{{short description|American businessman (1842-1916)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2019}} {{refimprove|date=August 2008}} {{Infobox person |name = Henry Sherwin |image = |image_size = |caption = |birth_name = Henry Alden Sherwin |birth_date = {{Birth date|1842|09|27}} |birth_place = [[Baltimore, Vermont]], US |death_date = {{death date and age|1916|06|26|1842|09|27}} |death_place = [[Willoughby, Ohio]], US |resting_place = [[Lake View Cemetery]], [[Cleveland]], Ohio, U.S. |occupation = Businessman |known_for = Founding partner of [[Sherwin-Williams Company]] |children = [[Belle Sherwin]] ''inter alios'' }}

'''Henry Alden Sherwin''' (September 27, 1842 – June 16, 1916) was one of the founders of the [[Sherwin-Williams Company]] in 1866. The company was named for both him and [[Edward Williams (businessman)|Edward Porter Williams]].

==Biography== Sherwin was born on September 27, 1842, in [[Baltimore, Vermont]], and stayed in school until he was 15 years of age. His first job was in a local [[general store]].<ref>Orth, Samuel Peter (1910). [https://books.google.com/books?id=w5U6AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA85 ''A History of Cleveland, Ohio: Biographical''], Vol. III, p. 85. The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.</ref> In 1860, an uncle invited Henry to [[Cleveland, Ohio]]. He soon found employment with [[Freeman & Kellogg Co.]], a Cleveland dry goods store. Starting out as a [[clerk]], two years later Sherwin had been promoted to [[bookkeeper]]. The young bookkeeper next moved to a wholesale grocery company by the name of [[Geo. Sprague & Co]], where he became a partner, but soon left, apparently because he disliked the selling of [[liquor]].

By 1866, Sherwin had saved $2,000. He was offered employment with a bank, a partnership with a wholesale drug company, and a partnership in a wholesale paint business.<ref name=hal>Hallett, Anthony & Hallett, Diane (1997). [https://books.google.com/books?id=2PJICBnrpDgC&pg=PA420 ''Entrepreneur Magazine Encyclopedia of Entrepreneurs''], p. 420. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.</ref> Choosing the latter, Sherwin became the newest partner in the [[Truman Dunham & Co.]] He stated years later, that Truman Dunham offered the least but "was the one which in my youthful strength and ambition gave promise of a future greater than the others". He also admitted that at the time he "did not realize what it would lead to". By 1869, Sherwin discovered that his partners were more interested in the manufacture of [[linseed oil]] than in the production of paint.

In February 1870, they dissolved the existing partnership and Sherwin, with an associate by the name of Osborn (who had been bookkeeper at Dunham & Co.) and [[Edward Williams (businessman)|Edward Williams]], a [[American Civil War|Civil War]] veteran who was a [[Phi Beta Kappa]] graduate of [[Case Western Reserve University|Western Reserve College]], each invested $15,000 for equal shares in what became "Sherwin Williams & Co". Later that year they recruited and hired Sereno Peck Fenn as cashier and bookkeeper. The company prospered and in its first year reported sales of $422,390.97.<ref name=hal/> In 2009, the company reported a decline in sales from the previous year, but ended up with $4.21&nbsp;billion. Sherwin was the President of Sherwin–Williams from 1870 to 1909, and [[chairman of the board]] until his death on June 26, 1916.<ref name=hal/> Upon his retirement, he was succeeded by [[Walter H. Cottingham]], the company's general manager and vice president.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |date=January 10, 2022 |title=SHERWIN WILLIAMS CO. |url=https://case.edu/ech/articles/s/sherwin-williams-co |website=Encyclopedia of Cleveland History &#124; Case Western Reserve University}}</ref>

He was connected with the [[Y.M.C.A.]] from its organization in Cleveland and long its adviser and president.

His wife was Frances Mary Smith – they were married in 1865. Their daughter, [[Belle Sherwin]] born in 1869, became known for her civic work and her dedication to the cause of [[Women's suffrage in the United States|women's suffrage]].<ref name="autogenerated1">[http://ech.case.edu/cgi/article.pl?id=SB3 Encyclopedia of Cleveland History:SHERWIN, BELLE<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

Sherwin was a Deacon of the First Baptist Church of Cleveland from 1889 until his death in 1916. The enormous and beautiful stained glass window in the rear of the church was donated by the Sherwin family in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Sherwin.<ref>History of the First Baptist Church, Cleveland, Ohio, 1833–1922, p.120-121. The E.S. Schulte Printing Co.</ref> He was interred at [[Lake View Cemetery]] in Cleveland.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Crawford|first1=Brad|last2=Manning|first2=William|title=Ohio|location=New York|publisher=Compass American Guides|date=2005|isbn=9781400013944|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BQ5h9uXr900C|page=86}}</ref>

==Notes== {{Reflist}}

==References== * {{cite book|title=America's Paint Company: A History of Sherwin-Williams|year=1991|first1=Kathleen|last1=McDemott|first2=Davis|last2=Dyer|lccn=91-62014 <!-- dead -->|oclc=24646956|publisher=Sherwin-Williams}}

== External links == * {{Find a Grave|1164}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sherwin, Henry}} [[Category:1842 births]] [[Category:1916 deaths]] [[Category:People from Windsor County, Vermont]] [[Category:Businesspeople from Cleveland]] [[Category:Burials at Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland]] [[Category:YMCA leaders]]