uritan of the Connecticut school,
and was respected, not only by her numerous grandchildren, but by
all who knew her.

My brother-in-law, Thomas W. Bartley, was District Attorney of the
United States during the administration of Mr. Polk, and, as he
expected a change would be made by the incoming administration of
Taylor, he advised me to become a candidate for his place, as that
was in the line of my profession. I told him I doubted if my
experience of the bar would justify me in making such an application,
but he thought differently. I wrote to Mr. Ewing upon the subject
and he answered as follows:

"Washington, D. C., Dec. 31, 1848.
"John Sherman, Esq., Mansfield, Ohio.

"My Dear Sir:--I believe you would be able to perform the duties
of District Attorney, but your youth would be an objection to your
appointment, and in competition with one so long known, and so
highly esteemed, as Mr. Goddard is both professionally and politically,
would probably make your prospects but little encouraging. If you
conclude to withdraw your name, signify the fact and the reason by
letter to Mr. Goddard and it may be of use to you hereafter. I
am, with great regard,

"Yours, T. Ewing."

I complied with his advice, though Mr. Goddard, I think, declined
and Mr. Mason was accepted.

On the thirty-first of the same month I was married to Margaret
Ceclia Stewart, the only child of Judge Stewart, whom I had known
since my removal to Mansfield. She had been carefully educated at
the Female College at Granville, Ohio, and at the Patapsco Institute,
near Baltimore, Maryland. After the usual wedding tour to Niagara
Falls, Montreal and Saratoga, we settled in Mansfield, and I returned
to my profession, actively pursuing it until elected a member of
Congress.

It is not worth while to follow my professional life into further
detail. I shall not have occasion to mention that subject again.
Sufficient to say that I was reasonably successful therein. During
this period Henry C. Hedges studied law with my brother and myself,
and when admitted to the bar became my partner. Mr. Stewart was
elected by the legislature a judge of the Court of Common Pleas,
and after the adoption of the new constitution of 1851, he was
elected by the people to the same office.

I had determined in the fall of 1853 to abandon Mansfield and settle
in Cleveland, then rapidly growing in importance as the leading
city in the northern part of the state.