Watts Sherman (1809-1865)

He was born at Utica, New York. he chose a career in banking and became Cashier of a bank in Geneseo. Removing to Herkimer, he managed a bank there before moving to Albany where he became Cashier and General Manager of The Albany City Bank, "which became one of the soundest institutions in the country under his management". In 1851, he went to New York and in the following year (1852) founded the well-known banking firm Duncan, Sherman & Co., in partnership with Alexander Duncan - where J.P. Morgan began his career. He was described as, "cultivated and refined in mind and liberal in disposition, he had a large circle of devoted friends". He lived at a house on the corner of 22nd Street and Fifth Avenue, and died while travelling in Europe on the Island of Madeira. He married Sarah, daughter of Henry Bicker Gibson of Canandaigua, N.Y., and heiress to a $250,000 fortune. They were survived by four sons.