Colonel Sherman Moreland

Sherman Moreland was an American lawyer and politician from New York and the Philippines.

Early life:
He was born on October 16, 1868, in Van Etten, Chemung County, New York.
He attended the district school.
Then, he worked for two years in a bark mill and then as a clerk in a hardware store. In 1888, he enrolled at Cornell University and graduated B.Litt. in 1892.
He graduated LL.B. from Cornell Law School in 1894, was admitted to the bar in 1896, and practiced law in Van Etten.

Political career:
Moreland was a member of the New York State Assembly (Chemung Co.) in 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906 and 1907; and was Majority Leader in 1906 and 1907.
In 1907, he sponsored the Moreland Act, which allows the governor to investigate any public department within the state, a power previously held only by the legislature.

Later life:
In 1909, Moreland was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt to the Supreme Court of the Philippines.
In 1911, he acted briefly as Dean of the University of the Philippines College of Law when the latter was established.
He remained on the bench until 1917, when he joined the Judge Advocate General's Corps, United States Army.
He appeared as chief prosecutor at the court-martial of Col. Billy Mitchell in 1925.
He retired, with the rank of colonel, from the army in 1929 and resumed his law practice in Van Etten.

He died on December 27, 1951, at his home in Van Etten, New York; and was buried at the Canfield Cemetery there.

Wikipedia

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Graduated from Cornell law degree in 1894.

Moreland represented Chemung County in the NY State from 1903 to 1907, serving as majority leader in his final two years.

In 1907, Moreland worked with Gov. Charles Evans Hughes, his former law professor, on a new law that gave the Governor broad powers to establish "Moreland Commissions" to investigate state departments and institutions as well as local governments. The law also gives the governor subpoena power, enabling him to question witnesses under oath. The power to investigate was formerly delegated only to the State Legislature.

Following his state service, Moreland was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt to the Filipino Supreme Court in early 1909.

He left the Philippines in 1918 and accepted a commission as a major in the Army's Judge Advocate General's office in Washington, DC. In 1925, Moreland directed the Army's court martial against Colonel Billy Mitchell. He retired from the Army in 1929, and returned home to practice law until the mid-1940s.

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Sep 26 2022, 17:45:47 UTC

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• Reference: United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925 - SmartCopy: Sep 26 2022, 17:29:15 UTC

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ELMIRA, N.Y., Dec. 27--Col. Sherman P. Moreland, chief prosecutor in the trial of Brig. Gen. William (Billy) Mitchell in 1925, died today at his home in near-by Van Etten. He was 83 years old.

https://www.nytimes.com/1951/12/28/archives/sp-moreland-dies-wrote-...

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Sherman Moreland.
Sherman Moreland, Republican, who represents Chemung county in the Assembly, was born in the town of Van Etten in that county. His father, who was an invalid and a cripple, died when Mr. Moreland was but a child, and he was reared in extreme poverty. His early education was obtained in the district school. While he was still a youth he was obliged to leave school to assist in his own support and in that of his widowed mother. He early saw the great advantages of a thorough college education, and accordingly made that one of the objects of his desire and ambition.
At an early age he was employed by Hixson, Rodboum & Co., in their lumber and bark mills in the village of Van Etten, N. Y. His duty was to assist in throwing bark into the grinders and in sewing the sacks which received the bark after it was ground. The work was dirty, dusty, disagreeable, and onerous. Mr. Moreland for more than two years worked in the mills, with the loss of scarcely a day. But this was not all that he was doing during these two years and more. The six o'clock whistle did not end the day's work for him. As soon as the day was finished he took to his books. His object was to prepare for college. Night after night, month in and out, he ground away at plane and solid geometry, higher algebra, Latin and various other studies. He had no instructor or tutor — no one to assist him in the slightest degree in the mastery of these studies.
After about two years in the mills he was employed as a clerk in the hardware store of George Banfield in Van Etten, and was given the privilege of having his evenings to himself for study. He continued in ^Ir. Ban- field's employ until he was ready for college. He entered Cornell University in the fall of 1888 and found himself in a trying situation. He was without money and must earn his living as he went along and keep up with his studies. He worked on the University farm; he copied manuscript; he acted as assistant in the law library; he taught privately in mathematics and law; he did all kinds of work to turn an honest penny. In spite of all this enormous drain upon his time he maintained an excellent standing in his studies, and graduated in 1892, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Letters, one of the leaders of his class. Taking up the study of law he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1894. He was admitted to the bar in 1896. Mr. Moreland has a large law practice, and is frequently seen and heard in the courts of Chemung, Schuyler, Tompkins, and Tioga counties.

https://archive.org/details/newyorkredbook01unkngoog/page/158/mode/...

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• Military_service: St. Louis, Missouri, United States
• Residence: Van Etten, NY
• Residence: Van Etten, Chemung, New York, United States - 1880
• Residence: Van Etten, Van Etten, Chemung, New York, United States - 1900
• Residence: Van Etten, Van Etten Village, E.D. 01, Chemung, New York - 1905
• Residence: Van Etten, Chemung, New York - 1905
• Residence: Chemung, New York - 1910
• Residence: Van Etten, Chemung, New York, United States - 1910
• Residence: Van Etten, Chemung, New York, United States - 1915
• Residence: Van Etten, Chemung, New York, United States - 1930
• Residence: Same House - 1935
• Residence: Van Etten, Van Etten, Chemung, New York, United States - 1940
  • Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: Sep 26 2022, 18:10:22 UTC