All of the quotes were written in 1875
Sherman was descended from Edmond Sherman of Dedham, Essex County England who
was in Boston by 1636. He is related to Roger Sherman, signer of the
Declaration of Independence.
Sherman's grandfather Taylor Sherman was one of the men sent west from
Connecticut to settle the claims in the Western Reserve.
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."
Sherman was born in 1820 and was
named after the great Shawnee chief Tecumseh. Sherman was born in
Lancaster Ohio - about 100 miles east of Tecumseh's birthplace.
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.
Sherman's father Charles R.
Sherman was nominated to the Ohio Supreme Court in 1821 . The following quotation
from the nominating petition must have made a strong impression on the young WT
Sherman:
that gentleman
(Charles R. Sherman) 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.
