So many signatures and so many places to look for Sherm… HARRY!
There is something about Harry. I say he refuses to be found because he wants us to find all these other people first. Maybe ancestors know if we find the answer to a question that we will quit looking, and so Harry Hutton Kidd stays in hiding while we find his brothers whom we knew little about, and learn so much about every cousin he might have gone visit.
We need to find more of Reginald Sherman Kidd’s work. Sherman legally changed his name to Reginald Sherman Winton in 1926 in Palm Beach County Court. You can see his Facebook page here.
From sometime in the 1890s and through 1926 he was ‘mostly’ signing as Kidd. Using initials, using his name, using Sherman first or only, using R Sherman and in using initials he even reversed his R sometimes. He followed the same variations after he changed his surname to Winton, I might imagine.
Why he decided on Winton can be learned in the stories of his cousin, Ernest Evan Thompson, who changed his name a few times and settled on Ernest Thompson Seton. One biography, Black Wolf, by Betty Keller, tells of Ernest’s aunt Annie Thompson Lee, my 3rd great grandmother, visiting and instilling in him the family heritage of the Setons, Earls of Winton – but that’s another story.
Naturalist Ernest Thompson Seton is our cousin. The most famous of the cousins to change his name.
Many of the males in the family before Ernest was born, and long after Sherman was born, were given the name Seton. One biographer of Ernest seemed to think it was only Ernest who had the love of the family name, but whoever he asked did not know the family records as I do. Christenings, marriages, census records, draft registrations for family — immediate and distant — all show the recurrence of the Seton name. It was not only Ernest Thompson Seton and R. Sherman Winton
In searching for Harry Hutton Kidd, we can only think that Harry also changed his name. Either that or that Louise offed him and he is buried under the basement floor in Brown County, Wisconsin. That also is another story.
I want to find more of Sherman’s work. Dear Mr. (_) Stanton gave me some stories, as did the records of the church, and of course newspapers. Sherman’s life is a story of what newspapers can do at their best for family history; they were the Facebook of their day.
Sherman’s wife, Flora Lillie (Kidd) Winton, lived as nanny and housekeeper for the Stantons after Sherman was committed. She was known to them as Auntie Fola and Stanton could recall her charming Scottish accent and her many stories of her and Sherman’s adventures, traveling and showing his art work. from Spain to Scotland and from Miami to Cape May to Chicago to Toronto. We have found Sherman’s works in all the places he lived and traveled.
Newspapers from all these locations tell of his works and his clubs and exhibits, and with these news articles verifying many of the stories that Mr Stanton remembered, I can’t help but wonder if he was right in thinking that some of Sherman’s murals wound up at Mar-A-Lago.
Mar-A-Lago needs no explanation in today’s world, but I cannot find proof in any way that that happened. Sherman was, generally, a Mizner boy and Urban did Mar-A-Lago.
The Dining Room murals are the best candidate to have been his work – BUT – the Dining Room mural also looks like the work of the guy… who painted the old murals at the Everglades Club. Oh, foot, what was his name… 🙂 I will look it up; my off the top-of-my-head fails me today. 🙂
The broken telephone story might have come from a job Sherman did; that is also a mystery, but at least we have substantial evidence for it. It seems that Sherman painted for Playa Riente and for Nellie Cosden. This was a Mizner project, and Mizner and Nellie collaborated on many things — traveling together and so forth. Sherman and Mizner worked many times together. It’s like when Mizner failed, Sherman’s career collapsed.
But how can we know? Where and how can we find more of his work? By asking lots and lots of folks…
“have you seen an R Sherman Kidd – R Sherman Winton painting?
Where and when?
Knowing how he signed will help to search for his work. We have examples of his work from circa 1901 through the late 1920s for certain and some works at the Lake Worth Library are likely from the early 1930s. The Florida State Hospital has no record of him painting at the hospital after he was committed in the mid-1930s; he remained there until he died in 1952. All of these variations on his name have been found on Sherman’s verified paintings:
Reginald Sherman Kidd
Reginald Kidd
Reginald S Kidd
R Sherman Kidd
Sherman-Kidd
R S Kidd
Sherman Kidd
R·Sherman-Kidd.
R·S·K·
RSK
ЯSK
Reginald K Winton
Reginald Sherman Winton
R Sherman Winton
Sherman Winton
R S Winton
The first record of him using Winton is in 1904. He returned from a trip to Paris and had used Reginald K Winton. Even though his legal name change was in 1926, there is reason to remain open and flexible about what might be found.
before 1910
The two paintings from 1901 had ‘notes’ the one with the Satyr has “1901 B.C.” (what does that mean?) and also the one with the monk and waitress has the note “une petite blessing”
after 1910
From Boston, Massachusetts and Lake Worth, Florida – he loved ships and historical paintings. The signature on the Spanish Armada mural must have been added later during the restoration. He painted it as Kidd and the painting has been trimmed. It was possibly his friend Samuel Slappich, the restorer, who signed Winton on that painting.
Ramblings of Sherman in Florida
Considering Ms. Cosden replaced his work at Playa Riente, it is clear Sherman did not listen to what his client wanted.
But where did these paintings go? Did Mizner move them to his new Miami office building? They were on canvas – so quite portable.
In a 1923 article in the Miami Herald, Rambles, a columnist noted the window awnings on Sherman’s and Flora’s Lake Worth home had the letter K on them. I take it he arrived to stay and made a home. But they did not keep it.
https://cherielynnsherstory.com/2018/12/27/seeking-sherman-a-florida-story/
See also Cape Ann, Boston, Paris, New York, Chicago, Milwaukee and Washington, D. C.
Sherman said he preferred Boston to New York.
our cousins Joy Peck and Karen Hancock have worked for years and with wonderful research and published the Seton family history and you can find it on Amazon.
They also published on googlebooks – part 3 of 3
The largest known collection of Sherman’s work is at the Lake Worth Library, in Palm Beach County, Florida. You must visit!
https://lakeworthbeachfl.gov/leisure-services/library
Sherman’s memorial on findagrave
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/90020916/reginald-sherman-kidd_winton
Cherie Lynn's Herstory 