~ Fort Hill Cemetery ~
NOTABLE PEOPLE
John Milton Sherwood
Born 1793, Died 1871
John Milton Sherwood, son of Isaac Sherwood, was born in the town of Norway, Herkimer County. Isaac Sherwood moved with his family
to a farm in Sennett and then into Skaneateles (1804) where he engaged in the mercantile business. It was in 1811 that Isaac started in the stage business when he joined Jason Parker of Utica. Parker ran the stage line from Utica to Manlius, and Sherwood from Manlius to Geneva. John joined his father in the stage business. He located in Auburn, his father in Skaneateles. He married in 1818 and was appointed to the NYS Militia as a
Colonel, a title he carried until his death. In 1824 John and his father Isaac, Jason Parker and Thomas Powell contracted to carry the mail from Albany to
Buffalo. It was a boom time for stages as commerce and travel was increasing.
Sherwood & Son Company furnished horses for the great tour by General LaFayette in 1825. The opening of the Erie canal in that year didn't seem to have a negative effect of stage travel, if any it increased the stage business from hubs along the canal to population centers north and south of the ditch.
Competition from a startup stage company in 1828, the Pioneer Stage Company, had the Sherwood Stage Line banned from using the Western Express Hotel in Auburn. John moved his office across the street and John with his father built the American Hotel to accommodate the stage guests and horses. The Pioneer Line was formed because some believed that business should not be transacted on the Sabbath. Pioneer ran from Monday through Saturday, and the "old liners" ran 7 days a week. The Sherwood Lines survived this challenge.
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