Woman of the Century/Eleanor Boyle E. Sherman

SHERMAN, Mrs. Eleanor Boyle Ewing, social leatler, born in Lancaster, Ohio, 4th October, 1824, and died in New York City, 28th November, 1888. Descended from a long line of Scotch and Irish ancestors, she inherited from them the strength of will and persevering determination which characterized her actions, and also her Catholic faith. ELEANOR BOYLE EWING SHERMAN. Her father, Thomas Ewing, was one of the most eminent lawyers of his day, twice a Senator of the United States and twice a member of a President's cabinet Her mother, Maria Boyle, was a gentle, lovely woman, w ho devoted her life to her husband and children. Surrounded from infancy, as Eleanor Ewing was, by all the charms and graces of a refined and elegant home, it is not strange that she developed into a woman of unusual brilliancy. Her mind was clear and analytical. When a boy of nine years, William Tecumseh Sherman was adopted, out of love for his family, by Mr Ewing. Unconsciously the child's admiration for the lad grew into the pure devotion of the maiden, and at seventeen Eleanor was engaged to her soldier lover. They were married 1st May, 1850, in Washington, where her father w as a member of President Taylor's cabinet. The wedding was a military one. One or two stations completed her experience of army life at that time, and when her husband resigned from the army and accepted a position in a bank in California, in 1853, she went with him. They returned to the East in 1857- During the Civil War. when her husband and brothers were lighting for the Union, she waited and watched with an anxious heart, powerless to do anything but pray for the success of the cause dear to every loyal soul. When the newspapers raised the cry against her husband, she made a long and weary journey to Washington, saw President Lincoln, convinced him that matters had been misrepresented to him, and. as a result of her endeavors, her husband was placed over another command. Again, at the close of the war, when General Sherman was abused on all sides for his terms in the Johnston Treaty, she defended him by word and pen. After the war the family resided in St. Louis, Mo., where her life w as devoted to the service of the poor. In 1869 her husband's promotion to the command of the United States Army took her to Washington, where her position gave her ample opportunities for exercising her benevolence in aiding charities, great and small. The Aloysius Aid Society was organized by her and inaugurated by a grand charity Tair, of which she was the leader. That home still exists and flourishes under the charge of the good Sisters. Her aim in Washington was not social success, but simply to fulfill her duties as the wife of the general of the army. Her great pleasure was to help those who came to Washington without friends. While in Washington. 1st October, 1874, her oldest daughter, Minnie, became the wife of Lieut. Thomas William Fitch, post assistant engineer, United States Navy. Her son, Thomas Ewing Sherman, entered the order of the Society of Jesus in May, 1879, and was ordained 7th July, 1889. Her daughter, Eleanor, during their last residence in St. Louis, became the wife of Lieut. Alexander Montgomery Thackara, United States Navy, 5th May, 1880. Her oldest son, Willie, "Our Little Sargeant," as he was proudly called by the battalion under his father's command, died in Memphis, 3rd October, 1863. An infant son, Charles Celestine, died 4th December, 1864, near the convent of St. Mary's, over which presided that cousin to whom Mrs. Sherman was so deeply attached, Mother Angela. Born in the same year, from their childhood they had been united in works of mercy. Mary Elizabeth Sherman is the daughter on whom her mother leaned during her last years. Philemon Tecumseh Sherman is a member of the New York bar. Rachel Ewing Sherman became the wife, 30th December, 1891, of Dr. Paul Thorndike. Mrs. Sherman was buried in the cemetery, in St. Louis, where her children have been laid, and where her brave husband now rests beside her.