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Stephenson County
Sanford S. Sherman, a farmer who
resides on section 19, in Waddams Township, was bora in Essex County, N. Y.,
Aug. 18, 1830. He grew to manhood in his native county, where he attended the district
school and assisted his father in the routine of farm
labor. At the age of nineteen he was sent by his
father to choose a location for the family in the
far West. He first came to Knox County, Ill.,
where his elder sister lived. Here he rented a farm
of 160 acres, and in the following spring his father's
family joined him. In the fall of the same year he
procured a pair of horses and a light wagon, and
with his father, mother and eldest sister, set out for
Jackson County, Iowa. At that day the country
west of the Mississippi River was thinly settled,
and his father not liking the prospects concluded
to return. Sanford S., the following spring, went
to Peoria County, with but twenty-five cents in his
pocket. He engaged to work for a farmer for nine
months, at $13 per month, who afterward engaged
his services for one year at $15 per mouth. He
then remained with the same man's brother-in-law
for nearly two years, after which he returned to
Galesburg and worked for his own brother-in-law
for $26 per month. He remained with him two
seasons, then engaged with another man in the
same locality, working with different farmers until
the year 1855, when he began teaming for a flouring-mill at Henderson. Galesburg, and other places
on the line of the C. B. & Q. Railroad In the spring
of 1856 he returned to New York State, but becoming homesick in two weeks retraced his footsteps to Illinois, and for one year rented a farm two
miles west of Galesburg, and there engaged in
farming until the fall of 1858, when he came to
Stephenson County and farmed for two seasons,
after which he purchased the farm upon which he
now resides. By dint-of hard labor he has succeeded in placing his farm under a high state of
cultivation, with a fine orchard and beautiful shade
trees, and has also erected costly farm buildings.
Sanford S. Sherman and Emma Lock were married Feb. 6, 1859. Mrs. S. was the daughter of
John M. Lock, who was a native of Vermont. She
was born Oct. 14, 1842, at Port Henry, Essex Co.,
N. Y. Her grandfather was Rev. Isaac Lock, a
minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and
one of the first settlers of Essex County, N. Y. He
spent the last years of his life in Maria. The father
of Mrs. Sherman was very young when his parents
moved to the State of New York, where he grew
up and was married to Lucinda Fowler, who was a
native of Vermont. He served several years as
dock master at Port Henry. In 1856 he came to
the Prairie State, and settled in Wad dams Township on section 25, where he remained until his
death, which occurred Oct 3, 1882, leaving his
widow on the old homestead.
Mr. and Mrs. Sherman have six children living,
to-wit: Birdie L., wife of J. H. Becker, now living
in Melrose Township, Grundy Co., Iowa; Edric
E. lives in Mt. Morris, Ogle County; Lillie resides with her grandmother; John E. L., Rose D.
and Raymond L., are at home. Four children.
Earnest, Grace. Rogers and Daisie, are dead.
Sanford S. Sherman is a member of the United
Brethren Church. Mrs. Sherman is a member of
the Methodist Church. Mr. S. is a Republican in
politics, his father formerly being a Whig until the
lime of the Rebellion, when he became a Republican. Sanford S. is one of the representative men
of Stephenson County, and is a living illustration
of what may be accomplished by a young man who
has the determination and industrious habits possessed by our subject He looks about his pleasant
and happy home, and may well feel great satisfaction when he remembers that it was by his own
tireless energies that he became the possessor of
the comfortable home in which he can spend the last
days of his life.
Contributed by Christine Walters
Portrait and Biographical Album of Stephenson County, Ill. (1888)
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