BIOGRAPHY: Dr. Campbell SHERIDAN, Cambria County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Lynne Canterbury and Diann Olsen. Portions of this book were transcribed by Clark Creery, Martha Humenik, Betty Mirovich and Sharon Ringler. USGENWEB ARCHIVES (tm) NOTICE All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities so long as all notices and submitter information are included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cambria/ ____________________________________________________________ From Wiley, Samuel T., ed. Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Union Publishing Co., 1896, p. 117-9 ____________________________________________________________ DR. CAMPBELL SHERIDAN, who, for almost half a century, has been an active practitioner of medicine in Johnstown, is a son of John and Mary (Campbell) Sheridan, and was born on June 30, 1819, in Butler, Butler county, Pennsylvania. Patrick Sheridan, the grandfather of Dr. Sheridan, was a native of Ireland, whence, desiring to escape the crowded economic conditions of his native country, he, after his marriage to Mary Spence, emigrated to the United States and settled in Westmoreland county, learned the trade of a blacksmith, and afterward went to Butler county, where he remained until about 1830, when he removed to Freeport, in Armstrong county. He was a man of considerable mechanical skill and genius, and attained quite a degree of efficiency in his trade. When the Pennsylvania canal, connecting the eastern with the western part of the State, was being built, he took a contract for the building of a section, between the Allegheny aqueduct and Leechburg, Armstrong county. After his services in this connection he took up his residence in Centreville, Indiana county, and for a time was employed by the State in building lock-houses on the canal. Later -- in about 1837 -- he went to Johnstown and took a position in the repair shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad company, but after a short service in this capacity opened a shop on his own account and furnished supplies to the same company. In 1842 he transferred his residence to near Brookville, Jefferson county, Pennsylvania, where he lived for a short time upon a farm he had purchased, and then removed to Armstrong county. In 1854 he emigrated to Illinois, where he lived but a short time and came back to Johnstown, where he died in 1855. Dr. Sheridan received a rudimentary education in the common schools, and also attended Indiana academy, at Indiana, Pennsylvania. In 1839 he came to Johnstown and took a position for six years in the office of the canal collector, and, at the end of that time, in the forwarding house of Henry Kratzer, for three years. While holding a position in the collector's office, the canal being closed during the winter, he improved himself by attending, during the winter months, Jefferson college, of Washington county, this State. He, however, did not graduate, as he was compelled to make his own way and could not afford it. Having resolved to pursue the profession of medicine as a life vocation, he entered upon the study of the profession in the office of Dr. John Lowman, a prominent physician of Johnstown. After a faithful preparatory study he entered Jefferson Medical college, of Philadelphia, from which renowned institution he graduated in 1849. He at once located in Johnstown, and, with the exception of four years, has practiced continually and successfully at that place. During the four years referred to he pursued a drug and farming business at Earlville, Illinois. Dr. Sheridan has practiced the profession of medicine during a period that has been marked by the great strides in its progress. Of this progress he has been a part. He has been a close student of human nature, and has ever lent his influence to every move intended to elevate the standard of his profession and promote a bond of fellowship among its members. He was one of the founders of the Cambria County Medical society, and has served it a number of times as president. Of the original members of the society, Dr. Sheridan is one of the few members now living. Politically he was a Democrat, prior to the organization of the Republican party, when he became an adherent of that party, and continued to affiliate with it until 1892, when he espoused the cause of the Prohibition party. Although always manifesting a normal interest in politics and lending his influence to the cause of good government, yet he has never had the time nor the inclination to enter the role of the politician as an office-seeker. He is an honorable and respected member and elder of the First Presbyterian church of Johnstown, and for several years was superintendent of its Sabbath- school. On the 21st of June, 1851, Dr. Sheridan and Emily Speer, daughter of William Speer, of Massachusetts, were united in marriage. To this union have been born the following children: Mary E., wife of B. F. Speedy, a member of the banking firm of Speedy, Brown & Barry, of Johnstown; Sallie C., wife of Jacob Layton, formerly a carpenter, contractor and builder of Johnstown, now in the employ of a Pittsburg refrigerator company; Dr. John C., whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volnme [sic]; Harry, for several years a time-clerk in the office of the C. I. Co.; George, a blacksmith in the employ of the Johnson company; William S., a clerk in the same company; Martha, wife of George Erisman, a machinist in the employ of the C. I. Co.; Emily and Jessie, both at home. After the death of his first wife he married as his second wife Mrs. Lizzie H. L. Linton, widow of Peter Linton and daughter of lawyer Hutchinson, a prominent attorney of Ebensburg, this county. Although past his seventy-seventh mile-stone on the path of life, yet Dr. Sheridan is still active in his profession, and as he draws near the end of a long and successful professional career, his greatest encomium is to be found in the grateful hearts of hundreds of those whose sufferings he has alleviated and who have come to consider him more than a personal friend.