Charles R. Sherman was born in Norwalk, Connecticut September 17, 1788, the son of Judge Taylor and Betsey Stoddard Sherman. Coming from a long line of lawyers and jurists, it was natural for him to attend Dartmouth College and following his graduation to study law under his father. He was admitted to the bar of the state of Connecticut in 1810, the same year in which he married Mary Hoyt. Moving shortly thereafter to Lancaster, Ohio, he began the practice of law, moving his family to Ohio the following year.
Sherman’s abilities were quickly recognized by the citizenry of Lancaster and in January of 1812, he was appointed County Attorney for Fairfield County. At the outbreak of the War with England in April he received a commission as Major and Chief Recruiting Agent for the 4th Regiment of the Ohio Militia. Following the war he resumed his law practice, becoming one of Ohio’s outstanding lawyers of the period.
In 1813 President Madison appointed Charles Sherman, Collector of Internal Revenue for the Third Ohio District which embraced six counties in the area of Lancaster. As was the custom of the day, most of the deputies working under Sherman accepted local bank notes in payment of taxes due. In 1817 the Government suddenly announced that such notes were not acceptable as payment of taxes and that payment was to be made only in gold or United States Bank notes. Sherman felt that the resulting obligation to the government was his and no one else’s, and he labored most of the rest of his life in an effort to payoff what he regarded as a debt of honor.
In the year 1825 the Ohio legislature elected him to serve as Judge of the Supreme Court and in this capacity he was required to travel the entire state and hold court annually in each county.
M. W. Brother Charles R. Sherman received his Masonic degrees in St. John’s Lodge No. 6 of Norwalk, Connecticut in 1810. The Royal Arch Degrees were conferred in Chillicothe Chapter No. 4 on December 1, 1824.
As the year 1819 came to a close, Judge Charles R. Sherman resided within the confines of the Fairfield County prison. He, Dr. James Wilson, Sheriff Sanderson of Fairfield County, and two other Brethren who “were in the custody of the Sheriff of Fairfield County”, (over the same questions of taxation and bank notes) proposed the establishment of a Lodge of Master Masons in Lancaster; they were supported in this undertaking by all of the Masons then in the town of Lancaster. In a very short time a Dispensation was obtained and Lancaster Lodge No. 57 was organized in the north jury room of the old courthouse.
M. W. Brother Charles R. Sherman served as the first Senior Warden and second Worshipful Master of Lancaster Lodge No. 57. He attended Grand Lodge in 1823 and was elected Grand Master in 1824.
M. W. Brother Sherman was one of the founders of Lancaster Chapter No. 11 on January 12, 1826 and was privileged to serve as its first High Priest, an office he held until his death. He also served as Grand High Priest in the Grand Chapter in Ohio in 1827 and 1828.
In June of 1829, at Lebanon, Ohio, Judge Sherman was stricken while holding court and died six days later, attended by his friend and future Grand Master, Thomas Corwin. Burial was in Lebanon, but his remains were later moved to Lancaster, Ohio. Interred in Elmwood Cemetery, Section B, Row 13, Lancaster, Ohio.
Among his eleven surviving children were General William Tecumseh Sherman of Civil War fame, John, who was renown as a statesman, and a daughter, Elizabeth, who became the wife of the future Grand Master of Ohio, William J. Reese.