Routt County CO Archives Biographies.....Shelton, Ezekiel    January 28, 1833 - ?
************************************************

Copyright.  All rights reserved.

http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm

http://www.usgwarchives.net/co/cofiles.htm

************************************************



File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Judy Crook jlcrook@rof.net March 25, 2006, 7:33 pm

Author: Progressive Men of Western Colorado

     Ezekiel Shelton is a successful and prosperous ranch and cattle man, who

from an early age has managed his own fortunes and by industry, sobriety and

frugality has built them from nothing to their present proportions which make

him one of the leading men of his section in Routt county, and well known as a

man of prominence and influence in other portions of the state.  He was born on

January 28, 1833, at New Lisbon, Columbiana county, Ohio, the son of Samuel and

Nancy Shelton, the former a native of Maryland and the latter of Ohio, where

both died after many years of useful and productive life.  The father settled in

Ohio in 1807, among the first in the section where he cast his lot, and to the

end of his life was a successful farmer and a prominent man there, taking an

active part in politics on the Democratic side, and both he and his wife being

active workers in the Methodist church.  He died on December 2, 1885, aged

seventy-eight years, and his wife on February 14, 1897, aged eight-two. Of their

eleven children four are living, David B., Homer B., Vernon T. and Ezekiel.  The

last named received a good common-school education and then completed his course

at the Salem, Ohio, high school.  He remained at home engaged on the paternal

farm until 1854, when he engaged in farming for himself and continued his

operations in his native locality four years with success.  When the oil

excitement broke out in Pennsylvania in 1858, he invested his savings in the new

industry and lost them.  In 1866 he took up surveying and engineering work as a

regular occupation, and for many years thereafter pursued it with ardor and

profit, winning distinction by his skill and enterprise.  He served as city

engineer at Alliance, Ohio, from 1871 to 1878, and was the chief engineer and

surveyor in the construction of the Alliance and Lake Erie Railroad, and in his

capacity as engineer had charge of the first street paving at Alliance.  In 1879

he became a resident of Colorado and, locating at Breckenridge, engaged in

surveying mining claims.  In 1882 he moved to the vicinity of Hayden in Routt

county, being one of its first settlers, and homesteaded on his present ranch,

which comprises one hundred and sixty acres and yields abundant crops of hay,

grain and vegetables, and supports large herds of good cattle which form the

principal source of revenue.  He has made many improvements on his ranch which

add greatly to its beauty and value, and is steadily pushing its development

forward with gratifying results of enduring worth.  Taking always an earnest

interest in the welfare of the county, he served seven years as county surveyor,

three years as county commissioner and one term as county school superintendent.

 He is now the United States commissioner and a stanch Republican in political

affiliation.  He is also a notary public and president of the Routt County

Pioneer Association.  He has probably done more surveying than any other man on

the Western slope of this state, having surveyed over one thousand irrigation

ditches.  In his youth he took the uncompromising stand of a total abstainer

from alcoholic liquors and tobacco, and still adheres to it firmly.  He is among

the most generous of Colorado citizens, from the earliest days of his residence

here having his house ever open to the claims of hospitality, and is one of the

most prominent and reliable men in his county.  Fraternally he belongs to the

order of Odd Fellows.  On September 1, 1859, he was married to Miss Mary S.

Entriken, a native of Chester county, Pennsylvania, and they have had four

children.  Of these Samuel died and Mrs. C.P. Bowman, Byron T. and William are

living.  The parents are earnest and zealous members of the Congregational

church.  Meeting with fidelity and ability the requirements of every public duty

and every line of private life, omitting no effort on his part to make his

existence and his citizenship as serviceable to his fellows as circumstances

would allow, and stimulating others to usefulness by his example, Mr. Shelton

deserves the high esteem in which he is held and the general public confidence

which he enjoys.  

Additional Comments:
From Progressive Men of Western Colorado.  Chicago:  A.W. Bowen & Co., 1905

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/routt/bios/shelton443gbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/cofiles/

File size: 4.8 Kb