At the eighth annual meeting, of 1898-01-06, from Mr. T.S.H. Shearmen a brief report was received of work done at Woodstock and Galt. The 4+1/2-inch equatorial at the latter place, in the observatory of the late Mr. John Goldie, had been in almost constant use for several months past. Observations had been made of coloured, variable and double stars, as also in the examination of planetary detail, and also of occultations by the Moon on all favourable occasions. Mr. Shearmen had made an observation of a partial division in the inner bright ring of Saturn, in July. The original notes in reference to this would be forwarded on completion of some correspondence on the subject with another observatory. In August, Mr. Shearmen and Mr. Alex. McDonald, of Galt, had noted a brilliant meteor, the disappearance of which had been accompanied by a distinctly audible report.

At Woodstock, arrangements had been made for photometric observations of the outer satellite of Uranus. It was finally decided, however, that the 8-inch refractor had not sufficient light-gathering power for delicate work of this kind. Mr. Shearmen had, therefore, commenced the construction of an 18-inch reflector, which was now well on the way to completion. Part of each week had been spent at Brantford, so that the interest in observational work had been maintained at the three different places. Mr. Shearmen was warmly congratulated on his success, and was requested to prepare a paper for the Society on the details of his observations.

 

At the meeting of 1898-04-14, some notes of observations, etc., were read from Mr. T.S.H. Shearmen of Brantford. Commenting upon the published report of Mr. Lumsden's observation of the "black aurora," Mr. Shearmen stated that he had noted a similar phenomenon on April 7th, 1891, and in his journal had described it substantially as described by Mr. Lumsden on February 27th, 1897. Referring to work on Saturn, Mr. Shearmen stated that since making the observation of a partial division in ring B., he had corresponded with Prof. Schaeberle and had learned that the same observation had been made at Mt. Hamilton. Mr. Shearmen thought it was wrong to credit any observer of the present day with priority in this connection. He considered that the division was the same as observed by Sir William Herschel, but not actually accepted by him as evidence of the occasional multiple character of the rings. Mr. Shearmen reported a conspicuous white spot on the central meridian of Jupiter at 9h. E.S.T. on April 8th, and a number of bright and dark spots near to the central meridian on April 5th at 9h. 28m.

 

In late May, 1900, Shearman headed south to observe the May 28 total solar eclipse. He set up equipment two miles east of Norfolk, Virginia and was able to make photographs of the event. 

 

In 1901, Mr. Shearman's membership category was changed from 'corresponding' to 'active'. In 1902, he was listed as an associate. His membership was not listed, starting in 1904.