Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/744

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��with the great and overshadowing church debt, in which $40,000 were pledged to wipe out the incubus. Within a year also, the great revival under the leader- ship of Messrs. Whittle & McGrannahan added sixty-four members by confession, the other churches of the city also reaping adequate harvests ; temporally and spirit- ually the church has prospered greatly under Mr. Rus- sell's charge, the congregations have been enlarged, the prayer and conference meetings have been largely in- creased in numbers and intensified in interest, and the Sabbath school has had exceptional growth, and is the beautiful and flourishing garden of the church, which is to gladden the future with abundant|fruitage ; the enthu- siasm of the youth of the society has been stimulated and aroused as it never has been before, and the benefi- cence and missionary spirit of the church have been broadened and deepened, and bear onward unusual blessings. In all these realizations, the active brain and willing, practiced hand of Mr. Russell are visible. For the benefit of the community Mr. Russell has, to- gether with the Pastors of the other evangelical denom- inations, begun a work that cannot but be wide-reaching in its influences, blessings and comforts for the poorer classes. The Union Church work was great in its con- ception and noble in its purpose ; it seeks to clothe the naked, feed the hungry and lift up the degraded and sin-stricken, it is practical Christianity as taught by the Savior. Mr. Russell has taken active interest in this movement, and the resident clergy are working harmoniously and efficiently in its behalf ; the larger success is yet to come. One of the principal eff'orts of Mr. Russell has been to promote brotherly feeling and unity of action among the evangelical churches, as the best way to assure God's blessings by deserving them; he has been met in the proper spirit, and all is harmony and peace and promise. Among what has been pub- lished from Mr. Russell's pen apart from newspaper columns, special mention should be made of some out- line lessons of Biblical study, several addresses, quite a number of pamphlet sermons, and a volume on the "State of the Dead," and the geographical index to the collection of maps in one of the best-known teachers' Bibles, believed to be the first index of the kind ap- plied to Biblical maps. His largest work is entitled, " What Jesus Says," a large 12mo of 400 pages, being a compilation of all the utterances of the Savior arranged under topics, with a careful index ; the edition of this work was very soon exhausted, showing it has met and filled a want recognized among Christians.

SEAMAN, CONSTANTINE ORORICK, was born in Virginia, April 3, 1820, and came to Ohio and settled in Wayne Co. in 1833, and to Mansfield in October, 1842. C. O. Seaman was married in 1839 to Margaret Furgu- son, who died in 1849. In the year 1852, he was mar- ried to Miranda Hill, who died in 1866, and in the year 1870, he was married to Rebecca Furguson. Mr. Seaman, in his younger days, was considered one of the strong men of Richland Co., and during his resi- dence here has done much hard labor in assisting to clear up the country and make Mansfield what it is. Mr. Seaman is of English and Irish descent, and inherits a strong constitution ; is in active life, and a resident of the Third Ward, Mansfield, where he has lived many years.

��SEWARD, JAMES P., attorney; was born in Knox Co., Ohio, Oct. 6, 1851, at Mt. Vernon ; moved to Mansfield in 1856. He attended the Vermillion Insti- tute, Hayesville, Ashland Co. ; also attended the Oberlin College ; read law with Manual May ; admitted to the bar, Aug. 22, 1876, in Lorain Co.; engaged in the practice of law in Mansfield in the fall of 1876, and still continues in the practice. In 1877, he was ap- pointed Secretary of the Democratic Executive Com- mittee ; in 1878-79, promoted to the chairmanship of the committee. Mr. Seward ably conducted the cam- paign of 79, which, by his unceasing assiduity, result- ing in a great victory in Richland Co. for Democracy.

SHERMAN, JOHN, HON. The name Sherman is by no means common in England, though it has been highly respected and honored. Sir Henry Sherman, of Yaxley, was one of the executors of the will of the Earl of Derby, dated May 23, 1521 ; William Sherman, Esq., purchased Knightstown, in the time of Henry VIII ; a monument to William Sherman is in Ottery, May, 1542. [Hollister History Conn., Vol. 2, p. 440.]

None of the records now accessible show precisely the relation between the Shermans of Yaxley, and Ed- mund Sherman of Dedham, Essex Co., whose descend- ants came to America. The latter was a clothworker and a man of means ; his initials were found on a stained-glass window (his gift), one of the buttresses of the church was built by him, and the pupils of the free school indorsed by him were seen going to church in procession, by the Rev. Henry B. Sherman, now Pastor of the Church of the Ascension, Esopus, N. Y.

Edmund Sherman married Ann Pellet April 30, 1560; their son Edmund married Ann Clark .June 11, 1584 ; their son, Edmund 3d, had a fourth Edmund, who came to this country with his three sons — John, Edmund and Samuel, and a nephew, John Sherman, but with his son Edmund, returned to England in 1636, and left the three boys to work their way in the new world. The nephew John was the ancestor of Roger Sherman, The son John was the Rev. John Sherman, of Water- town, Mass., the most noted mathematician at that time in New England. Samuel, his brother, was the ances- tor of the Ohio Shermans. His son. Deacon John Sher- man, died in 1730; his son, John 3d, died in 1727; his son, Daniel, was born Aug. 14, 1721, and was one of the noted men of Connecticut. Cothren (page 190) says of Daniel Sherman : " He was perhaps the most distinguished man that had arisen in the town (Wood- bury) previous to his day." He was a Justice of the Quorum for twenty-five years, and Judge of the Litch- field County Courts five years from 1786. For sixteen years, he was Probate Clerk for the District of Wood- bury, and Judge of that District thirty-seven years. He represented his native town in the General Assembly sixty-five sessions, retaining the unbounded confidence of his fellow-citizens. It is to be remembered that there were two sessions a year. May and October. He was a man of commanding powers of mind, of sterling integrity, and every way well qualified for the various public trusts confided to his care. He died at a good old age, and full of honors.

The sixth son of the Hon. Daniel Sherman was Tay- lor Sherman. He was married in 1787 to Elizabeth

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