Hoyt Sherman

Hoyt Sherman was born in 1827 in Lancaster, Ohio. He was the youngest of eleven children born to Mary ({{nee|Hoyt}}) Sherman (1787–1852) and Charles R. Sherman, a lawyer who was a justice on the Ohio Supreme Court,{{sfn|Marszalek|2007|p=4}} who died unexpectedly of typhoid fever in 1829.{{sfn|Holden-Reid|2020|p=21}}{{cite book|author=Gue, Benjamin F. |title=Iowa biography |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GLgyAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA243|year=1903|publisher=Century History Company|pages=243–244}} Among his siblings were U.S. Federal Judge Charles Taylor Sherman, U.S. Senator John Sherman, and Major General William T. Sherman.

Until eighteen years of age, Hoyt's time was divided between school and the printing office as he apprenticed under his brothers Charles and John in Mansfield, Ohio. In the spring of 1848 he came to Fort Des Moines, Iowa, then far out on the western frontier.

File:Hoyt Sherman (circa 1860).jpg

In 1849, he was admitted to the bar and began to practice law, and also engaged in real estate business. In March of that year he was appointed by President Zachary Taylor postmaster of Des Moines, holding that position until the inauguration of President Franklin Pierce, when he resigned and was elected clerk of the District Court. President Abraham Lincoln appointed him the Army Paymaster at the start of the Civil War, with the rank of Major.

Upon his return, Hoyt teamed up with others and created Equitable of Iowa Insurance Company. During this time, he also gave his counsel, his time, and his money to ensure Des Moines had schools, including a college, a waterworks system, and many more facilities.{{cite web |title=Hoyt Sherman |url=https://projectdesmoines.dmpl.org/items/show/48 |website=Project Des Moines |publisher=Des Moines Public Library |access-date=12 October 2021}}

In 1854, he was the senior member of the banking house of Hoyt Sherman & Co., and upon the establishment of the State Bank of Iowa he became cashier of the Des Moines branch and was one of the directors on part of the State to supervise the system and guard the public interests. When the American Civil War began Mr. Sherman was appointed by President Abraham Lincoln paymaster in the Union army with the rank of major, holding the position for three years. He was one of the organizers of the Equitable Life Insurance Company of Iowa and for many years its general manager. That institution owes much of its stability and high standing to Major Sherman's reputation for integrity and skillful management.

In 1866, Major Sherman was a member of the House of the Eleventh General Assembly where he was chairman of the committee on railroads and a member of the committee of ways and means.{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofiowafro03gueb/page/478/mode/2up |title=History of Iowa |volume=3 |year=1903 |publisher=The Century History Company |page=479 |via=Archive.org |access-date=2023-10-02}}{{Open access}}[https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/legislator?ga=11&personID=5296 The Iowa Legislature-Representative Hoyt Sherman] In 1886, he was one of the founders of the Pioneer Lawmakers' Association and was one of its most influential members, serving as president and long a member of the executive committee. He contributed valuable historical articles to the Annals of Iowa on "Early Banking in Iowa", and on the "State Bank of Iowa". For many years he was the chief executive officer of the Associated Charities of Des Moines.

File:Grave of Hoyt Sherman (1827–1904) at Woodland Cemetery, Des Moines.jpg

On December 25, 1855, Sherman was married to Sarah Elvira Moulton (1837–1887), a daughter of Daniel Alonzo Moulton and Adaline ({{nee}} Wallace) Moulton. Together, they were the parents of:{{cite book |last1=Moulton |first1=Henry William |title=Moulton Annals |date=1906 |publisher=Edward A. Claypool |page=97 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ixc5AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA97 |access-date=16 June 2023 |language=en}}

• Frank Allen Sherman (1857–1902), who married Ada Louise Bacon, a daughter of Capt. George S. Bacon.
• Adeline Moulton Sherman (1859–1917),{{cite news |title=Mrs. Adeline Sherman Wiborg |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-new-york-times-mrs-adeline-sherman/167719231/ |access-date=2025-03-11 |newspaper=The New York Times |page=11 |date=4 January 1917 |via=Newspapers.com}} who married Frank Bestow Wiborg in 1882.
• Charles Moulton Sherman (1866–1911), who married Bertha Bartlett, a daughter of Joseph J. Bartlett.{{cite book |last1=Stratton |first1=Bertha Mary Ludwig |title=Transatlantic Shermans |date=1969 |publisher=B.L. Stratton |page=164 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ob1RAAAAMAAJ |access-date=16 June 2023 |language=en}}
• Arthur Hoyt Sherman (1869–1945), who married Corsa Linnie Kintzley, a daughter of William Worth Kintzley.{{cite book |title=Southwest Blue Book |date=1940 |publisher=G.B. Duthie |page=282 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KBeY5g5sEXwC |access-date=16 June 2023 |language=en}}
• Helen Sherman (1873–1961), who married William O. Griffith.{{cite book |last1=Virkus |first1=Frederick Adams |last2=Marquis |first2=Albert Nelson |title=The Abridged Compendium of American Genealogy: First Families of America |date=1930 |publisher=A.N. Marquis |page=228 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eFAbAAAAYAAJ |access-date=16 June 2023 |language=en}}

Sherman died on January 25, 1904, in Des Moines, Iowa, and was interred at Woodland Cemetery.{{cite news |title=Hoyt Sherman Dead.; Brother of the Late Gen W.T. and John Sherman Dies at Des Moines. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-new-york-times-hoyt-sherman-dead/167719265/ |access-date=2025-03-11 |newspaper=The New York Times |place=Des Moines, Iowa |page=9 |date=1904-01-25 |publication-date=26 January 1904 |via=Newspapers.com}}

Through his daughter Adeline, he was a grandfather of arts patron Sara Sherman Wiborg,{{cite news |last1=Whitman |first1=Alden |title=Sara Murphy, Patron of Writers And Artists in France, 91, Dead |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/10/11/archives/sara-murphy-patron-of-writers-and-artists-in-france-91-dead.html |access-date=2025-03-11 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=11 October 1975}} playwright Mary Hoyt Wiborg,{{cite news |title=Mary Hoyt Wiborg, Aided French in War |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/03/28/archives/mary-hoyt-wiborg-aided-french-in-war.html |access-date=2025-03-11 |newspaper=The New York Times |place=Paris |page=19 |date=1964-03-27 |publication-date=28 March 1964}} and Olga ({{nee}} Wiborg) Fish (wife of Sidney Webster Fish, a son of Stuyvesant Fish).{{cite news |title=Miss Wiborg, Bride of Sidney W. Fish; Youngest Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. F. B. Wiborg Married in St. Luke's, East Hampton. Her Sisters Attendants; A Simple Ceremony Owing to Recent Death of Bridegroom's Mother Honeymoon on Vanderbilt Yacht |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-new-york-times-miss-wiborg-bride-of/167719346/ |access-date=2025-03-11 |newspaper=The New York Times |page=15 |date=19 September 1915 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |title=Mrs. Sidney Fish, a Society Woman; Member of the East Hampton Summer Colony Dies at Her California Home |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_new-york-times_1937-04-19_86_28940/page/21/mode/1up |access-date=2025-03-11 |newspaper=The New York Times |place=Pebble Beach, California |page=21 |date=1937-04-18 |publication-date=19 April 1937 |via=Internet Archive}}

In 1877 Sherman built a grand manor; the structure is now a museum and performing arts center.{{cite web|url=http://www.hoytsherman.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18&Itemid=55|title=History|publisher=Hoyt Sherman Place|accessdate=2013-02-01|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121122070322/http://www.hoytsherman.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18&Itemid=55|archivedate=2012-11-22}} The original house and gallery now display a collection of 19th- and 20th-century paintings, as well as elaborately carved 17th-century furniture and other rare artifacts. The mansion, now known as Hoyt Sherman Place, lent its name to the surrounding Des Moines neighborhood of Sherman Hill. For many years Hoyt Sherman Place has served as the headquarters for Des Moines Women's Club. The house, gallery, and theater are now under the management of the Hoyt Sherman Place Foundation.{{citation needed |date=May 2025}}

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book|last=Holden-Reid |first=Brian |author-link=Brian Holden-Reid |title=The Scourge of War: The Life of William Tecumseh Sherman |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2020 |isbn=978-0-19539-273-9}} See book review at {{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-scourge-of-war-review-a-long-march-into-myth-11590761550 |work=The Wall Street Journal |title='The Scourge of War' Review: A Long March Into Myth |first=Fergus M. |last=Bordewich |author-link=Fergus Bordewich |date=May 29, 2020 |accessdate=January 7, 2022|ref=none}}
• {{cite book |last=Marszalek |first=John F. |author-link=John F. Marszalek |title=Sherman: A Soldier's Passion for Order |date=2007 |orig-year=1992 |edition=Reissued with new preface |publisher=Southern Illinois University Press |isbn=978-0-02-920135-0}}

{{Portal|Biography|American Civil War}}

• [https://archive.org/details/shermangenealog01shergoog/page/n447 Sherman Genealogy Including Families of Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk, England] By Thomas Townsend Sherman

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Category:1827 births

Category:1904 deaths

Category:Sherman family (United States)

Category:American bankers

Category:Businesspeople from Des Moines, Iowa

Category:Politicians from Des Moines, Iowa

Category:People from Lancaster, Ohio

Category:People of Iowa in the American Civil War

Category:Republican Party members of the Iowa House of Representatives

Category:United States Army paymasters

Category:Union army officers

Category:19th-century American businesspeople

Category:19th-century members of the Iowa General Assembly