Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Sherwood, Luman

Born: 1811-XX-XX Rensselaer County, New York

Luman Sherwood was a lawyer, district attorney, and prison inspector. Born in Hoosick, New York, Sherwood read law, earned admission to the New York bar, and went into practice with his brother Lorenzo in DeRuyter, New York. Sherwood remained in partnership with his brother until 1840, when he moved to Cayuga County, New York. He married Annie Frances Rathbun, with whom he had six children. Sherwood was the district attorney for Cayuga County from January 3, 1844, to January 2, 1847. In May 1845, he received appointment as inspector of the New York State Prison in Auburn, holding that position until it became elective in 1846. In 1850, Sherwood was living in with his wife and six children in Auburn’s Second Ward and owned real property valued at $4,000. In the 1850s, he moved to New York City, where he partnered with his brother Lorenzo to open a law practice. Sherwood also involved himself in the local and national Republican Party. He was a delegate to the 1856 Republican National Convention, and served subsequently as chairman of the corresponding committee of the Republican Central Committee for the city of New York. In 1860, he was working as a lawyer in New York City and had amassed $12,000 in real estate.

Rathbun-Rathbone-Rathburn Family Historian 4 (January 1984), 13; L. M. Hammond, History of Madison County, State of New York (Syracuse, NY: Truair, Smith, 1872), 270-71; History of Cayuga County New York (Auburn, NY: [n.p.], 1908), 319; Elliott G. Storke and Jas. H. Smith, History of Cayuga County, New York (Syracuse, NY: D. Mason, 1879), 98; Frank A. Flower, History of the Republican Party, Embracing its Origin, Growth, and Mission (Grand Rapids, MI: Union Book, 1884), 533; H. L. Wilson, comp., Trow’s New York City Directory, for the Year Ending May 1, 1862 (New York: John F. Trow, [1862]), 779; The New York Herald, 30 November 1863, 5:4; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Ward 2, Auburn, Cayuga County, NY, 248; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Ward 16, New York County, New York, 217; Luman Sherwood to Abraham Lincoln; Gravestone, Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY.