Roger Sherman

Signature of Roger Sherman in cursive handwriting.
A portrait of a man sitting on a wooden chair in front of a dark background with draped curtains. He is dressed in a red coat with gold buttons, a white shirt, and black stockings.

BORN – April 19, 1721, in Newton, MA.  Grew up in Stoughton (now Canton), MA.  Parents (English ancestry) – William Sherman (b1691-d1741) and Mehitable Wellington Sherman (b1688-___).  Eight Children – William Sherman (b1716-d1756), Mehitable Sherman (___), Mary Sherman (b1719-___), Elizabeth Sherman (___-d1793), Rebecca Sherman (___), Roger Sherman (b1721-d1793), Josiah Sherman (___), Nathaniel Sherman (b1724-___). 

DIED - July 23, 1793(1793-07-23) (age 72), in New Haven, CT from typhoid fever.  Religion – Congregationalist (Puritan).  Buried – Grove Street Cemetery, New Haven, CT.  He was initially buried in New Haven Green.  In 1821, when that cemetery was relocated, his remains were moved to the Grove Street Cemetery.   

APPEARANCE – The picture above is the portrait of Roger Sherman (age 56) painted by Ralph Earl in 1777.  When he joined the Congress, his brown hair was cut short and he did not wear the customary wig.  Thomas Jefferson wrote of Roger Sherman - "That is Mr. Sherman, of Connecticut, a man who never said a foolish thing in his life."  John Adams said of Roger Sherman, he is "an old Puritan, as honest as an angel and as firm in the cause of American Independence as Mount Atlas."        

FAMILY – Married - Elizabeth Hartwell (b1726-d1760) in 1749.  Seven Children (four surviving to adulthood) – John Sherman (b1750-d1802), William Sherman (b1751-d1789), Isaac Sherman (b1753-d1819), Chloe Sherman 1 (-b1754-d1757, age 3), Oliver Sherman (b1756-d1757, age one), Chloe Sherman 2 Skinner (b1758-1840), Elizabeth Sherman (b1760-d1762, age 2).  Wife Elizabeth died in 1760 during childbirth with daughter Elizabeth.  Married - Rebecca Minot Prescott (1742-1813) in 1763.  Eight Children - Rebecca Sherman Baldwin (b1764-d1794), Elizabeth (Burr) Sherman Baldwin (b1765-d1850), Roger Sherman, Jr. (b1768–d1856), Prudence Sherman (b1772-d1849), Mehitable Sherman Barnes Evarts (b1774-d1851), Oliver Sherman (b1777-d1821), Sarah Sherman Hoar (b1778-d1866), Martha Sherman Day (b1779-d1806).

OCCUPATION – SURVEYOR, LAWYER, JUDGE, LEGISLATOR.  Self-taught and home schooled.  Established a law practice in CT in 1754.  Justice of the Superior Court of Connecticut from 1766 to 1789.  Member of the Continental Congress representing Connecticut from 1774 to 1776.  First Mayor of New Haven, CT from 1784 to his death in 1793.  Member of the Constitutional Convention from in 1787, and was one of the 40 Signers of the U.S. Constitution.  He was instrumental in the Great Compromise between the small states and large states.  U.S. Congressman from Connecticut from 1789 to 1791.  U.S. Senator from Connecticut from 1791 to 1793.  Called the “most influential member of Congress.” 

AT SIGNING – Age 55 at signing.  Member of the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration - John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson.  First to sign the Declaration of the four member delegation from Connecticut.  He was the only person to sign all four founding documents of the U.S. – (1) Continental Association, (2) U.S. Declaration of Independence, (3) Articles of Confederation, (4) U.S. Constitution.  First of the delegation from Connecticut to sign the Declaration.

AFTER SIGNING – Continued to serve in Congress in Philadelphia until 1781.

HISTORIC SITES

College – Connecticut Hall, Old Campus, Yale University, New Haven, CT (1752).  Located at 1017 Chapel Street, on the Yale Old Campus, New Haven, CT 06520, Phone 203-432-4771, Website www.yale.edu. 

Gravesite – Grove Street Cemetery, New Haven, CT (1796).  Located at 200 Grove Street, New Haven, CT 06511, Phone 203-787-1443, Website www.grovestreetcemetery.org. 

A large, historic brick building with multiple floors and rows of windows, surrounded by trees and a pathway in a park-like setting.

Connecticut Hall, Yale University, New Haven, CT (1752). 

Located at 1017 Chapel Street, on the Yale Old Campus, New Haven, CT 06520, Phone 203-432-4771, Website www.yale.edu. 

Founded in 1701, Yale University is the third oldest institution of higher learning in the U.S., next to Harvard and William and Mary.  Connecticut Hall, also known as Old South Middle, is the oldest building on the Yale campus and one of the oldest buildings in Connecticut.  It is the only surviving 1700’s structure at Yale and the last surviving remnant of the Old Brick Row.  The design was based on Massachusetts Hall at Harvard University.  It was originally a student dormitory.  Today, it houses the offices of Yale’s Philosophy Department.