Sherman Smith

The subject of this sketch was born in the State of Connecticut , Sept. 24th, 1795 , and died at his home in Clarksfield Township , Huron County , Ohio , on the morning of Aug. 23d, 1889 , in his 94th year. Mr. Smith was a most exemplary citizen, and distinguished as one of the very earliest settlers of New London Township . From the "History of Huron County" we copy the following extracts concerning the earlier life of Mr. Smith.

His parents were both natives of Connecticut . His father, Mr. Elisha Smith, was born in 1766; his mother, in 1776. They were married in 1794. Elisha Smith was a blacksmith by trade. In 1805 he and his family moved to Onondaga County , N.Y. , and from thence, in 1811, with a team, to Cincinnati , then a town of 2,500 inhabitants. From Cincinnati the family, consisting of father, mother, three sons and one daughter, came north, settling in Clark Co. Sherman was the eldest of the children. In 1814 the children were made orphans by the death of both father and mother. Sherman 's brother, Austin C., died in 1827, and his other, and younger brother, Major, died several years ago on his farm in Clarksfield. His sister Betsey, wife of Zelotus Barrett, died in 1839. The three brothers, in 1815, came and settled on the farm now owned by Mr. George Jenney in New London , afterwards moving just across the township line in Clarksfield, where Sherman died nearly a century after his birth. Upon the organization of New London Township , in 1817, Mr. Smith was elected township clerk, which office he held until the year 1832.

Funeral services were held at the residence on Sunday, which were largely attended, interment taking place in the Butterfield cemetery. Mr. Hudson Tuttle, a prominent professor of modern spiritualism, conducted the services, remarks also being made by Dr. A.D. Skellenger of this village.

NEW LONDON RECORD, Thursday, August 29, 1889 , page 4

Submitted by: Dianne L. Springer Fulton