The Newtown bee., 1901-11-01
FAIRFIELD COUNTY.
BROOKFIELD.
HON SAMUEL SHERMAN.

N~~
Sherman, is dead, having passed away
on Saturday last. He had been in
failing health for some weeks, so his
death was not unexpected. Mr. Sher-
man had long been warm friend and
patron of THE BEE. A few years since
an interesting series of letters touch
ing on his experiences, for The BEE.
These we're afterward printed in pam
phlet form and had wide circulation.
| Mr. Sherman was born June 2, 1928,
upon the old Sherman homestead in
BrookfeM ian estate which has now
been in the possession of the family
fer more than century,, and in his
early years received only the educa-
tional opportunities common to coun-
try youth of his day, his winters being
devoted to study in the local schools,
while the summer seasons were spent
in farm work. His active mind was
far from being satisfied with these ad-
vantages, and at the age Of IA he de-
termined to secure liberal education.
He learned the Greek alphabet in the
bayfield,, and carried in his pocket a
Latin grammar to study at intervals
of his labor. For two or three terms
he pursued his studies in the select
school in his native town, and. then
| went to the Connecticut Academy at
Cheshire, where he prepared for col
lege. In 1916 he entered Trinity col
lege, Hartford, and in July, 1850, he
| was graduated from that institution,
ranking among the six highest in his
class. Their attachments in scholar
ship and in the requirements of the
curriculum were SO equal in merit that
their respective college honorS had to
be determined by lOt-an eventuality
rarely known in college history-the
valedictory and salutatory thus falling
to his classmates, while Mr. Sherman
took the first grafton, whicE..was deem
ed third in rank, though each one of
the remarkable six was entitled to
compete for the highest honors. While
in college he became identified with
the Psi Epsilon fraternity. In the
last year of his college life Mr. Sherman
began the study Of law, and after his
graduation he entered the State and
National Law School at Balston Spa,
N. Y, under Prof Fowler, where he
continued two terms, and after pass
ing rigid examination, on motion be-
fore the full Bench of the Supreme
court, sitting at the capitol in Albany
in 1851, he was admitted to the Bar.
Upon receiving his diploma he removed
to New York, where he opened an Of
flee and commenced the practice of
law. In 1852 he was called to Phila-
delphia on business, and thence went
to Washington, where he became
acquainted with the late Vice-Presi-
dent King, then in i'll health, and was
invited to join him on his visit to Cuba,
where Mr. King died. Mr. Sherman re.
turned with his remains to Mobile, and
they were inferred at Selma, Ala
Soon afterward Mr. Sherman made a
tour of the then slave-holding states
studying the workings Of the institu
! tion in town and country. Returning
to New York via Canada, in 1858, he
resumed the practice of his profession
in Wall street.
In 1856 he brought an equity suit ir
Philadelphia to set aside a decree fo1
divorce which he maintained had beer
obtained by fraud and imposition prac
ticed upon the court several years be
fore in the noted case of Griswold VS.
Griswold, in which the eminent Grim
inal lawyer, David Paul Brown, wa
his associate, and Mr. Cuyler, after
ward mayor of Philadelphia, his op
ponent; the libellant Griswold being
Doctor of Divinity and an author an
. writer who had contracted subse
quent marriage with lady in Maine
and his client, the respondent,
wealthy JeWeSS of Charleston, S.
The social position of the parties
the suit attracted wide attention, an
the skillful management Of the case
Mr. Sherman throughout the protrac1
ed trial laid the foundation of his sui
sequent professional success.
Notwithstanding bis business care'
Mr. Sherman found time for wor
in literary and political lines. In 18e
he compiled and published at his ow
I expense, from religious and selecte
matter, a small volume Of sacre
poetry in the Spanish language,
metre, under the title of "HimnOs
Canticos," which was adopted for us
by the Spanish Church of Santiag
New York. More than 10 years afte
ward selections taken from it were Sc
to music and published, with oth'
. Spanish hymns, by the foreign depar
ment of the American Tract Societ
under the same title, in :volume
PIG pages, for use in Mexico and Sout
America, and for the 100000 of Il
Spanish-speaking branch of the hums
family in the Old and New Worl
Mr. Sherman refused to copyright h
7 first edition of the work, belieVil
| that if it had merit it should be fir
| to all. At the General Convention
! the Episcopal church in the U. S. 4
| held at Baltimore in 1871, the bishO
| of Connecticut, New York and Calif(
| MIA were appointed a committee to
wise and correct the Spanish version
the Book Of Common Prayer, and ST
sequently Mr. Sherman was appointe
i with the Rev Joaquin de Palma, rect
II of the Church Of Santiago, N. Y, a
Don Pablo Roura of Cuba, in the orc