Medina County OhArchives Biographies.....Sheldon, Amos February 27, 1845 - December 1, 1915 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/oh/ohfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: David Holcomb david@holcombs.net April 18, 2011, 10:31 am Source: Upton, H. T. (1910). History of the Western Reserve. Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co. Author: Upton, H. T. Amos D. Sheldon, who has served as county surveyor of Medina county for twenty- five years, will probably retire (not be retired) at the conclusion of his term, in the fall of 1909. He has resided in the county since he was four years of age, when his parents brought him from Herkimer county, New York and settled their family on the 120-acre farm near Lafayette Center which Amos D. has. owned for many years. At the conclusion of his long period of public service, which also includes most useful work as school director, township clerk and trustee and land appraiser, Mr. Sheldon intends to retire to the old and fine farm of his boyhood, and there spend the later years of his life in the most satisfactory occupation with which mankind ever busied itself and helped to maintain and benefit the community. The county surveyor is a native of Herkimer county, New York, and a son of Hiram and Eirene (Jacobs) Sheldon, also born in the Empire state. Earlier ancestors were long established in Connecticut, and different members of the family have become prominent in New England and the middle west. Both of his grandparents, Amos and Anna (King) Sheldon, were born in Sheffield, Connecticut— the former May 10, 1769, and the latter March 17, 1770. The great- grandfather, Elijah, is known to have served in the Revolutionary war, and to have carried honorable wounds from the battlefield. Hiram Sheldon, the father, was born in Montgomery county, New York, being the fourth in a family of eight children. At the age of ten years he accompanied his parents to Herkimer county, where his father died May 10, 1832, and his mother, November 12, 1839. With the exception of one year spent away from home, Hiram remained with his parents until their decease. In July, 1830, he married Miss Jacobs, who was a native of Hillsboro county, New Hampshire, born September 29, 1805, to John and Sallie Jacobs. In May, 1849, the parents brought their family west and located on the farm near Lafayette Center, Medina county, on which they spent their last years, the mother dying in 1865 and the father in 1884. The deceased were Close Communion Baptists and true, unassuming, Christian people. Amos D. spent his early boyhood and youth on the Lafayette township farm, and in 1864, when nineteen years of age, enlisted in Company D, One Hundred and Sixty-sixth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, commanded by Colonel H. G. Blake. He served in that command until near the close of the war and, upon receiving his honorable discharge, returned to his home. During the fall and winter of 1892 and 1893 he attended a private school taught by Professor R. M. McDonnell, one of the most efficient instructors of the county. On May 6, 1866, when a few months in his twenty-second year, Mr. Sheldon married Miss Cordelia Childs, a native of Lafayette township, born August 18, 1842, and a daughter of Charles and Sallie (Abbott) Childs. Mrs. Sheldon's father was a Vermonter and her mother a native of New York. They located in Lafayette township in 1833 and eventually had a family of twelve children, including triplets. Mr. and Mrs. Amos D. Sheldon have become the parents of five children, as follows: May E., who is now the wife of F. D. Phillips, of Wellington, Ohio; Emma E., who was accidentally killed at the age of eighteen years, while witnessing a game of baseball at Chatham, Ohio; Bert C, who is a farmer of Lafayette township; Bessie B., who married M. B. Halliwell, of Medina, and William H., a marine engineer on Lake Erie. After his marriage Mr. Sheldon settled on a farm in Lafayette township and spent five years of his life in its cultivation and development. His present country place embraces 160 acres. In 1871 Mr. Sheldon was elected surveyor of Medina county on the Republican ticket, and by continuous re-elections has continued in office, except ten years from 1892 to 1902, his record being both remarkable and also highly creditable to his faithfulness and ability. Further to his credit are ten terms of thorough teaching in the district schools of Medina county, and good service in various township offices. He has earnestly supported the Congregational church for many years, and has been an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic, H. G. Blake Post No. 169. Upton, H. T. (1910). History of the Western Reserve. Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co. Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/oh/medina/photos/bios/sheldon400bs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/oh/medina/bios/sheldon400bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/ohfiles/ File size: 5.1 Kb