Lawrence Yates SHERMAN, Congress, IL (1858-1939)

SHERMAN, Lawrence Yates, a Senator from Illinois; born near Piqua, Miami County, Ohio, November 8, 1858; moved with his parents to Illinois in 1859; attended the common schools, Lee’s Academy in Coles County, and McKendree College, Lebanon, Ill.; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1882 and commenced practice in Macomb, Ill.; city attorney 1885-1887; judge in McDonough County 1886-1890; member, State house of representatives 1897-1905, and served as speaker 1899-1903; lieutenant governor and ex officio president of the State senate 1905-1909; president of the State board of administration of public charities 1909-1913; continued the practice of law in Springfield, Ill.; elected on March 26, 1913, as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the unseating of William Lorimer; reelected in 1914 and served from March 26, 1913, to March 3, 1921; chairman, Committee on the District of Columbia (Sixty-sixth Congress); resumed the practice of law in Springfield, Ill.; moved to Daytona Beach, Fla., in 1924 and continued the practice of law; also engaged in the investment business; retired from active business pursuits in 1933; died in Daytona Beach, Fla., September 15, 1939; interment in Montrose Cemetery, Effingham County, Ill.

Bibliography

Chandler, Aaron. “Senator Lawrence Sherman’s Role in the Defeat of the Treaty of Versailles.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 94 (Autumn 2001): 279-303; Stone, Ralph A. “Two Illinois Senators Among the Irreconcilables.” Mississippi Valley Historical Review 50 (December 1963): 443-65.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present