Henry Clay Sherburne, son of Reuben R. and Sally (Rackleyft Staples) Sherburne, was born in Charlestown, Mass., December 9, 1830. His father was a native of Pelham and his mother of Newmarket; so, although born outside the limits of the state, he is wholly of New Hampshire lineage. His early education, obtained in the public schools of Boston, terminated when he was fifteen years of age, at which time he entered the employ of Holbrook & Tappan, hardware dealers, in whose store he remained three years.

At the age of eighteen years he gained his first experience in railroad business, serving as a clerk in the freight department of the Boston & Lowell Railroad, under his father, who was agent of the upper roads doing business with that corporation. Accepting a clerkship in the office of the Concord Railroad, he removed to Concord in 1851. After a year's service with the Concord Railroad, he entered the employ of the Concord & Claremont Railroad, where he remained until 1865, a period of thirteen years.

In July, 1865, after the adjournment of the legislature of that year, of which he was a member from ward five, Concord, he removed to Boston, entering into the business of railroad supplies in partnership with his brother, Charles W. Sherburne. He remained there until March, 1880, when he was elected president and a director of the Northern Railroad.

During his residence in Boston, in 1876, he was elected president of the New York & Boston Despatch Express Company, which position he still holds. In the summer of 1880 he was elected president and a director of the Concord & Claremont and Sullivan railroads, and subsequently a director of the Concord Railroad. In September, 1881, he was chosen general manager of the Boston, Lowell, and Concord railroads, under the business contracts between those roads. In 1878 he was sole trustee of the Hinkley Locomotive-Works, upon the failure of that company, and operated the works for about two years.

He is now a resident of ward four, Concord. He has a wife, and one son—Henry A. Sherburne, eleven years of age.