Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1896-02-13
VANISHED TOWNS
Senator aherman's Book Recalls
Singular circumstances


A century hence the traveller from
afar looking for this or that town IN
the oil region of Pennsylvania or in the
west, in which an ancestor on one side
or the other was born. will have . Job
of it. He may have read glowing de-
scriptions of its prosperity and progress
when the oil business was booming or
when the real estate agent proclaimed
it as good as a fortune to secure some
corner lots. A few years ago a town in
southern Kansas, founded by English-
men, vas known on both sides OF the
sea. To-day nothing remains of 1t a v
the beautiful church. When last heard
from a farmer had fenced in the public
square as a pasture and pen for his hogs.
4 century hence the traveller will hunt
Harper county long before he finds the
town of ~Runnymede.
In the first volume OF his memoirs
Senator Sherman gives an account of
his ancestors, and particularly of Ed
mond Sherman, q cloth manufacturer
and grim Puritan of considerable repu-
tation, who once lived in Dedham, Es-
sex county, England, where he was born
in 1885, and who died in Dedham, Nor
folk county, Mass. He came to this
country in 1884. The senator adds:
"When in London in the summer Of
1889 l concluded to make a visit to the
graves of my ancestors. / examined
Blacks Universal atlas to locate Ded-
ham, but it vas not to be found. /
made inquiries, but could discover no
one who knew anything about Dedham.
and concluded that there was no such
place, although l had often read of it.
l was compelled, therefore, to give up
my visit" But Senator Hoar. through
his mother, a descendant of Roger Sher-
man, more fortunate, or more persist
ent,' found the place, land verified the
accounts VIZ had of our common ances-
tor"
Dedham is ''two or three miles from
Manningtree, a more modern town on
the line of the railroad, which has SUBJ
stant!ally ebscured the ancient and de-
/ cayed village of Dedham," Manning
tree. as shown by the atlas. is near the
! mouth Of the River Stour, and the Dor
der of Essex and Suffolk. the fine town
IT Dedham, near Boston, is named after
abe English village. 1t is the capital
Of Norfolk county, and, as one may see
in the Postal Guide, there is a Dedham
III Hancock county, Me-; in Douglas
county, Wis, and Dedham is the capital
OF Carroll county, Ia. The name Of all
these places can be traced back through
New Englanders to that ancient and de-
cayed village Of Essex, and get one OF
the foremost American statesmen,
whose grandfather and grandmother
were Connecticut Yankees, could not
discover from any book or person in
London that such a place as the English
Dedham existed. 1t was Senator Hoar,
a Massachusetts man. who either
through fortune or his persis-
tency in searching found il 80 and
secured a lot of photographs Of
the principal points in it SO that
if it should be lost again it might
be identified. 1t is a curious comment
on the Londoners hat they did not
know of the existence of a village whidh
cuts SO Important figure In the history
of English-speaking men until 1t was
pointed out to them by an inquisitiye
old Yankee.-Pittsburgh Times.