A New York City businessman and the treasurer of the Newport Casino during the turn of the Twentieth Century. was born in Albany, New York to Watts Sherman and Sarah Maria Gibson. Sherman was educated at Heidelburg, and at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. He married Lois Sarah Welds and they had two children, Erastus Corning Sherman and Henry Gibson Sherman. In 1871 he married Annie Derby Rogers Wetmore. They had two children, Georgette Sherman Brown and Sybil Sherman Sellar. Shortly after their marriage in 1876 William had constructed a large home in Newport for her and their growing family. It was designed by Henry Hobson Richardson and is generally regarded as a stepping-off point for what later became known as the Shingle Style in American architecture. It features a masonry first floor with small half-timbered panels, textured stucco, and diamond-panel windows above. It is known for its massive chimneys and unifying broad gable roof with weathered wood shingles. It borrows from the English Queen Anne country house style with combined elements that draw from medieval European, Renaissance English, and Colonial American styles. The interior has rooms clustered about a spacious central stair hall. Renderings were done by Stanford White. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the house is a 19th century American architectural landmark. Later on in 1884 Annie died of pneumonia. In 1885 he married a third time to Sophia Augusta Brown, daughter of John Carter Brown, founder of Brown University. They had two children, Irene Muriel Augusta Sherman and Mildred Constance Sherman who married Ralph Stonor, 5th Baron Camoys. For his wife, William commissioned Clinton and Russell to design a large but sober townhouse overlooking Fifth Avenue, right next door to the townhouse of Caroline Astor. William died at his home at 838 Fifth Avenue, with Sophia and all of his children right by his side. He was buried at Island Cemetery in Newport, Rhode Island.

Bio by: Bobby Kelley