My Genealogy Hound

COL. SILAS SHEARMAN & SONS, of Jamestown, have been prominent in the manufacturing interests of that city for many years, and the sons, Rufus P. and Addison P., are the members of the present upholstering and furniture firm of Shearman Brothers. The Shearmans are of English descent, and the family was founded in New England by three brothers, who settled respectively in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. From the family is descended Col. Silas Shearman, who was born at Tiverton, Rhode Island, December 11, 1803, and is a son of Silas and Elizabeth (Perry) Shearman. Silas Shearman, Sr., removed, in 1808, from Rhode Island to Cazenovia, Madison county, New York, where ten years later he died. He was a cabinet-maker and an excellent workman, and his two brothers, John and Carleton, learned cabinet-making with him in Rhode Island. He was a democrat, and married Elizabeth Perry, who was a daughter of Godfrey Perry, of Rhode Island; he was a son of Stafford Perry, and a relative of the famous Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry of American naval fame. They reared a family of nine sons and one daughter: Perry, a lumberman of Pennsylvania, where he died; Noble (deceased), a farmer of near Mayville; Eliza (dead); Silas, David, who is farming near Hartfield; Edward, of Ohio, on part of whose farm the town of Plymouth is built; William, who went to Virginia about the commencement of the civil war, and of whom nothing has been heard since; Godfrey P., who died in Detroit, Michigan; John P., of Jamestown, where he died; and Elias, who removed from Jamestown in 1890, and from whom nothing has been heard since he left. Col. Silas Shearman attended the schools of his boyhood days in Madison and Chautauqua counties. He learned the trade of saddler and harness-maker, worked for a time at Fredonia, and in 1827 commenced in that line of business for himself in Jamestown, where he opened a shop in the Budlong building, afterwards known as the Hawley block. In December, 1832, he removed to a brick building, which he had erected on Third street opposite the Allen house. He dealt to some extent in saddlery and hardware, and gradually enlarged his business. In 1854 he associated his son, Rufus P., and afterwards his son, Addison P., with him under the firm name of S. Shearman & Sons, in which partnerships he was an active member until 1870, when he retired from business life. The sons were in various business operations until 1881, when they engaged in the upholstery business, and in 1882 erected their present large furniture factory. In early life Mr. Shearman took considerable interest in the military affairs of his State, from which he held, at different times, five commissions under Governor Troop and Governor Marcy, — three in the cavalry, and those of major and colonel in the field. He cast his first presidential vote for Andrew Jackson, and was a Democrat until the close of Polk’s administration, when he became an abolitionist, and acted as a conductor on the underground railroad in assisting slaves to reach Canada. Since the late war he has been a Republican. He has been a remarkably strong man physically as well as mentally; and today at eighty-seven years of age is still active in both mind and body. He has always been strictly temperate as to his use of food and drink, and during the last sixty years of his life has used no stimulants of any kind. He has witnessed the erection of every building in Jamestown except one, and still resides in the house which he built in 1829. While no politician, Col. Silas Shearman expresses the hope that he may live to see the day when the elective franchise will be extended to women.

On the 29th of March, 1829, he married Mary C. Marsh, daughter of Ebenezer Marsh, of Windham county, Vermont. They have been the parents of six children: Rufus P., Addison P., and four that died in infancy.

Rufus P. Shearman is the eldest son of Col. Silas and Mary C. (Marsh) Shearman, and was born in Jamestown, May 31, 1831. He received his education at the Jamestown academy, and embarked in 1854 with his father in the harness business, in which he continued until 1870. In 1880 he became a member of the present upholstery and furniture firm of Shearman Brothers. On October 19, 1854, he married Sophronia M., daughter of Adam Neff, of Cortland county. They have two children: Fred J., a locomotive builder who married Ella McCullough, who died and left him one child, M. Evelyn, after which he married Minnie Rugg; and Frank E., who has charge of his father’s office, and married Catherine Derry, by whom he has three children: Lulu C., Frank E. and Florence M. He is a Republican in politics, but never takes any active part in political affairs.

Addison P. Shearman, the second son of Col. Silas and Mary C. (Marsh) Shearman, was born in Jamestown, June 25, 1843. He attended the Jamestown academy, and then entered the Jamestown office of the A. & G. W. R. R., in which he learned telegraphy, and served as a telegraph operator until 1862. On August 25th of that year he enlisted in Co. F, 112th regiment, N. Y. Vols., and served under Grant at Cold Harbor and Petersburg; Terry at Ft. Fisher; Gilmore at Charleston, and Sherman in his capture of Johnston’s army at Raleigh, N. C. He returned home in 1865, and was engaged with his father in the manufacture of harness and various other lines of business until January 1, 1870. In 1881 he became a partner with his brother in their present upholstery and furniture business. He is a republican in politics, and a member of James M. Brown Post, No. 295, G. A. R. He married Caroline L. Havens, of Elmira, N. Y., October 1, 1867, by whom he had one son, William Brown Shearman, who died March 20, 1877.

The furniture factory of the Shearman Brothers is located at Shearman Place, opposite the Union R. R. Depot. It is a five-story building 40x100 feet in dimensions with an L 32x40. It is equipped with all necessary machinery and modern appliances, and the firm gives employment to a force of one hundred workmen. In addition to the factory there is a large storage building. They make a specialty of lounges and couches, of which they are probably the largest manufacturers in the United States. They keep six traveling salesmen constantly on the road, fill all orders promptly, and have an extensive wholesale trade throughout this and adjoining States.