Roger Sherman (1721-1793)/Immigrant Ancestors

Early colonial America immigrant ancestors of Founding Father Roger Sherman (1721-1793), his children and their spouses.

Famous Descendants
Roger Sherman (April 19, 1721 – July 23, 1793) was an early American lawyer and statesman, as well as a Founding Father of the United States. He served as the first mayor of New Haven, Connecticut, and served on the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence, and was also a representative and senator in the new republic. He was the only person to sign all four great state papers of the U.S.: the Continental Association; the Declaration of Independence; the Articles of Confederation, and; the Constitution

Several of Roger Sherman's children and descendants achieved prominence.

A son, Roger Sherman, Jr. (1768–1856), a 1787 graduate of Yale College served in the Connecticut General Assembly in 1810–1811.

A daughter, Rebecca Sherman, was married to Simeon Baldwin, whose career included service in the United States Congress (1803–1806), as an Associate Judge of the Connecticut Superior Court, 1806–1817, and who became Mayor of New Haven, Connecticut in 1826. Following the death of Rebecca Sherman, Baldwin married another of Roger Sherman's daughters, Elizabeth Sherman Burr. Another daughter, Sarah Sherman, married Samuel Hoar, who was a member of the Massachusetts state legislature and the U.S. Congress. Sherman's daughter Martha was married to Jeremiah Day who was the President of Yale University from 1817 to 1846.

Three grandsons, Roger Sherman Baldwin, George F. Hoar, and William M. Evarts served in the U.S. Senate. Baldwin also was Governor of Connecticut. Evarts also was a United States Attorney General, and was succeeded in that office by his first cousin Ebenezer R. Hoar, a brother of George F. Hoar.

Descendant Archibald Cox served as a U.S. Solicitor General and special prosecutor during President Richard Nixon's Watergate scandal.