American politician, born near Utica, NY, on the 24th of October 1855. He graduated from Hamilton College in 1878, was admitted to the bar in 1880, and practised in Utica until 1907. In early manhood he left the Democratic party, became a Republican, and as such was elected mayor of Utica in 1884. In 1886 he was elected to the National House of Representatives and was returned continuously until 1908, excepting the term 1891–3. He was a delegate to the National Republican Convention in 1892; chairman of the Republican State Convention in 1895, 1900 and 1908; and chairman of the Republican National Committee in 1906. For twelve years he was chairman of the House Committee on Indian Affairs—a subject naturally of great interest to him, as he was a relative of Henry R. Schoolcraft—and the Sherman Institute in California, an Indian school, bears his name. At the Republican National Convention of 1908 he was nominated vice-president on the first ballot and was elected on the ticket with William Howard Taft. Four years later he was renominated, but he died at Utica, on the 30th of October 1912, shortly before the elections.
