Howard-Whitley County IN Archives Biographies.....Gerhart, Thomas Sherman 1868 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/in/infiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com April 5, 2006, 4:19 am Author: Jackson Morrow (circa 1909) THOMAS SHERMAN GERHART. It is not an easy task adequately to describe the character of a man who has led an eminently active and busy life in connection with the great legal profession and who has stamped his individuality on the plane of definite accomplishment in one of the most exacting fields of human endeavor. Yet there is always full measure of satisfaction in adverting, even in a casual way, to the career of an able and conscientious worker in any line of human endeavor. Among the truly self-made and representative men of Howard county none ranks higher than the honorable gentleman whose name heads this sketch, who came to Kokomo in 1901, where he soon became a conspicuous figure in the civic life of the community. A man of tireless energy and indomitable courage, he has won and held the unqualified esteem of his fellow citizens. With the law as his profession from young manhood, he has won a brilliant reputation and the future gives promise of still much greater things for him. Thomas Sherman Gerhart is a Hoosier by birth, having been born in Whitley county, Indiana, April 20, 1868, the son of Jacob and Margaret Ann (Norris) Gerhart, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Whitley county, this state, both of whom are still living in 1908 on the old homestead near Lawrenceville, Illinois, where they moved in 1870. Our subject attended the common schools at Lawrenceville. Illinois. Being one of the seven children and his father having been a man of limited resources at that time, our subject found it necessary to work his way to educational advantages as best he could. This he did principally by teaching school. After teaching two terms of country school he became principal and afterward superintendant of the Lawrenceville high school. He held first grade license issued by the county superintendents in Illinois. Between school terms he took an academic course in Vincennes University, graduating from that institution in 1904. While a student there he ranked second in a gold medal contest in oratory and he was chosen by the board of trustees of this school as orator of commencement day. He also did some experimental work at the State University of Indiana at Bloomington, attending the liberal arts department and ranking junior in that apartment, doing mathematical and historical work. He was chosen class day orator to deliver the "ivy oration" to the graduation class of 1901, at the State University. While in Vincennes University, Lieutenant Van Fleet, of West Point, offered him the captaincy of the University Cadets, but he declined and recommended a boy whom he thought better qualified. He was also offered the first sergeantship of the Vincennes Cadets, which body went to Cuba during the Spanish-American war, but declined on account of ill health at the time, he just recovering from typhoid fever. He ranked second in a gold medal contest for best drilled cadet in a company of about sixty, being defeated by a young man especially drilled by him for the contest. Mr. Gerhart was also a student in the commercial department of Mount Morris College, Ogle county, Illinois, in 1890. He was tendered the principalship of the city schools at Pulman, Washington, in 1896. He resigned the superintendency of the Lawrenceville schools when he entered the law department of the State University in 1899. After the completion of this work he came to Kokomo and formed a law partnership with John W. Cooper. Since casting his citizenship with the people of Howard county he has been variously honored by the electorate of his adopted city. He has been a resident of the city only two years when he was elected a member of the city council, which he resigned to accept the appointment of city judge tendered him by Governor Hanley. At the expiration of his term as city judge he was appointed by the governor as a member of the police board at the governor's solicitude and having filled that place so acceptably, he was re-appointed in 1908. Mr. Gerhart has always been more or less interested in politics, having taken an active part in his party's affairs since he was eighteen years old. He was a delegate to the Ninth District Republican convention in 1902 from Howard county, in which gathering his influence was distinctly felt. When twenty-three years old he lacked only four votes of election in a Democratic township that was from fifty to one hundred Democratic. When only twenty-one years old he was chairman of his township delegation in the county convention. While practicing law Judge Gerhart successfully prosecuted a case against the United States Express Company for failure to deliver express packages in cities of two thousand and five hundred population. This case was taken to the supreme court of the state of Indiana and is now cited as a precedent. The case is fully reported in volume thirty-one of "American and English R. R. Cases," as well as in volume one hundred and sixty-four, of the Indiana Supreme Court Reporter. Mr. Gerhart is a progressive Republican, whose advice is often sought in the councils of his party and the offices of public trust that he has held have been attended to with unerring ability and to the satisfaction of all concerned. Our subject's domestic life dates from June 15, 1S98, when he was happily married to Caroline Jennings Clark, daughter of the Rev. T. J. Clark, of Bloomington, Indiana. She is a woman of many admirable traits and the representative of a highly esteemed and influential family. To this union two sons have been born, both bright and interesting children, their names being Francis Clark, age six, and Charles Thomas, age two, in 1908. Judge Gerhart is a member of the Main street Christian church, Kokomo, in which he has served as deacon or elder since 1902. He has a wide acquaintance over the state, having been admitted to practice in the local, state and federal courts. His learning, capacity, aptitude and persistency are readily recognized and the prophecy of his friends is that he will be favored with many additional honors from his fellow citizens. He has an unblemished record, having always been upright and honorable in all his relations with his fellow men, setting a worthy example of a public-spirited, honest, energetic and wholesome character, such as the public always delights to reward and honor. Additional Comments: From: HISTORY OF HOWARD COUNTY INDIANA BY JACKSON MORROW, B. A. ILLUSTRATED VOL. II B. F. BOWEN & COMPANY INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA (circa 1909) File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/in/howard/bios/gerhart299nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/infiles/ File size: 7.1 Kb