George M. Sherwood
G. M. Sherwood was born July 14, 1839, in Now
York, and is the eighth of nine children born to Amos and Mary (Campbell)
Sherwood. They were of English and Scotch descent, respectively. The father was
born in 1802 in Connecticut, and moved to the suburbs of Syracuse, N. Y., when a
young man. He was quite a prominent man of the locality where he resided, taking
part in all questions pertaining to the public interest. He died in the year
1858. The mother was born in Onondaga County, N. Y., in the year 1804, and was a
member and an active worker in the Presbyterian Church. She died in the year
1867. Our subject received his education principally at Onondaga Academy; began
business for himself at the age of eighteen, and in 1862 married Miss Fannie
Butts, daughter of Nelson and Prudence Butts, who were old and prominent
citizens of Onondaga County, N. Y. Mr. Sherwood had the misfortune to lose his
wife in 1862, and in 1866 he married Miss Sarah M. Woodbury, a daughter of
Francis and Maria P. Woodbury. To this union were born five children: Mary C.,
George W., Clara, Juliet and Edward Marshall. After marriage our subject engaged
in the boot and shoe business in Jackson, Mich., where he moved in the
year 1864, the style of the firm being Sherwood Bros. He sold his stock of boots
and shoes, and came to Chattanooga in April, 1870, where he engaged in the same
business for six years. He was elected city recorder, serving in that capacity
for four years; he was out one year and then was re-elected and served one year.
He was a member of the county court about seven years, after which he moved out
to Mission Ridge, purchased 80 acres of land, and since then has engaged
extensively in buying and selling real estate. Mr. Sherwood is a Republican in
politics. His brother, Harvey C. Sherwood, has been a member of the State
Senate of Michigan, and was a Democratic candidate of the Fourth District for
Congress, but was defeated by a prominent Republican. Although the district was
strongly Republican, he led his competitor a hot chase. Mr. and Mrs. Sherwood
are members of the Second Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga, of which Mr.
Sherwood is an elder.
Goodspeed's
"History of Tennessee" 1887