Thomas F. Sheridan

Thomas F. Sheridan of North Billerica was one of the longest serving selectmen of the early twentieth century, elected to several terms between 1910 and his death in 1938. On August 20, 1902, he married Mary A. Burke, both of Billerica. Through the 1920s the jury lists give his occupation as towerman. He was first elected selectman in 1910, serving with Francis A. D. Singhi and Harry G. Sheldon, and at an adjourned town meeting in July 1912 he moved the borrowing of $9,000 and the appointment of a building committee for the new bridge across the Concord River at the Fordway, ordered by the county commissioners. In 1917 he was named with Herbert A. King and Albert S. Bull to a committee to codify the town by-laws.

He returned to the board in 1918, elected with Thomas Talbot Clark and Forrest F. Collier, and was its chairman from 1918 into the middle 1920s. In 1918 he was the local staff member for food control under the county food administrator, and in July 1919 the selectmen had charge of the town's Welcome Home celebration for its World War service men, "the greatest ever held in this town." In 1920 the town named him to a committee with Warren H. Manning and others to confer with the American Legion about a memorial to the soldiers of the Great War. He also served as a fence viewer, as the selectmen did, and in 1925 on the Finance Committee.

His service was not without controversy. In 1929 he and Dr. Maurice A. Buck, with two highway surveyors, were summoned into the District Court in Lowell, charged with exceeding town appropriations. In a statement titled "The Other Side" in the town report, he explained that as the selectman in charge of public buildings he had repaired Union Hall in North Billerica, which the state building inspector had condemned, and that the board had declared an emergency for the work rather than call a special town meeting. He and Dr. Buck entered a plea of nolo contendere on advice of counsel and the case was filed. "I have served 14 years on the Board of Selectmen, and never before has our integrity been questioned," he wrote, signing as Committee on Public Buildings. "Yet we were brought into court and humiliated before the world for working for what we considered the best interest of our citizens and tax payers, as we have done for many years."

He came back to the board for a last time in the 1930s, when the selectmen also served as the Board of Public Works, and in 1937 he signed the town's report on the Works Progress Administration as its co-ordinator, with 185 workers employed. He died on February 20, 1938, according to his Find a Grave memorial, and was buried in St. Patrick Cemetery in Lowell. The town report for 1938 listed him among the selectmen as "Deceased," and his colleagues wrote that "his wise counsel and profound knowledge of Town Government was a distinct asset, and his many years as a Town official gave to him the qualifications of leadership and supervision that were so greatly appreciated by his co-workers."

References

1. Marriages, 1902 (Thomas F. Sheridan and Mary A. Burke, Aug. 20)
2. Town officers, 1910 to 1911 (Selectmen: Singhi, Sheldon, Thomas F. Sheridan)
3. Adjourned town meeting, July 29, 1912 (Sheridan motions for the Fordway bridge)
4. Report of the Food Administration, 1918 (Thomas F. Sheridan, Food Control)
5. Committees appointed, 1920 (memorial for the soldiers of the Great War)
6. Jury list, 1925 (Sheridan, Thomas F., Towerman)
7. "The Other Side", statement on the Union Hall case of 1929 (signed Thomas F. Sheridan, Committee on Public Buildings)
8. W.P.A. report, 1937 (signed Thomas F. Sheridan, Co-Ordinator)
9. Report of the Board of Selectmen, 1938 (tribute on the death of Selectman Thomas F. Sheridan)
10. Thomas F. Sheridan (1878-1938), Find a Grave (death Feb. 20, 1938; St. Patrick Cemetery, Lowell; spouse Mary A. Burke)