Edward Sherman (c. 1807–1907) was the first African American to serve as a

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

New York State New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...

and one of the first African Americans to hold an elected office in the state. He served as president of the village board of

Cleveland, New York Cleveland is a village in Oswego County, New York, United States. The population was 750 at the 2010 census. The village is located at the eastern boundary of the town of Constantia on NY Route 49. History The village of Cleveland was incor ...

, in 1878.

Biography

Sherman was born on June 9, 1807, in

Saratoga, New York Saratoga is a town in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 5,808 at the 2020 census.United States Census Bureau, 2020 U.S. Census Results, Saratoga town, Saratoga County, New York https://www.census.gov/search-results.h ...

. He moved to

Herkimer, New York Herkimer is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Herkimer County, New York, United States, southeast of Utica, New York, Utica. It is named after Nicholas Herkimer. The population was 9,566 at the 2020 census, down from 10,175 in ...

, at the age of 21, and eventually settled permanently in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

in 1851. As a younger man, he drove an

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east–west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigability, navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, ...

packet boat Packet boats were medium-sized boats designed mainly for domestic mail and freight transport in European countries and in North American rivers and canals. Eventually including basic passenger accommodation, they were used extensively during t ...

, and in Cleveland he worked as a barber. At a Cleveland village board meeting on April 29, 1878, board president Albert A. Yale nominated a Catholic for the office of cemetery sexton. Yale had underestimated his community's anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant attitudes. Villagers were outraged, and Yale's motion failed by a 4–1 vote despite the trustees, president, and prospective sexton all being members of the same party. Yale resigned, and the trustees called a special election that took place on May 13. Sherman ran against two white candidates for the presidency and won by a margin of twenty votes (no exact tally has been located). “I am a Republican by color, a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

by affinity, a Greenbacker by conviction, and was elected on a

Know-nothing The American Party, known as the Native American Party before 1855 and colloquially referred to as the Know Nothings, or the Know Nothing Party, was an Old Stock nativist political movement in the United States in the 1850s. Members of the m ...

ticket," he told the ''Lakeside Press'' in May 1878. The newspapers mocked his election as a "matter of burlesque" resulting from "a moment of pique" against the outgoing president, but Sherman served out his one-year term with reputed dignity and practicality before retiring from public office and campaigning for Yale's reelection as president. In 1883, Sherman ran for an open seat on the village board but garnered only 21% of the vote, receiving eight out of the thirty-eight ballots casts.

Personal life

Circa 1851, Sherman married a Black woman and

Oswego County Oswego County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 117,525. The county seat is Oswego. The county name is from a Mohawk-language word meaning "the pouring out place", referring t ...

native named Elizabeth. The couple had four daughters and one son. After Elizabeth died, Sherman married Harriet Wilson. He died in 1907, claiming to be one hundred years old.

Biography

Personal life

References

Further reading