Roger Sherman (1721-1793) Founding Father Roger Sherman helped define the new nation in the last part of the 18th century. Born in Massachusetts, Sherman spent his adult life in Connecticut when, after his father’s death, his mother moved his family to New Milford. He and his brother opened a store in town, and Sherman was the surveyor of New Haven County.

In July of 1793, Roger Sherman died of typhoid at the age of 72. At the time he served as US Senator from Connecticut under the new constitution that he had helped to build; in the new nation, that he had spent most of his life defending and defining.

New York and London: The Science Museum and The National Museum of American History, 1998, pp. 305–308. Before the development and widespread availability of convenient light sources operated by electricity, the sun was the best illuminant for optical experiments that required strong light.

Roger Sherman was born in 1721 in Newton, Massachusetts, and early moved to Stoughton, Massachusetts, where he attended the public schools and later learned the shoemaker's trade. He moved to New Milford, Connecticut, in 1743 and became surveyor of New Haven County in 1745.

At the start of the Revolutionary war, Sherman was appointed to the Connecticut troops. In 1774, Sherman was elected into the Continental Congress where they considered ways of redressing colonial grievances; he was involved until 1781. His involvement with the troops was very useful when it came to being apart of the Continental Congress.