Memoirs of General William T. Sherman | Page 3

a title to two sections of land, which fact
was probably the prime cause of the migration of our family to the
West. My father received a good education, and was admitted to the bar
at Norwalk, Connecticut, where, in 1810, he, at twenty years of age,
married Mary Hoyt, also of Norwalk, and at once migrated to Ohio,
leaving his wife (my mother) for a time. His first purpose was to settle
at Zanesville, Ohio, but he finally chose Lancaster, Fairfield County,
where he at once engaged in the, practice of his profession. In 1811 he
returned to Norwalk, where, meantime, was born Charles Taylor
Sherman, the eldest of the family, who with his mother was carried to
Ohio on horseback.
Judge Taylor Sherman's family remained in Norwalk till 1815, when
his death led to the emigration of the remainder of the family, viz., of
Uncle Daniel Sherman, who settled at Monroeville, Ohio, as a farmer,
where he lived and died quite recently, leaving children and
grandchildren; and an aunt, Betsey, who married Judge Parker, of
Mansfield, and died in 1851, leaving children and grandchildren; also
Grandmother Elizabeth Stoddard Sherman, who resided with her
daughter, Mrs: Betsey Parker, in Mansfield until her death, August
1,1848.
Thus my father, Charles R. Sherman, became finally established at
Lancaster, Ohio, as a lawyer, with his own family in the year 1811, and
continued there till the time of his death, in 1829. I have no doubt that
he was in the first instance attracted to Lancaster by the natural beauty
of its scenery, and the charms of its already established society. He
continued in the practice of his profession, which in those days was no
sinecure, for the ordinary circuit was made on horseback, and embraced
Marietta, Cincinnati, and Detroit. Hardly was the family established
there when the War of 1812 caused great alarm and distress in all Ohio.
The English captured Detroit and the shores of Lake Erie down to the
Maumee River; while the Indians still occupied the greater part of the

State. Nearly every man had to be somewhat of a soldier, but I think
my father was only a commissary; still, he seems to have caught a
fancy for the great chief of the Shawnees, "Tecumseh."
Perry's victory on Lake Erie was the turning-point of the Western
campaign, and General Harrison's victory over the British and Indians
at the river Thames in Canada ended the war in the West, and restored
peace and tranquillity to the exposed settlers of Ohio. My father at once
resumed his practice at the bar, and was soon recognized as an able and
successful lawyer. When, in 1816, my brother James was born, he
insisted on engrafting the Indian name "Tecumseh" on the usual family
list. My mother had already named her first son after her own brother
Charles; and insisted on the second son taking the name of her other
brother James, and when I came along, on the 8th of February, 1820,
mother having no more brothers, my father succeeded in his original
purpose, and named me William Tecumseh.
The family rapidly increased till it embraced six boys and five girls, all
of whom attained maturity and married; of these six are still living.
In the year 1821 a vacancy occurred in the Supreme Court of Ohio, and
I find this petition:
Somerset, Ohio, July 6, 1821.
May it please your Excellency:
We ask leave to recommend to your Excellency's favorable notice
Charles R. Sherman, Esq., of Lancaster, as a man possessing in an
eminent degree those qualifications so much to be desired in a Judge of
the Supreme Court.
From a long acquaintance with Mr. Sherman, we are happy to be able
to state to your Excellency that our minds are led to the conclusion that
that gentleman possesses a disposition noble and generous, a mind
discriminating, comprehensive, and combining a heart pure, benevolent
and humane. Manners dignified, mild, and complaisant, and a firmness
not to be shaken and of unquestioned integrity.
But Mr. Sherman's character cannot be unknown to your Excellency,
and on that acquaintance without further comment we might safely rest
his pretensions.
We think we hazard little in assuring your Excellency that his
appointment would give almost universal satisfaction to the citizens of
Perry County.

With great consideration, we have the honor to be
Your Excellency's most obedient humble servants, CHARLES A.
HOOD, GEORGE TREAT, PETER DITTOR, P. ODLIN, J. B.
ORTEN, T. BECKWITH, WILLIAM P. DORST, JOHN MURRAY,
JACOB MOINS, B. EATON, DANIEL GRIGGS, HENRY DITTOE,
NICHOLAS McCARTY.

His Excellency ETHAN A. BROWN, Governor of Ohio, Columbus.
He was soon after appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court, and served
in that capacity to the day of his death.
My memory extends back to about 1827, and