Sherman Articles For 2005
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President and treasurer of the Sherman Envelope Company, of which he was the founder, born in Brimfield, Mass., June 6, 1852, son of John and Sophia (Prince) Sherman.
Mr. Sherman descends from a long line of ancestry, tracing his family back to the middle of the 13th Century. While in this country his branch of the Sherman family is traced in direct line to Edmund Sherman, the emigrant ancestor, who came to America from Dedham, Essex County, England, and settled at Watertown, Mass., about 1632, of which town he was one of the early settlers and founders.
Mr. Sherman attended the public schools of his native town and the Hitchcock School, from which he was graduated in 1869. At the age of 16 years he came to Worcester, where he worked at the State Insane Asylum, on Summer Street, but at the end of 3 months left there to again attend school. For a few months he was engaged in the slate-roofing business in Worcester, when he became a clerk in a grocery store at Northbridge, Mass., where he continued for 7 years. Returning to Worcester, in 1877, for a period of 5 years he was employed by the Ames Plow Company.
In 1882 he went to Boston, where he was employed by the Norton Door Check and Spring Company, the 1st manufacturers of an automatic door check, remaining with the concern for about 2 years. On March 17, 1884, Mr. Sherman returned to Worcester to accept the position of bookkeeper for the Whitcomb Envelope Company, which was incorporated Jan. 1, 1884, and for which he got the first balance sheet. Being possessed of a natural born mechanical ability, he rapidly acquired a thorough knowedge of the details of the envelope manufacturing business in all its branches, and during the 15 years that he continued with this company, of which for several years he was superintendent, he had invented new machinery and improved the old, taking out patents on his various inventions.
On July 31, 1898, the U.S. Envelope Company was formed, of which the Whitcomb Envelope Company became a part on Nov. 3, 1898, when Mr. Sherman resigned, and immediately began to prepare to engage in the envelope manufacturing business on his own account. In Dec. 1898, he began to construct the machiney for his own plant, which began operations on Feb. 1, 1899. The offices ad factory were located on Winona Street, corner of Nebraska Street. The Sherman Envelope Company was incorporated in 1899, with Mr. Sherman as president and treasurer; Josiah H. Clark, the dry goods merchant, vice president; and Francis H. Bigelow, secretary. Mr. Sherman built 7 machines of his own invention, with which he began work, later adding 13 machines of the same pattern.
The first quarters were outgrown in 1 year, and on Feb. 1, 1900, the business removed to Nos. 73 & 75 School Street, in the Paine building where 3 floors in the rear of the building were occupied. The business developed and expanded rapidly, and in 5 years larger quarters were again required, and the present brick building, located at No. 60 Prescott Street, was erected and occupied in 1905. Mr. Sherman raised the original company in 3 weeks, getting subscriptions for $65,000. The original capital was $50,000, but was increased to $75,000 at the time the present factory was erected.
The Sherman Envelope Company at present has 80,000 feet of floor space, and owns land adjoining, upon which it is planned to erect another brick building of equal dimensions. The improvement in envelope machinery in less than 20 years is best shown by the fact that Sherman machines make 90,000 envelopes a day each, whereas the best machines at the time Mr. Sherman was superintendent of the Whitcomb factory made a maximum of 37,000 a day.
The Sherman machines are universally used by other makers of envelopes. The Mercantile Manufacturing Company of Dayton, Ohio now holds the contract for printing the stamped envelopes for the U.S. Government, have in operation 47 of these Sherman machines. Mr. Sherman has developed this great business practically alone, and now employs a regular force of about 225 hands.
The present officers of the Sherman Envelope Company are; John A. Sherman, president and treasurer; Walter H. Davis, vice president; J. Edward Sherman, clerk; John T. Moore, of Bellows Falls, Vermont, and Benjamin Taft, of Ayer, Mass., directors.
Mr. Sherman is also the inventor of a oil burner which is capable of burning oil in an ordinary house heater. The system is so perfected that one may go away and close his house for a week or more and have it heated to any desired temperature while he is gone. He can set a small thermostat arrangement so that the burner will automatically increase the temperature to the desired degree of heat a few hours before he expects to return home. The whole system is very simple, and yet its success and importance promise to become international, an important feature of the invention being that the burner does not burn steadily, but is automatically lighted and turned off as the temperature of the house falls or increases.
Mr. Sherman is a director of the Park Trust Company, Worcester; treasurer of the Combination Orchard Company, of Winona, Texas, with offices in Boston; treasurer of the Mutual Rubber Production Company, of Mexico; and treasurer of the Excelsior Gold Mining Company, of California. He has been especially active in religious work, having been for a number of years a member and active worker in the Union Congregational Church, of which he has served on the standing committee as a member of the board of trustees, and as a deacon. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Memorial Church of Worcester.
He was instrumental in establishing 3 Sunday schools in the city, which have since become churches, namely, the Belmont Cong. Church, the Bethany Church, and the People's Church at Greendale. He is a member of the Congregational Club; the Worcester Federated Church Brotherhood; the Worcester Mechanics Assoc. of which he was president during the 50th anniversary of this organization. He is also a member of and vice president of the Worcester City Missionary Society. He is a valued member of the YMCA, of which he was director for several years. Of the Masonic fraternity, having attained the 32nd Degree in that organization, holding membership in Athelstan Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Eureka Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Worcester County Commandery, No. 5, Knights Templar; and the Mass. Consistory. He is also a member of the Worcester Society of Antiquity; the Economic Club; and the Worcester County Manufacturers Assoc. In political faith he is a Republican.
He has taken a keen and active interest in all forms of modern welfare work, and has kept the pace with the foremost in providing modern methods and conviences in his factory, where the utmost harmony among his employees has prevailed.
Mr. Sherman married Nov. 27, 1873, to Helen E. Greene, of Northbridge Center, Mass., daughter of Emerson and Eliza Greene. To Mr. and Mrs. Sherman have been born 2 sons:
1) John Edward
2) Marvel Taft, who died in infancy
"History of Worcester and Its People" by Charles Nutt; Volume 4, Pages 757/758 - pub: 1918
Rev. John (imm) > James > John > Bezaleel > John > John > John > (him)
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John Edward Sherman
(1874 - ___ )
[son of above]
Clerk of the Sherman Envelope Company, was born Oct. 2, 1874, at Northbridge Center, Mass., son of John Ames and Helen E. (Greene) Sherman. He acquired his educational training in the public schools of his native town, the English High School, and Hinman's Business College, Worcester. After leaving school he became associated with his father in the offices of the Whitcomb Envelope Company, and upon the incorporation of the Sherman Envelope Company, in 1899, he became indentified with the latter corporation, of which he is now clerk, and has been active in the management of the business.
Like his father, he is an active member of the Masons fraternity, in which he has also attained the 32nd Degree, holding membership in Boylston Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Worcester Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Worcester County Commandery, No. 5, Knights Templar; and the Mass. Consistory. He is also a member of th Economic Club; the Congregational Club; the Worcester Mechanics Assoc., of which he has served on the board of directors; and the YMCA. He has served as supply surgeon of Company E, 19th Regiment, Mass. State Guard. He is a member of the First Congregational Church of West Boylston.
Mr. Sherman married (1st) Hattie Peacock; and (2nd) Emma Adams, daughter of Dr. Edson Adams of Worcester. Mrs. Sherman is a member of the Worcester Woman's Club, and the West Boylston Reading Club. Both Mr. and Mrs. Sherman are members of the Baldwinville Cottages Association. Their home is at West Boylston, Mass.
"History of Worcester and Its People" by Charles Nutt; Volume 4, page 758 - 1918
from: "History of Butler Co., Pa." - 1859
Joseph B. SHERMAN, son of Henry and Charlotte Sherman, was born at Crusoe Island, Cayuga County, New York, May 12, 1846, learned the machinist's trade in Auburn, New York, and went to Rochester in 1868, where he worked for the New York Central Railway Company until 1875. He then found employment as an engineer of a boat on Lake Ontario for one year.
In 1876 he came to Butler County and located at Karns City, where he established a machine shop, and carried on business at that point down to 1890, when he removed to Butler and became a member of the firm of Sherman & Masseth. 1892 he sold his interest in that establishment and purchased a shop at Callery Junction, which he disposed of in 1893. He established his present machine shops at Butler, in the old Union Woolen Mill building, known as the Star Iron Works, in 1894.
Mr. Sherman was married December 29, 1873, to Isabel Williamson, a daughter of Thomas Williamson, of Rochester, New York. Six children have been born to this union, viz.: Olive M.; Iva B.; Clifford W., deceased; Lulu M.; Florence A. and Josephine B.
Mr. Sherman is a Republican, was burgess of Karns City for one term, and a school director for ten years. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and is connected with the K. of P., and the A. O. U. W. During a residence of nearly twenty years in Butler County, Mr. Sherman has been closely identified with its manufacturing interests in the oil fields, and is a progressive and public-spirited citizen.