BIO:  George E. SHERWOOD, York County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Kathy Francis

Copyright 2005.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/york/
_______________________________________________ 

History of York County, Pennsylvania.  John Gibson, Historical Editor.
Chicago: F. A. Battey Publishing Co., 1886.
_______________________________________________ 

Part II, Biographical Sketches, York Borough, Pg 43

GEORGE E. SHERWOOD, ex-representative and justice of the peace, was born in 
Virginia, August 17, 1843, and is a son of Lewis and Minnie (Koch) Sherwood, 
both natives of Germany.  His father came to this country as a political refugee 
in 1834, settling at Hampton, Elizabeth Co., Va., where he bought a large 
plantation, upon which he resided until 1835, when he removed to Baltimore, Md.  
Our subject was educated at Baltimore, and upon the breaking out of the late 
civil war, he responded to the call for volunteers, and enlisted as orderly 
sergeant in the First Virginia Scouts, under Gen. Rosecrans; served likewise in 
Sanno’s Scouts, Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania Infantry, and Ninth Pennsylvania 
Cavalry, and served until the close of the war.  He rose from the ranks to 
captain, and participated in the following battles:  Winchester, Red House, 
Morefield, Gettysburg (where he was taken prisoner), Nashville, Savannah and 
Lister’s Ferry.  He received his discharge at Newburn, N. C., June 11, 1863, and 
on the 16th day of July of the same year came to York, where he has since been a 
resident.  Mr. Sherwood, upon his arrival in York, assumed the editorship of the 
York German Gazette, one of the leading Democratic papers in the county, filling 
the position with marked ability.  In 1878 he was elected town clerk of York, 
and filled that position until 1881.  He was elected to represent his district 
in the State legislature in 1876, and was re-elected in 1878, and attained high 
rank as a representative.  In 1883 he was elected justice of the peace in the 
Fourth Ward of the borough of York, and is still administering the duties of 
that office in an efficient manner.  He is a politician of influence, and has 
been a leading member of the I. O. O. F. for many years; is District Deputy 
Grand Master, and D. D. Grand Patriarch, treasurer of Humane Lodge, and of Mount 
Vernon Encampment, and a member of the order of Red Men, Knights of Pythias, 
Union Brotherhood, G. A. R., and Knights of the Mystic Chain.  He was the 
founder of the York Public Library, of which he is president; was trustee of the 
Rescue Fire Company, and agent for P. B. Wright & Sons and other steamship 
lines.  Mr. Sherwood has been twice married; his union with Sarah A., daughter 
of Maj. R. J. Winterode, of Williamsport, Penn., occurred July 6, 1866.  She 
died April 20, 1875, leaving three children, two having died.  December 26, 
1876, he was united to Lucy A., daughter of Peter and Charlotte Flickinger, of 
Hanover, Penn.; to this union there have been born five children, three of whom 
are deceased.