Samuel Sherwood

Samuel Sherwood (April 24, 1779 – October 31, 1862) was a United States Representative from New York. Before being admitted to the New York Bar, as a younger man in 1800, he worked in the office of Ebenezer Foote.

Biography

Sherwood was born in Kingsbury, New York on April 24, 1779. He completed preparatory studies, began the study of law at the age of fifteen in Kingston, and moved to Delhi in 1798, where he continued his legal studies. He was admitted to the bar in 1800 and practiced in Delhi. Sherwood's home near the confluence of the West Branch Delaware River and Little Delaware River included a farm, and he was also involved in local business ventures, including a tannery and a grist mill.

In addition to his legal and business interests, Sherwood was active in the New York Militia as paymaster of Colonel Elisha Butler's regiment.

Sherwood was elected as a Federalist to the Thirteenth Congress (March 4, 1813 to March 3, 1815). He was not a candidate for renomination to the Fourteenth Congress and resumed the practice of his profession in Delhi,

In 1830 Sherwood moved to New York City, where he continued to practice law until retiring in 1858.

Sherwood died in New York City on October 31, 1862. He was buried at Woodland Cemetery in Delhi.

Samuel Sherwood BIRTH 24 Apr 1779 Kingsbury, Washington County, New York, USA DEATH 31 Oct 1862 (aged 83) New York, New York County (Manhattan), New York, USA BURIAL Woodland Cemetery, Delhi, Delaware County, New York, PLOT 385 MEMORIAL 7783303

US Congressman. He was elected to represent New York's 8th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1813 to 1815.

Spouse Laura Sherwood 1790–1863

Children:

• Sherwood's daughter Ann Eliza (1801–1872) was the wife of Herman D. Gould.
• John Sherwood, a lawyer.

New York Times, 13 November, 1862, Obituary of Samuel Sherwood

He recorded a few days ago the death of Samuel Sherwood, Esq., at the advanced age of nearly eighty-four years, probably the oldest, as he certainly was one of the ablest lawyers of this State. He was born in Washington County, New-York, in 1779, his father then being in command of a body of levies stationed -- on what was our western frontier—at Fort Stanwix, now Rome. In the Autumn of 1780, a large marauding party of Tories and Indians, led by the British Col. Carlton, made an incursion from Canada upon that part of the country, burning the houses of the Whigs, including that of Mr. Sherwood's father at Sandy Hill. His mother, forced to fly through the wilderness with her two children, sought refuge at Fort Miller, leaving her home wrapped in flames, so that her infant son, the subject of the present notice, literally beheld the fires of the Revolution.

At the early age of 15 Mr. Sherwood commenced the study of law, at Kingston, in the office of Conrad Elmendorf, Esq., a prominent lawyer of that place, having as a fellow student his friend the late Chief Justice Oakley, with others since distinguished at the Bar. Mr. Elmendorf then being District-Attorney, embracing a circuit of several Counties, sent young Sherwood, at the age of 19, to Delhi, in Delaware County, to perform the duties of the office. After a brief period in the office of Judge Ebenezer Foot, he was admitted, in the year 1800, in the City of New-York, to the Bar of the Supreme Court, after the public examination customary at that period, in the presence of the five Judges. He was soon engaged in extensive practice, rapidly attaining the reputation, which he permanently established, as one of the leading lawyers in the interior of the State.

During a brief season Mr. Sherwood engaged in political affairs, having been elected as a War Federalist to Congress in 1812, where he took an active part in sustaining the war measures of the Administration in the contest with Great Britain. The published debates of that period attest the force with which he maintained his position, showing himself a worthy compeer of Oakley, Grosvenor and the other eminent leaders of the day. Peculiarly remarkable for activity and energy in conducting his private affairs, after the close of the war he very naturally and cordially supported De Witt Clinton in his patriotic efforts to improve the physical condition of the State. The "State Road" proposed for the southern counties, in fact the precursor and nucleus of the present Erie Railroad, and which was defeated only by the casting vote of the Lieutenant-Governor, engaged his most earnest and active support.

In 1830 Mr. Sherwood removed to the City of New-York, where he remained at the Bar, constantly engaged in its highest Courts, until 1858, when he retired, after the uninterrupted and successful pursuit of the profession for nearly sixty years. As a sound and thorough lawyer, he was widely recognized. He was a forcible and ready speaker. His ingenuity and astuteness in the examination of witnesses and in the general arrangement of facts was quite remarkable, while his imperturbable courage and perfect self-possession under every emergency, were singularly preeminent throughout his life, both private and professional. His name is found in many of the most important cases in the books of reports, and it stands conspicuous in that array of lawyers that in the brightest period of our judicial annals gave to New-York its preeminence in the history of the common law.

References

• Dictionary of Congressional Biography
• Samuel Sherwood Obituary in the New York Times
• Find a Grave|7783303