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Alson Sherman

American politician (1811–1903)

Summary

American politician (1811–1903)

Field	Value
name	Alson Sherman
image	Alson Smith Sherman (1811–1903).png
birth_date
birth_place	Barre, Vermont
death_date
death_place	Waukegan, Illinois
residence	Chicago, Illinois
office	Mayor of Chicago
order	8th
term_start	April 2, 1844
term_end	March 10, 1845
predecessor	Augustus Garrett
successor	Augustus Garrett
office1	Chicago Alderman
term_start1	1849
term_end1	1851
alongside1	John C. Haines
predecessor1	E.H. Chapin
successor1	J.L. James
constituency1	5th ward
term_start2	1842
term_end2	1843
alongside2	Hamilton Barnes
predecessor2	Ira Miltimore/ William S. Stow
successor2	Azel Peck/ Charles Taylor
constituency2	3rd ward
party	Independent Democrat
spouse	Aurora Abbott
children	Alla, Fannie, Kate, Frank, Flora, Walter, Helen, Mary, Nancy, Abijah, Adeline, Marion, Caira, Lucius,
signature	Signature of Alson Smith Sherman (1811–1903).png

Alson Smith Sherman (April 21, 1811 – September 22, 1903) served as Mayor of Chicago, Illinois (1844–1845) as an Independent Democrat.

Biography

Sherman was born to Nathanial Sherman and Deborah (Webster) on April 21, 1811, in Barre, Vermont.

Sherman established the first sawmill in Chicago and served as the city's first iceman.

In the three years before he was elected mayor, Sherman served as chief of Chicago's fire department.

In 1844, Sherman ran for mayor of Chicago after an initial election was invalidated based on charges of "illegal proceedings and fraud." He ran as an Independent Democratic nominee against incumbent Democrat Augustus Garrett and Liberty Party nominee Henry Smith, winning the office with just over 50% of the vote.

As mayor, he oversaw the city's purchase of its first piece of fire-fighting equipment and appointed Denis Swenie as fire chief.

In 1849 he won a special election to replace E.H. Chapin, who had resigned from the Chicago City Council, as an alderman for the city's third ward. He won a full term in 1850.

In 1850, he became one of the original trustees of Northwestern University.

He moved to Waukegan, Illinois, in 1856. In the 1870s, when a canal being dug in Lemont, Illinois, revealed Athens marble, Sherman was instrumental in developing the marble quarry there. He died in Waukegan on September 22, 1903, and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery.

References

"Mayor Alson Smith Sherman Biography". Chicago Public Library.
"Mayor Augustus Garrett Inaugural Address, 1845". Chicago Public Library.
"Centennial List of Mayors, City Clerks, City Attorneys, City Treasurers, and Aldermen, elected by the people of the city of Chicago, from the incorporation of the city on March 4, 1837 to March 4, 1937, arranged in alphabetical order, showing the years during which each official held office.".
(1892). "Journal of the Proceedings of the City Council".
"Chicago Mayors, 1837-2007". Encyclopedia of Chicago.
(September 23, 1903). "Alson S. Sherman Dead". Chicago Daily Tribune.
Garrett, Augustus. (March 7, 1844). "Inaugural Address of Mayor Augustus Garrett". Chicago Public Library.
Walker, Thomas. (April 11, 2008). "Chicago Mayor 1844". Our Campaigns.
"The History of Chicago's Mayors". Genealogy Trails.
"Oak Wood Cemetery, Waukegan". Matt Hucke.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1811-births 1903-deaths 19th-century-mayors-of-places-in-illinois mayors-of-chicago politicians-from-barre,-vermont northwestern-university-trustees

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