Thomas Ewing Sherman

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other people named Thomas Sherman, see Thomas Sherman (disambiguation).
Father Thomas Ewing Sherman, 1914

Thomas Ewing Sherman,

Ellen Ewing Sherman
.

Life

Sherman was named after his maternal grandfather

San Francisco, California, while his father worked there as a bank executive. His mother, Ellen, was of Irish ancestry on her mother's side and devoutly Catholic. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), Tom's father rose to become one of the most important generals in the United States Army. When his superior, Ulysses S. Grant, became President of the United States, William Tecumseh Sherman was appointed commanding general
of the army.

Tom was brought up in St. Louis and Washington. He attended the preparatory department of

Jesuit Order[2] and studied for three years in Jesuit novitiates in St Mary's Hall in Lancashire, England,[3] and Frederick, Maryland
.

The elder Sherman wrote a letter to

St. Louis, Missouri
newspaper in offensive terms and accused him of robbing him of a son. When pressed for comment by the newspaper's editor, McCloskey simply replied that General Sherman's letter was marked 'personal and confidential.

He was ordained as priest in 1889 by a friend of his mother's, Archbishop Patrick Ryan of Philadelphia; and belonged to the Western Province of the Jesuit Order (headquarters in St. Louis). He taught for some years in Jesuit colleges, principally at Saint Louis University and in Detroit.[1]

He presided over General Sherman's funeral mass in 1891 and was in demand as a public lecturer, frequently speaking out against anti-Catholic prejudice in the United States. He obtained a commission as an army

New Orleans, Louisiana, where he died of acute dilation of the heart and arteriosclerosis
, at the age of 76. He had renewed his Jesuit vows just shortly before his death.

Father Sherman is buried next to Father John Salter, the nephew of

Alexander Stephens, at St. Charles Borromeo Jesuit Cemetery in Grand Coteau
. This is coincidental, as Father Salter was the next priest of the local Jesuit community to be buried there.

References

  1. ^ a b McNamara, Pat. "General Sherman's Jesuit Son", Patheos, August 22, 2011
  2. ^ a b c Hollingsworth, Gerelyn. "Gen. Sherman's Son", National Catholic Reporter, September 20, 2011
  3. ^ "Father Sherman Sent to Asylum in California", Toledo News-Bee, 21 September 1911, p. 10

External links

  • Thomas Ewing Sherman at Find a Grave
  • Thomas Ewing Sherman
  • William T. Sherman – Notre Dame University
  • ""Father Tom"". Time. 1959-05-18. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved 2008-08-09.
  • Letters of Thomas Sherman to his father

References

  • General Sherman's Son: The Life of Thomas Ewing Sherman, S.J.; Joseph T. Durkin, S.J.; New York: Farrar, Straus & Cudahy, 1959
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