IAGenWeb Project - Allamakee co.

George W. Sherman

 

George W. Sherman is numbered among the pioneers in Allamakee county, his residence here dating from 1857. From that time until his retirement he was a force in agricultural development, his individual prosperity constituting an element in the general advancement. He is honored as a veteran of the Civil war, having served three years in that conflict, and in all the relations of life has proved loyal, courageous and straightforward. Mr. Sherman is a native of Pennsylvania, born in Erie county, February 8, 1834. He grew to manhood on a farm in that section and acquired his primary education in the public schools, supplementing this by a course in Albion Academy. He fitted himself for teaching and after laying aside his books followed that occupation for three terms before he was twenty-one years of age. In the spring of 1855 he left Pennsylvania and came west, settling first in Monroe county, Wisconsin, where he taught in the public schools for two years. He there married and came with his wife to Iowa, making a permanent location in Allamakee county in 1857. He was one of the pioneer teachers in this section of the state and for several years after his arrival followed his profession during the winter months, engaging in farming during the summers. He purchased forty acres of land near Rossville and this he improved and developed until August 11, 1862, when he enlisted in the Union army, joining Company A, Twenty-seventh Iowa Volunteer Infantry. His regiment was sent to Dubuque, where it drilled for two or three months, and at the end of that time was trasferred to Fort Snelling to assist in driving off the Indians at that point. It was later ordered to Memphis, Tennessee, and took part in many skirmishes, battles and forced marches, participatin in the Red River expedition and the battles at Pleasant Hill, Fair Oaks, Fort DeRussy, Little Rock and Nashville. During all of this time, however, Mr. Sherman never carried a gun, having been detailed to hospital duty, serving for the first two years as nurse and for the remainder of his term of enlistment as acting hospital steward. With the exception of a thirty-day furlough he was continuously in the service from the time of his enlistment until his discharge at the close of the war, having never lost a day's time, through sickness or from any other cause.

After the close of hostilities Mr. Sherman returned to his old home in Erie county, Pennsylvania, and spent a few months visiting his old friends and neighbors. However, in November of the same year he returned to Iowa and in 1866 resumed farming, engaging also in drilling and sinking wells. He has the reputation of having constructed the first drilled well in Allamakee county. After a time he sold his farm near Rossville and purchased one hundred and sixty acres just adjoining the corporate limits of WAukon and this property he developed and improved for many years, his practical methods, his knowledge of farming, his industry, energy and success winning him a place among the substantial and representative agriculturists of the county. Eventually, however, he sold his farm, disposing of it in five acre tracts, and retired from active life, moving into Waukon, where he purchased the home in which he and his daughter now reside.

In Monroe county, Wisconsin, Mr. Sherman married Miss Katherine Round, who was born and reared in that section. She was a daughter of Zina Rund, a pioneer in Wisconsin, having come to that state in early times from Vermont. Mrs. sherman passed away in 1873, leaving four children: J.D., who is engaged in farming near Waukon; Lida L., who makes her home with her father; Mrs. Maggie E. Roberts, of Mason City, Iowa; and Lela, the wife of E.W. Goodykoontz, who is engaged in business in Waukon.

Mr. Sherman keeps in touch with his comrades of the Civil war through his membership in John J. Stillman Post, No. 194, G.A.R., of which he has served as quartermaster for eighteen years. During the period of his residence in Allamakee county he has taken an active part in local politics, having served as assessor and tax collector, as census enumerator and in various other positions of public trust and honor. He and his daughter are members of the Baptist church and the latter is activ ein church and Sunday School work. A resident of this section for 56 years and continuously identified with its growth and developement, Mr. Sherman has become widely and favorably known in the locality as a man enterprising in business, progressive in citizenship and faithful to all ties and obligations of life -- one of Allamakee countys most honored pioneers.

-source: Past & Present of Allamakee County; by Ellery M. Hancock; S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.; 1913; pg. 8 & 9
-transcribed by Sharyl Ferrall

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