Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Sherwin, Thomas

SHERWIN, Thomas, educator, b. in Westmoreland, N. H., 26 March, 1799; d. in Dedham, Mass., 23 July, 1869. He worked on a farm in Temple, N. H., served an apprenticeship to a clothier in Groton, Mass., and, after graduation at Harvard in 1825, taught an academy in Lexington, Mass., in 1825-'6. He was a tutor in mathematics at Harvard in 1826-7, and from 1828 till 1838 was submaster of the English high-school of Boston, of which he had charge from that date until his death. This school was reputed a model of its kind. He was an originator of the American institute of instruction in 1830, its president in 1853-'4, a member of the American academy of arts and sciences, was active in establishing the Massachusetts institute of technology, and was president of the Massachusetts teachers' association in 1845. He was the author of an “Elementary Treatise on Algebra” (Boston, 1841). His son, Thomas, was lieutenant-colonel of the 22d Massachusetts regiment during the civil war, and for meritorious services was breveted brigadier-general of volunteers on 13 March, 1865.