John Sherwood Cheney (April 14, 1827 – March 12, 1910) was an American businessman, state legislator,

California Gold Rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...

prospector, and member of the Cheney silk manufacturing dynasty of

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

Life and career

Cheney was born in South Manchester to parents George Wells and Mary (Cheney) Cheney. He attended Manchester Academy and worked on a farm until the age of 18, when he became a commercial traveler based in New York City. Cheney joined the

in 1848. Unsuccessful as a prospector, he sailed to Australia in 1853 to continue his search for gold. In Australia, he served as mayor, town councilor, and justice of the peace of

Creswick Creswick is a town in west-central Victoria, Australia, Victoria, Australia, 18 kilometres north of Ballarat, Victoria, Ballarat and 122 kilometres northwest of Melbourne, in the Shire of Hepburn. It is 430 metres above sea level. At the ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

. Returning full-time to Connecticut in 1864, he took a job in the finishing department of the Cheney Bros. silk manufacturers under his uncle,

Ward Cheney Ward Cheney (23 February 1813 Manchester, Connecticut - 22 March 1876) was a pioneer manufacturer of silk fabrics. Biography Cheney was principal founder of the house of Cheney Brothers and was most active in its business management. He entered the ...

. He rose through the ranks to become a director of the corporation in 1888. Cheney represented Manchester in the

Connecticut House of Representatives The Connecticut House of Representatives is the lower house in the Connecticut General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The house is composed of 151 members representing an equal number of districts, with each ...

in 1877 and the

Connecticut State Senate The Connecticut State Senate is the upper house of the Connecticut General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The state senate comprises 36 members, each representing a district with around 99,280 inhabitants. Sena ...

in 1881. He chaired the Senate's Committee on Manufactures and served on the Senate's New Counties and County Seats Committee. A Republican, he also served as a Manchester probate judge (1884–1889), member of the town school board and a school district committee (1873–1906), and captain of Company G, 1st Regiment,

Connecticut Army National Guard The Connecticut Military Department is a state agency of the government of Connecticut. Its primary components are the Connecticut Army National Guard, the Connecticut Air National Guard, and four companies of the state militia. The Military D ...

Personal life

Cheney married Ellen Coates, an Englishwoman living in Creswick, Australia, on February 25, 1861. They had seven children, four of whom survived their father: William C. Cheney, General Sherwood A. Cheney, Elizabeth Cheney, and Emily Cheney. Cheney died at his South Manchester home and was interred in the Cheney family cemetery in Manchester. Built in 1869, Cheney's family mansion is part of the

Cheney Brothers Historic District The Cheney Brothers Historic District was a center of the silk industry in Manchester, Connecticut, in the late 19th and early 20th century. The district includes over 275 mill buildings, workers houses, churches, schools and Cheney family ma ...

of Manchester.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheney, JohnSherwood 1827 births 1910 deaths People from Manchester, Connecticut People of the California Gold Rush American emigrants to Australia 19th-century American businesspeople Members of the Connecticut House of Representatives Connecticut state senators 19th-century members of the Connecticut General Assembly