BIOGRAPHY: Thomas G. Shearman; Brooklyn, Kings co., NY surname: Shearman, Partridge submitted by W. David Samuelsen *********************************************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ny/nyfiles.htm *********************************************************************** A HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND FROM ITS EARLIEST SETTLEMENT TO THE PRESENT TIME BY PETER ROSS, LL. D. THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY NEW YORK AND CHICAGO COPYRIGHT. 1902 THOMAS G. SHEARMAN "That they may rest from their labors and their works do follow them." - Rev. XIV, 13. The city of Brooklyn is known throughout the world as the "City of Churches" not so much because of the number of its religious institutions as because of their influence on the community. That Plymouth church has been the most potent factor in the accomplishment of these wonderful results goes without saying. Next to Mr. Beecher, the man who exercised the greatest influence and probably did more than any other man to shape its policy was Thomas G. Shearman. He was a man of broad and liberal views, of cool judgment, calm, deliberate and dispassionate in his utterances, and withal intensely earnest, so that he seldom failed to carry conviction except to the most prejudiced minds. At the weekly prayer-meeting his voice was always heard, and his sayings as well as Mr. Beecher's were quoted by the press and echoed and re-echoed from one end of the country to the other. His passing away was deeply felt by the religious community throughout Greater New York, and his name will live while Plymouth continues to exist as a church. It took years to establish this church, but it came near being wrecked in a day. The consummate skill with which he handled the case, combined with his great legal ability and immense personal influence, was all that saved it from disruption. He stood in front of his pastor and bore the brunt of the battle, hurling thunderbolts of wrath and righteous indignation against the enemies of Mr. Beecher, who sought to crush him. It was one of the most masterly efforts ever made by any lawyer in this country. The very best legal talent was employed on both sides, and the result of the trial - thanks to the efforts of Mr. Shearman ! - .was a complete vindication of Mr. Beecher and the establishment of Plymouth church on a stronger foundation than ever. Had this been the only achievement of Mr. Shearman it would have been glory and honor enough for one man; but this was only an incident in his professional career which abounded with great success and gave him a world-wide reputation as a lawyer. Dr. Hillis, in the course of his remarks on the death of Mr. Shearman (September 30, 1900), said: "Plymouth church has but one heart to-day, and that heart is son and heavy. For three and forty years Mr. Shearman has been coming and going out among us and during all these years he has wrought for us as trustee, clerk, teacher, superintendent and friend, loving and beloved. And now that he bath gone, in our grief we have come together in this place that was, save only his fireside altar, dearer to him than any place on earth, for Mr. Shearman's earliest, latest, profoundest enthusiasm was his enthusiasm for Plymouth. If by reason of his love of affairs, through all the years, he went day by day with eager steps toward the court-room, the forum and the library, yet all will confess that this church was ever first in his loving regard and solicitude. Not Jacob's love for that spot in the desert where the heavens were opened for the shining ladder on which the angels of God were seen ascending and descending; not Martin Luther's love for the monastery, where he was reborn and saw the visions splendid; not Edmund Burke's pathetic attachment for the great abbey, were so striking as Mr. Shearman's love for this building. Oft in retrospective mood he rehearsed for us the associations clustered about yonder pew, that, as he said, he had privately consecrated and baptized with the laying on of praying hands and with the sacriment of tears. "One Sunday evening in May, 1857, the youth first came in hither out of the darkness and storm. He was the child of a creed that had tortured his just spirit, a creed that filled his days with agony, his nights with sleeplessness; and here Mr. Beecher, taught him the love of God, expelled the fear that hath torment, released him from superstition and made him a citizen of the wide-lying universe. But if Mr. Beecher and Plymouth church did much for him, pastor and people received much in return, for M r. Shearman gave back good measure, pressed down and shaken together, returned an unstinted tide of loyalty, love and self-sacrificing service. While the jurists arc praising the great lawyer for his legal knowledge and skill, while social reformers are rehearsing his love for the poor and weak, while the press is capitalizing his fine, high citizenship, we here and now celebrate his great mind less than his great heart. For us his goodness was mutt striking than his greatness. * * * We forget the advocate and author and remember the true Christian." Thomas Gaskill Shearman, who might be termed one of the "old guard" of Plymouth church, was born in Birmingham, England, November 25, 1834. He came to New York at the age of nine years with his father, who was a physician, his mother coming later. For Mr. Shearman the hidings of power were his ancestry. God's first gift was one of his greatest - the gift of a good mother and grandmother. The tides of intellect and purpose flow down from ancestral hills. But, early overtaken by misfortune through his father's illness, he was thrown on his own resources and self-educated and self-made; his intellect was hammered out upon the anvil of adversity. Romantic indeed, his life's story. At twelve he was out in the world for himself, at twelve his school days ended forever. At fourteen be entered an office when he received one dollar for the first year and two dollars for the second. Out of his little store of wealth he allowed himself three cents each day for luncheon; but when he heard of Macaulay's History of England he reduced his allowance to two cents, and after two months bought the first volume. In 1857 he removed from New York to Brooklyn and two years later he was admitted to the bar. The ensuing seven years were spent in writing law books, editing law journals and in other work of this character. He earned for himself even at that early period a reputation for accuracy and thoroughness, and was known to the members of the profession as a painstaking student His work attracted the attention of that eminent jurist, David Dudley Field, and in 1860 Mr. Field employed him as secretary to the Code Commission. In 1868 Mr. Field and his son Dudley took Mr. Shearman into copartnership. This was regarded as a high honor for so young a professional man, Mr. Shearman being then only thirty-four years of age. Five years later - in 1873 - the firm of Field & Shearman dissolved and Messrs. Shearman and Sterling (John W. Sterling), both members of the firm of Field & Shearman, entered into close professional relations under the name of Shearman & Sterling. It was about this time that Mr. Shearman figured largely in proceedings in which the Erie Railroad Company was made a conspicuous litigant. Inj unctions were the order of the day, and Mr. Shearman earned even from those who opposed him the name of being one of the ablest legal strategists as well as one of the best informed railroad lawyers in this country. His originality in devising new and more effective methods in litigation subjected him to much criticism, but these methods were literally copied by his opponents and critics. His practice of serving injunctions by telegraph, which was the most severely criticised at the time, has since been sanctioned by the highest courts in England as well as by sonic of the most prominent American judges. After the close of the Beecher trial, to which reference has already been made Shearman & Sterling were retained in numerous litigations arising out of the famous gold speculations of 1869, in all of which they were successful. They were also largely employed in the foreclosure of railway mortgages, the reorganization of large railway companies, the organization and administration of various corporations, etc. Mr. Shearman always took an active interest in public questions. From his youth up an advocate of the total abolition of slavery, he worked vigorously with the Republican party from 1856 to 1868, but was never a candidate for office. In respect to tariff, prior to 1860, he was a "protectionist," but he then became a convert to free trade. From 1880 during the remainder of his life he devoted much time to the promotion of absolute free trade and the abolition of all indirect taxation. He made numerous addresses and published several pamphlets upon these subjects, which awakened much interest in different parts of the country. Mr. Shearman was probably as well known as a public economist as for his treat legal attainments. Among his most important works, all of which are recognized as standard publications, are "Tillinghast & Shearman's Practice" (1861-1865); "Shearman & Redfleld on Negligence" (1869-88); "Talks on Free Trade" (1881); "Pauper Labor of Europe" (1885); "Distribution of Wealth" (1887); "Owners of the United States" (1889); "The Coming Billionaire" (1890); and "Crooked Taxation" (1891). Mr. Shearman married, January 29, 1859, a Miss Elmira Partridge, a daughter of James Partridge, of Brooklyn.