Edward Thompson Sheldon Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1211-1213 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	EDWARD THOMPSON SHELDON is a native of Berea, Cuyahoga county, 
Ohio, where he was born on the 28th of February, 1838, being a son of 
Rev. Henry 0. and Ruth (Bradley) Sheldon. The honored father of the 
subject was for sixty-three years engaged in ministerial labor, being a 
clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal church and being a forceful and 
eloquent speaker and a man of high intellectuality. His eldest son, H. 
B. Sheldon, was one of the pioneer clergymen of the Methodist church in 
California, where he is still engaged in the work of his high calling. 
Major Lemi Bradley, the maternal grandfather of the subject, was a major 
in the war of 1812, while his eldest brother was a sergeant in the 
Continental line during the war of the Revolution. Edward T. Sheldon 
received his early educational training in the district schools of his 
native state, and later was for three years a student in Baldwin 
University, at Berea, Ohio. At the outbreak of the war of the Rebellion 
he was preparing to enter college, but at once subordinated his personal 
interests to respond to his country's call. In 1862, at the age of 
twenty-four years, he enlisted as a private in Company B, Twenty-ninth 
Iowa Volunteer Infantry, having removed to the Hawkeye state in 1856. He 
proceeded to the front with his regiment, which was assigned to the Army 
of the Southwest, and he participated in many of the battles of the 
great conflict through which the integrity of the nation was 
perpetuated. Mr. Sheldon became second lieutenant of Company B, and 
later was made captain of Company I, in the same regiment and being 
mustered out with this rank. In the fall of 1864 he resigned and 
received his honorable discharge, the illness of his wife being the 
primary cause which led to his resignation, while at the time it was 
thought that the war was practically ended. 

	After the close of his valiant and meritorious service as a 
soldier of the republic, Mr. Sheldon returned to his home in Tabor, 
Iowa, where he was engaged in blacksmithing and farming until 1880 when 
he went to Leadville, Colorado, where he remained until 1883, when he 
came as a pioneer to Hand county, South Dakota, where he took up 
government land, in what is now St. Lawrence township and here improved 
a valuable farm, upon which he still maintains his home. He now owns 
four hundred and eighty acres and his place is well improved, having 
substantial and attractive buildings, good fences, etc., and being one 
of the valuable places of this section of the state. Mr. Sheldon was one 
of the organizers of St. Lawrence township and has been prominent in its 
affairs from the time of taking up his residence here. He devotes a 
portion of the farm to diversified agriculture and also gives special 
attention to the raising of high-grade live stock, while he has a small 
number of registered shorthorn cattle, used specially for breeding 
purposes. 

	Mr. Sheldon has been a staunch supporter of the Republican party 
from the time of its organization until the present time and has been an 
effective worker in the promotion of its cause. He served for four years 
as a member of the board of trustees of the State Agricultural College 
of South Dakota, and from 1895 until 1897 was a valued member of the 
state board of regents of education, which has control of all state 
educational institutions. He was also chairman of the finance committee 
of this board, while he served as secretary of the board for one year. 
In 1887 he was a member of the council of the territorial legislature, 
and after the admission of the state to the Union he was elected a 
member of the first legislative assembly, in which he was a prominent 
and able worker for the best interests of the people of the new 
commonwealth. He has ever been one of the leaders in the public affairs 
of his county and is also one of the prominent men in the councils of 
the Republican party in the state. Mr. Sheldon has lived up to the full 
tension of life on the frontier, having been located in the northwest at 
the time when the strenuous warfare was waged against the border 
ruffians, prior to the Civil war, and he was personally acquainted with 
John Brown, the famous raider whose name is so prominent in the history 
of that crucial epoch, having been a roommate of Brown's son while 
attending school in Tabor, Iowa. Mr. Sheldon and his wife are zealous 
members of the Presbyterian church, in which he has served as elder for 
the past eighteen years, and fraternally he holds membership in Col. 
Ellis Post, No. 51, Grand Army of the Republic, at St. Lawrence; and in 
St. Lawrence Lodge, No. 29, Ancient Order of United Workmen. 

	On the 28th of August, 1862, Mr. Sheldon was united in marriage to 
Miss Imogene Hammond, who was at that time a successful teacher in the 
schools of Mills county, Iowa, and she died in 1874, without issue. On 
the 28th of December, 1875, the subject wedded his present wife, whose 
maiden name was Mattie Hobbs, and who was born and reared in North 
Brookfield, Massachusetts, being a daughter of Frank and Mercy Hobbs, 
who were pioneers of Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Sheldon have six children, 
namely: Henry E., George F., Albert B., Gladys M., Frank H. and Willard 
B.