Capt. Edward T. Sheldon Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Pages 314-315

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

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CAPTAIN EDWARD T. SHELDON. The expression "the dignity of labor" is 
exemplified in the life record of this gentleman, who without reserve 
attributes his success to earnest work. He is a man of strong force of 
character, purposeful and energetic, and his keen discrimination and 
sound judgment are shown in the capable management of his business 
affairs. He is not only one of the leading agriculturists of Hand 
county, his home being on section 11, St. Lawrence township, but he is 
also an honored veteran of the Civil war and an ex-member of the 
legislature of. South Dakota. 

The Captain was born in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, February 28, 1838, and 
is a son of Harry O. and Ruth (Bradley) Sheldon, the former a native of 
Hartford, Connecticut, the latter of New York. The father was a 
minister of the Methodist Episcopal church and his life was unselfishly 
devoted to religious and educational affairs. He was the founder of the 
Norwalk seminary, and was also connected with the Baldwin University of 
Berea, Ohio. He was also secretary of the northwestern Ohio conference 
of his church, and was a man honored and respected wherever known on 
account of his sterling worth and many excellencies of character. He 
was born in 1799, and died at Oberlin, Ohio, in 1882. In his family 
were thirteen children, seven sons and six daughters, but the Captain 
is the only one living in this state. His maternal grandfather served 
with distinction as a major in the war of 1812, and had an eider 
brother who was a soldier of the Revolutionary war. 

Captain Sheldon was educated in Ohio, where he continued to make his 
home until eighteen years of age, when, in 1856, he went to Tabor, 
Iowa. There he became interested in the border-ruffian warfare at that 
time, and was a personal acquaintance of John Brown and a roommate of 
his son for three months. He was a conductor on the "underground 
railroad" and as such was once captured in Mills county, Iowa, and held 
a few hours. However, he succeeded in recapturing his negroes, five in 
number from the men that had captured him. They were endeavoring to 
take the black men to Missouri, where it was their intention of selling 
them. In 1862, during his residence in Mills county, our subject 
enlisted as a private in Company B, Twenty-ninth Iowa Volunteer 
Infantry but was soon elected second lieutenant of his company, and was 
afterward commissioned captain of Company I, the same regiment, which 
was assigned to the Seventh Army Corps, Department of the West. He 
remained in the service until December 20, 1864, and participated in 
the battles of Helena and Little Rock, Arkansas, the defense of the 
former place, the battles of Turner Creek and Jenkins Ferry, and 
numerous other smaller engagements in the southwest. 

Returning to Iowa after being mustered out, Captain Sheldon followed 
blacksmithing there for some years, and then spent three years in 
Leadville, Colorado, during the boom there. In 1883 he came to Hand 
county, South Dakota, and located on section 11, St. Lawrence township, 
where he still resides. He now controls a section of land here, and 
owns in all about four hundred and eighty acres. Since coming to this 
state he has given his entire time and attention to farming and stock 
raising, making a specialty of short-horn cattle, of which he has a 
fine herd. 

In 1875, Captain Sheldon was united in marriage with Miss Mattie Hobbs, 
a native of Massachusetts, and to them have been born six children, 
five sons and one daughter, namely: Henry E., George F., Albert B., 
Gladys M., Frank H. and Willard B., all living. Religiously the parents 
are both faithful members of the Presbyterian church, and socially the 
Captain affiliates with the Grand Army of the Republic and the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen. 

He has been prominently identified with all enterprises which he 
believed calculated to prove of public benefit, and served as vice-
president of the Farmers' Mutual Protective Association Insurance 
Company for one year. For four years he was a member of the board of 
trustees of the Agricultural College, at Brookings, and was then 
appointed by Governor Sheldon as one of the state regents of education 
for one year. In politics he is an ardent Republican, and in the fall 
of 1886 was elected on his party ticket as a member of the seventeenth 
session of the Territorial Council of Dakota. He was elected a 
representative to the lower house of the state legislature in 1889, and 
has filled several local offices in his township. His various public 
duties have always been discharged with a promptness and fidelity 
worthy of all commendation, and all that pertains to the public welfare 
receives his hearty endorsement, as he is a progressive man, 
preeminently public spirited.