The Journal of San Diego History
SAN DIEGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY
Fall 1972, Volume 18, Number 4
James E. Moss, Editor
My Grandmother Augusta Barrett Sherman was a very sensitive and kind person. She loved children of all ages, and always had time to listen to their problems. She made friends of people in all walks of life, and never failed to help a friend in need.
Her home was her palace, and she thoroughly enjoyed entertaining. Grandmother was active in the city’s civic and social affairs, and as a member of the old St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, on C Street, I remember Reverend Charles Barnes was often a guest at Grandmother’s table on Sundays after church.
She was an active member of the Ladies Pioneer Society of San Diego, and the Women’s Relief Corps of the State of Maine. The Pioneer meetings were held in different homes, and I was allowed to attend. (I’ll never forget those horsehair sofas — how they scratched!)
Grandmother was born Augusta Jane Barrett on April 17, 1839, in East Sumner, Maine, on a farm that belonged to her ancestors since the American Revolution. She died January 5, 1913, at her home in San Diego.
My grandfather, Captain Matthew Sherman, was born in Charleston, Massachusetts, October 11, 1827. He died July 5, 1898, in San Diego. He served as Mayor of San Diego during The years 1891 and 1892. They had two children, Matthew B. Sherman, and Fanny B. Sherman, my mother, who married Charles L. Sloane.
What a revelation it would be for my grandparents to see San Diego today!
Frances Augusta Sloane, a native San Diegan and longtime member of the San Diego History Center, is the granddaughter of Captain and Mrs. Matthew Sherman and Captain and Mrs. Hampton P. Sloane, also early pioneers in San Diego. She was born in 1906 in the old Sherman home at 22nd and Market Streets, and lived there until about 1913 when the house was remodeled as the Sherman Apartments. She served as Secretary of the Apartment and Rental Owners Association in San Diego for many years.