of gas plants. She now resides in Boston and has four living children: Helen M., of Boston; Moses H. D. who is engineer on a railroad at Fresno, Cal.; William Story; and Lilian Grace of Boston.
W. Story Sherman was reared in West Roxbury, a suburb of Boston, and attended the public schools and Elliott Academy, from which he was graduated. In 1885 he entered the employ of the Boston Edison Company, at a time when electric lighting first came into use. He was with them from the start, first in the construction department, then in the lamp and erecting departments, and finally in the operating departments as electrician. His position was one of great responsibility, as the plant had become very large. In 1894 he resigned and came to El Reno, organizing the El Reno Electric Light and Telephone Company, with himself as president and manager. He obtained a charter and sixty days later began the construction of his plant. January 8, 1895, he began to supply lights, and the success with which he met rendered it necessary to enlarge his plant. He put in a new Corliss engine and two dynamos, and has a capacity of 2,500 incandescent lights and sixty arc lights. The officers of the company are: S. R. Sherman (our subjects wife), president, and W. S. Sherman, secretary and manager.
Mr. Sherman was united in marriage, at Detroit, with Sarah Ramsey, who was born at Port Huron, Mich., and is a daughter of Samuel Ramsey, who died in Michigan. Mr. Sherman was made a Mason in Grand Rapids, Mich., belonging to Grand River Lodge No. 34. He is a member of the chapter at El Reno; Ascension Commandery No. 3, and India Temple, N. M. S., at Oklahoma City. Formerly he was a member of the Odd Fellows and the Encampment. Religiously he is connected with the Congregational Church. In his political belief he is a Republican. He is a member of the El Reno Club. With two others he started the first cotton gin at El Reno, which is operated under the name of El Reno Gin Company.