Sherwin was born on September 27, 1842, in Baltimore, Vermont, and stayed in school until he was 15 years of age.
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".
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, a Civil War veteran who was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Western Reserve College, each invested $15,000 for equal shares in what became "Sherwin Williams & Co".
Their daughter, Belle Sherwin born in 1869, became known for her civic work and her dedication to the cause of women's suffrage.
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.