This collection holds the personal research of Frederick S. Sherman, a former CGS President and long-serving Research Committee chair and director. It is the basis of his book, The Ancestry of Samuel Sterling Sherman and Mary Ware Allen.
Frederick Sterling “Rick” Sherman spent decades carefully gathering and documenting his ancestry,
only to die suddenly while writing a comprehensive description of his distinguished ancestors, the
final chapter barely outlined.
During his membership at CGS, Rick served not only as president, but most notably for a number
of years as our chief genealogical researcher. The quality of Rick’s research for clients was always top-
notch. Along with CGS member Ken Haughton, in the 1990s Rick also established a fund to provide
financial security for the future of the society. It has grown significantly and still provides a safety net
for CGS.
After retiring from the Mechanical Engineering Department at University of California, Berkeley in
1991, Rick spent more time focusing on his own ancestors. He would share with us all the amazing
information he found both on research trips and online. His manuscript demonstrates the quality and
depth of this research. Rick did have many illustrious ancestors. Among those researched extensively
were the Sherman, Allen, Hardin and Copeland families.
Stewart Traiman, assisted by a finding aid written by Georgia Lupinksy and others, examined every document in the 16 boxes of material and scanned those that he believes would be of value to other researchers, enhance the material in the book, don’t duplicate material online elsewhere, and that do not pose potential copyright concerns: 236 documents, just under half of the items listed in the finding aid. Should you be interested in examining the remainder they are available by appointment at the library.