Dear Sherwoods and Kin, Any time I come across an old photo or portrait of a Sherwood, I achieve a momentary state of nirvana. I fortuitously stumbled across a hard-to-find website that contains an oil portrait of Isaac Sherwood, 1769-1840, resident of Skaneateles, and later, Auburn, Cayuga County, NY. This was doubly exciting because Isaac was always an intriguing character to me. He comes from that clan of Sherwoods who did that little migratory dipsy-doodle from Connecticut back up to Massachusetts, settling in Williamstown, Berkshire County. Isaac was born in Williamstown on 12 OCT 1769, and married Mary BABBIT, of Ashford, MA. He moved to upstate NY around 1797, eventually settling in Skaneateles, Cayuga County. At one point he was appointed Justice of the Peace. But his claim to local fame is that he started a very successful stagecoach line around 1806, and soon thereafter had a tavern built on the site of what is now known as the "Sherwood Inn", in Skaneateles, NY. Here I'll quote from the website that shows his portrait: "Two years later (GCS: i.e. 1806), he was granted a contract to carry the mail from Onondaga Hill to the west. He did this on foot at first, but later bought a stagecoach. In 1807, Isaac Sherwood had a tavern built on the present site of the Sherwood Inn, and he used the tavern as headquarters for his prosperous stagecoach business. In 1829, he sold his Skaneateles property and moved to Auburn where he built the American Hotel. Many years later, he died in 1840 and was buried in Lake View Cemetery. The name Sherwood is always associated with Skaneateles and the landmark Sherwood Inn." The oil portrait is on the following webpage: http://ixpub.cnyric.org/cnyricpublic/history/skaneate/statest/barabba/sit e7.htm Click on the portrait to enlarge it. Isaac looks to be in his 30's or early 40's in the portrait, so I would estimate that it was painted sometime between 1800 and 1815. This is one of the earliest Sherwood portraits that I've ever encountered. The portrait now hangs in the dining room of the Sherwood Inn, in Skaneateles. Also, check out the incredible house made out of "fieldstone", built "for Isaac Sherwood" around 1807, but subsequently purchased by Alford Lamb, and now known as the "Alford House." http://ixpub.cnyric.org/cnyricpublic/history/skaneate/statest/mcquigg/alf ord/alford.htm Again, click on the picture to get an enlarged view of this wonderfully unique house. For old and "recent" (1970's) photos of the Sherwood Inn, visit... http://ixpub.cnyric.org/cnyricpublic/history/skaneate/statest/taylor/site 1.htm I know very little about the descendants of Isaac and Mary, so I'd love to hear from anyone with knowledge of this Sherwood family. All I know is that they had children Minerva, Melinda, John Milton, Eliza, and possibly a son named Albert, who may have lived in Buffalo, NY. Kind Regards, Geoff Geoffrey Sherwood Towaco, NJ, USA demidave@juno.com ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.