George Sherwood, Judge of the County Court of Hastings, was born in Augusta, County of Leeds, Ontario, May 29, 1811, his parents being Levius P. and Charlotte (Jones) Sherwood. His father was a Judge of the Court of Queen’s Bench, Ontario, and a prominent man, dying May 19, 1850. His grandsires on both sides were United Empire Loyalists, and settled in the township of Augusta. He was educated at the Johnstown Grammar School; studied law at Brockville and Toronto; was called to the Bar at Michaelmas term in 1833; opened a law office at Prescott; was in partnership a year with the late Hon. Henry Sherwood, Q. C., and from 1847 to 1860 with the late Judge Richard F. Steele of Brockville; was elected a Bencher of the Law Society in 1849, and created a Queen’s Counsel in 1856.
Judge Sherwood was appointed a commissioner to enquire into the management of the Public Works, September 5, 1845; was a member of the Executive Council of Canada from August 6, 1858, to May 23, 1862, during which time he also filled in succession the offices of Receiver General and Commissioner of Crown Lands; sat for Brockville in the Canadian Assembly from 1841 to 1851, and from 1858 to 1863, and was an unsuccessful candidate for the same seat in 1851 and 1854. He was appointed Judge of the County Court on the 2nd of September, 1865, an office which he is filling with great credit to himself and to the general satisfaction of the public. As a jurist he is courteous, cool, and impartial.
The wife of the Judge is Marianne, daughter of the late Dr. Thomas G. Keegan, of Halifax, Nova Scotia, married in July, 1833. They have no children.
Judge Sherwood is a member of the Church of England, was warden at Brockville several years, and is a gentleman of high standing in the community, his age, his judicial attainments, and his pure moral character securing for him the warm esteem of his fellow citizens. He has a choice miscellaneous library, as well as a large law library, the former embracing the leading English classics in elegant editions. Many of these works, like those of Shakspeare, Pope, Johnson, Addison, Junius, etc., were the property of his father, whose memory he venerates, and are greatly prized.