Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut

ton, Miss Ellen Nichols, Uriah Bulkley, Abrain Sherwood, Nathan Bulkley and David Gould. At the age of four years he was taken to the home of an uncle, \\'illiani Jennings, who occupied our subject's present homestead, but in 185 1, after the death of his father, he returned home and remained until the winter of 1854-55, since which time he has resided on his present farm. He seems to have inherited his father's mechanical genius, and after picking up the carpenter's trade he followed it successfully for some years, but of late his time has been given mainly to the man- agement of his farm. While he is a steadfast believer in Democratic principles, so far as Na- tional affairs are concerned, he often selects the best nian in local elections, irrespective of party. He has won an enviable reputation for upright dealing, his word never being questioned. His family is prominent socially, and he and his wife are members of the Congregational Church at Greenfield Hill. On May 31, 1852, Mr. Wilson was married at Greenfield Hill, by Rev. Thomas B. Sturges, to Miss Frances J. Banks, and six children have blessed the union, the four living being still at home. They are as follows: William W. , born June 23, 1853, is unmarried; MaryE.; Charles W., Jr. (a school teacher), born April 14, 1859, died November 5, 1893, unmarried; Frances J.; George B., born August 21, 1865, died November 14, 1892; and Samuel F., born October 26, 1875. The last named is a musician of both vocal and instrumental attainments, and possesses a fine tenor voice; he has been connected with the choir of Greenfield Hill Church five years. Mr. Wilson has sold a portion of his former holdings, but he retains the farm, which comprises some eighty acres. Mrs. Wilson was born May 14, 1831, in Burr's District, town of Fairfield, a daughter of William Banks, a well-known farmer and shoe- maker, who died at the age of forty-four years. William Banks was the son of Elija, who, with his brother Hyatt, was a soldier in the Revolu- tionary war, and was the son of Gershom, whose ancestor, John Banks, a lawyer, was an early settler of Fairfield, and one of the richest and most prominent men of his time. Mrs. Julia (Banks) Wilson, daughter of Elija, was pre- sented with a gold spoon by the Daughters of the American Revolution. She is now over ninety years of age. Harriet (Fairman), wife of William Banks, and who survived him, living to her sixty-first year, was a daughter of Richard and Sarah (Wakeman) Fairman, the former a native of Newtown and, later, a resident of Fair- field. William and Harriet Banks had eight daughters: Sarah (i), who died aged seven and one-half years; Mary, who died in infancy; Annie, widow of David DeForest, of Bridgeport; Frances J. (Mrs. Wilson); Flora, who died in infancy; Sarah (2), who married Carmi Hart, and- died in Bridgeport; Mary W., who died unmar- ried; and Caroline C, who marrieil Simon Cron- enberger, of Bridgeport, and died there some years ago. Mrs. Wilson's maternal grandmother, Sarah (Wakeman) Fairman, was the daughter of Eb- -enezer Wakeman, and granddaughter of John Wakeman, both of Fairfield township, and de- scendants of the Rev. Samuel Wakeman, who was prominent in Colonial days. Ebenezer Wakeman was a farmer, and he also engaged in the making of fine shoes, at the same time oper- ating a tannery. He was a thorough business man. His first wife was a Miss Webb, and their children were: Ebenezer, Eunice and Betsy. For his second wife Ebenezer married Mrs. Sarah (Shelton) Hawley, widow of Eli Hawley, and they had three children: Jonathan, an at- torney; Abijah, who became a farmer, and Sarah, who married Richard Fairman. Mrs. Sarah (Shelton) Wakeman owned slaves which she brought to Greenfield from Stratford, and she afterward sold and freed some of them. She was a native of Huntington, Conn., and a de- scendant of Daniel Shelton, who emigrated to this country with his brother Richard, from Yorkshire, England, in the year 1690. He set- tled in Stratford, Conn. Richard went to Virginia. JOHN HENRY SHERWOOD, a well-known horticulturist of Fairfield township, is the owner of a valuable farm near Southport, which he manages with rare skill and judgment. He is thoroughly progressive in his methods, and has made notable improvements in his chosen line of work, being the originator of the cele- brated " Pequot strawberry," one of the finest varieties known of that fruit. Mr. Sherwood comes of good old pioneer stock, being of the seventh generation in descent from Thomas Sherwood who came from England and settled in what is now Fairfield township before the organization of the town. In all the movements relating to the settlement of the locality he took an active part, his death occurring about 1675, and his descendants have always been characterized by the qualities that constitute good citizenship. Benjamin Sherwood (1), through whom the line of descent to our subject is continued, was ■802 COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. a wealthy land owner of Fairfield township, his estate covering the entire circuit of Mill Hill, and his residence stood on the knoll inside the present limits of Oak Lawn cemetery, near the gate. Benjamin Sherwood (2), the next in the line of descent, was born in 1699, and died January 19, 1763. His wife, Eleanor (Bradley), was born in 1707, and died March 20, 1793. They had the following children: John, who is mentioned below; Seth, who was married three times; Benja- min, who never married; Ellen (Mrs. Hull); Sarah (Mrs. Burr); and Mehitable (Mrs. Hill). John Sherwood, the great-grandfather of our subject, was a prominent citizen of Fairfiuld in ,his day, and was especially active in religious work, the first meeting of the congregation of Trinity Episcopal Church at Southport being held in his house. He lived to the age of si.xty- four, and his wife, Sarah (Hill), who survived him, attained the age of eighty-five. They had nine children: John, who married Hannah Bradley; Eliphalet, who married Abigail Sherwood; Ben- jamin, who is mentioned more fully below; Zal- mon, who married Sarah Ogden; Increase, who married a Mr. Gould; Nehemiah, who died in childhood; William, who married Abigail Burr; Abigail; and Sarah, wife of Samuel Dimon. Benjamin Sherwood, our subject's grand- father, was born April 13, 1760, on a farm east of Oak Lawn cemetery, and throughout his act- ive life he followed farming on Mill Hill. He was an excellent citizen, industrious and law- abiding, and was much esteemed by his neigh- bors. He was six feet tall and weighed two hun- dred pounds. In 1782 he married Anna Hull, who was born August 17, 1760, the daughter of Peter Hull and his wife, jerusha (Sturges), a daughter of Solomon Sturges. Benjamin and Anna (Hull) Sherwood had a family of six chil- dren, as follows: Joel (September 6, 1783 — May 9, 1825), was married November 13, 1806, to Abby Hall; Jerusha (September 19, 1786 — April 19, 1813) was married September 25, 1801, to Jesse Banks; Lucretia (January 4, 1789 — Octo- ber 30, 1839) was married September 6, 1807, to Walter Sherwood; Hull, our subject's father, is mentioned below; Eunice (October 10, 1794 — February 13, 1839) was married in November, 1 813, to Edmund Darrow; Eleanor (October 9, 1801 — December 24, 1843) was married in 1825 to James Bulkley. Benjamin Sherwood, the father of this family, enlisted in the Revolu- tionary army at the age of seventeen years, sub- sequently re-enlisting, and Anna Hull, whom he married, was seventeen years of age at the time of the burning of Fairfield, and from a high rock. now on the land of C. Buckingham, saw her home burn. Hull Sherwood, the father of our subject, was born December 31, 1791, and died March i, 1864. He was reared as a farmer, after the old- fashioned methods, but in many respects he an- ticipated, in the management of his own land in later life, the conclusions of modern science as applied to agriculture. His progressive ideas were often met with sneers by his less enterpris- ing neighbors; but they have been vindicated by the practice of the best farmers of the present day. He was extremely fond of flowers, and the yard around his house was nicely kept, while in all parts of his farm evidences of taste and systematic management were to be found. On one occasion, at a fair where a prize was offered for the best bouquet of flowers, he gained the coveted distinction against the competition of the best florists of the county, amateur and pro- fessional, his bouquet containing one hundred and fifty varieties of choice flowers. He was five feet ten inches in height and weighed one hundred and sixty-five pounds, while intellectu- ally he was much superior to the average man. Theological questions interested him greatly, and ministers frequently said that he was the best in- formed layman they had ever met. For forty years he was warden of Trinity Episcopal Church at Southport. In politics he was first a Whig and later a Republican, but he did not take an active share in party work. From the time of his marriage he resided upon a farm ad- joining that of his father, and in 18 16 he built the house in which our subject was born. On April 30, 181 8, he married Caroline Burr, who was born in February, 1798, and died May 29, 18S2, the remains of both being interred in Oak Lawn cemetery. [The Burr family has been prominent in this section from the earliest times, and Mrs. Sherwood's father, Amos Burr, grand- father, Ozias Burr, and great-grandfather, Col. John Burr, were well-known citizens of their re- spective periods.] Of the five children of this marriage, the eldest, Cornelia A., born August 16, 1819, was married February 15, 1859, to Rev. David Hawkins Short (now deceased); Cor- nelia A. died November 12, 1898. (2) Caroline B., born Novembers, 1822, was married April 23, 1846, to Henry A. Knapp (now deceased), and she is also deceased. (3) J. H., our subject, is mentioned more fully below. (4) David H., born June 29, 1829, died April il, 1892, was married October 7, 1856, to Marie Antoinette Beardsley, and died April 11, 1892; they had three children: Mary B., Antoinette B. (now dead), and Alice H. (5) Arthur H., born July Tfll!