Joseph Sherwin
- Birth: 1836 at Alvaston, Derbyshire, England
- Christening: 20 March 1836 at Alvaston, Derbyshire, England
- Emigration: 1873
- US Citizen : Application filed 3 February 1875 at Travis County Courthouse, Texas
- Married : 1878 Mary Chester Cox (Oakland Tribune 30 September 1878 page 3)
- Death : 28 August (29), 1883, Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon, USA
- Burial: Lone Fir Pioneer Cemetery, Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon, USA
Joseph Sherwin was born at Alfreston, Derbyshire in 1836, the son of George Sherwin, cordwainer (shoemaker) and his wife, Elizabeth. The family are recorded in the Census Records of 1841 and 1851, living at in Derbyshire. Joseph Sherwin is assumed to have emigrated to Australia where he is recorded as a clerk of works in the office of the Colonial Architect in Queensland. Dismissed from this post on grounds of inefficiency with regard to joiner’s work. Sherwin subsequently moved to Melbourne, Victoria, where his attempt to establish an architectural practice ended in failure. On 21 October 1863, he was declared bankrupt. Nothing is yet known of his activities during the next six years. He is first recorded in Manchester England in January 1870 when he won a competition for eight cottages at Knutsford. Although he obtained a number of further commissions over the next three years, he struggled financially and in April 1873 he filed a petition for Liquidation by Arrangement in the Manchester County Court. His liabilities were assessed at £700. [Manchester Guardian 11 April 1873 page 2].
By the end of 1873 Joseph Sherwin had arrived in Texas, again establishing himself as an architect. For whatever reasons, Sherwin failed to settle in Texas, moving from city to city – Denver in 1876, Alameda California in 1878 and Portland about 1881. With the exception of Denver, where nothing has been found, he obtained design commissions in each his final work completed just before his death being the Ladd Carriage House in Portland, now restored and opened as a pub and bar.
Joseph Sherwin died at his residence in Portland on 28 August 1883. And was buried at Lone Fir Pioneer Cemetery, Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon He left a wife but no children.
Address
1861 : Joseph Sherwin, Queensland, Australia
1863 : Joseph Sherwin, architect, Melbourne (Insolvencies 21 October 1863)
1870 : Jos Sherwin 21 Aldine Chambers Princess Street Manchester (Manchester Guardian)
1872 : J Sherwin, John Dalton Street, Manchester
1873 :16, Tib Lane, Manchester (London Gazette)
1873 : Austin, Texas
1876 : Denver Colorado. - Mr Joseph Sherwin, late architect of this city, now swells around in Denver. [Austin Weekly Statesman 13 July 1876 page 1]
1878-1880 : Alameda, California
1881-1883 : J Sherwin Architect and Superintendent Room 50 Union Block, First Street Portland Oregon
Reference : The Corvallis gazette. (Corvallis, Or.) January 27, 1882
Reference : The Corvallis gazette. (Corvallis, Or.) November 25, 1881
Reference : The Corvallis gazette. (Corvallis, Or.) December 16, 1881 – display ad
Reference : The Corvallis gazette. (Corvallis, Or.) December 23, 1881.
Reference : Advertisement: A Directory of the City of Oakland 1878, page 494
Reference : Ritz, Richard Ellison, "Sherwin, Joseph", Architects of Oregon, page 358-359, 2002.
With the exception of the Joseph Sherwin scrapbook, circa 1872-1883. (Oregon Historical Society Research Library). WorldCat record id: 697672317, no personal papers appear to have survived. The biography is therefore mostly based on information gleaned from contemporary published sources and could require revision as further information becomes available.
