Pat Speth Sherman, an independent scholar, grew up in Buffalo, New York on land that she lately learned was once the Buffalo Creek Reservation. Her ancestors hail from rural central Pennsylvania. Continuing her family’s centuries-long commitment to public service, she previously served as mayor of Brookings, Oregon.  Pat is a graduate of University of Portland and Oregon State University. Her articles have appeared in Oregon Historical Quarterly and Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography.

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 When Pat discovered that her family had been involved in almost every major event in American history, typically as local community leaders, she realized that their story represented an often-overlooked part of American history, the role that everyday people played in shaping America’s past. She knew that she had to tell their story. American Tapestry: Portrait of a “Middling’ Family, 1746-1934 is the result of a decade of research. In telling her family’s story Pat chose to integrate her family’s story with the historic events that shaped their lives. In so doing, her research experience compelled her to reevaluate her basic understanding of American history. Thus, in American Tapestry, Pat's ancestors share the stage with their contemporaries, including both Native Americans and Euro-Americans.

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Writing is a new departure for Pat. In the past she worked as an ICU-CCU nurse, an accountant, and as owner of a seed business that specialized in sweet peas. An amateur photographer of flowers, she was privileged to wander through the back roads of Curry County, Oregon with botanist Veva Stansell (1929-2017). There, in hidden locations, she discovered the beauty of several rare and endangered wildflowers.

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Pat is an avid gardener and an All-America swimmer. She lives in rural Oregon with her family and two cairn terriers, Pepper and Mace.