Thomas Jefferson Sherer was born Aug. 15, 1851. At the age of 18 years he learned the millwright trade at Barber's foundry at Allentown and in 1878, he located at Minneapolis, Minn, where he became the construction foreman for the Washburn-Crosby Milling Co., in erecting flour mills all though the west, but while in the state of Washington he contracted Bright's disease and afterward refused to travel.

His firm then placed him in charge of their large mill "B" at Minneapolis, Mina, where he continued to reside. He had one son, Thomas L., by Emma Mertz, born April 13, 1855, and died March 19, 1903. Later he was married to Mary Berkemeyer by whom he had an only son. Ralph, a civil engineer, who has his home in Minneapolis.