HENRY CLAY SHELDON

HENRY CLAY SHELDON WAS THE THIRD SON OF EDGAR AND MATILDA SHELDON, AND WAS BORN ON THE OLD SHELDON HOMESTEAD IN TINGLEY TOWNSHIP ON FEBRUARY 25, 1860, BEING 64 YEARS, ONE MONTH AND 26 DAYS OLD ON THE DAY OF HIS DEATH. HIS FATHER, EDGAR SHELDON, CAME TO RINGGOLD COUNTY IN THE SPRING OF 1854 AND ENTERED THE LAND WHICH LATER BECAME THEIR PERMANENT HOME AND HAS SINCE BEEN OWNED BY SOME MEMBER OF THE FAMILY UNTIL THE YEAR 1919. THE SHELDONS WERE AMOUNG THE EARLY PIONEERS OF RINGGOLD COUNTY, AND THE FATHER, EDGAR SHELDON, IS STILL LIVING AT THE ADAVNCED AGE OF NINETY-ONE, YEARS, AND MAKES HIS HOME WITH HIS SON, F.E. SHELDON OF THIS CITY. HE WAS THE FIRST SURVEYOR FOR RINGGOLD COUNTY AND LATER SERVED THREE YEAR TERM AS COUNTY AUDITOR.  HENRY SHELDON SUCCEEDED HIS FATHER ON THE OLD HOME PLACE AND IT WAS HIS HOME FROM THE DATE OF HIS BIRTH 1860, UNTIL HE MOVED TO HIS PRESENT HOME NEAR MOUNT AYR IN 1920 IN ORDER TO SEEK RETIREMENT FROM ACTIVE FARM WORK.  MR. SHELDON ALWAYS TOOK AN ACTIVE INTEREST IN THE AFFAIRS OF TINGLEY TOWNSHIP AND EARLY BECAME A LEADER OF POLITICS. HE WAS ESPECIALLY ALERT IN ALL MATTERS PERTAINING TO THE BETTERMENT OF AGRICULTURAL CONDITIONS, AND THE IMPROVEMENT OF LIVESTOCK. AT ONE TIME HE WAS PRESIDENT OF THE DUROC JERSEY BREEDERS’ ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES. HE WAS EARLY RECOGNIZED AS A LEADER AND WAS A MAN WHO WAS UNIVERSALLY RESPECTED AND ESTEEMED BY HIS FELLOW MEN, AND HIS NEIGHBORS OFTEN REMARKED OF HIM THAT HE WAS GENEROUS TO A FAULT. IN HIS TWENTY-SECOND YEAR HE WAS MARRIED TO MISS MATTIE MCCARTNEY OF UNION COUNTY.  THIS UNION WAS A HAPPY ONE. THEY AT ONCE SET UP THEIR HOME ON THE OLD FAMILY HOMESTEAD AND REARED A FAMILY OF EIGHT CHILDREN, ALL OF WHOM WITH THE EXCEPTION OF ONE SON, SURVIVE THE FATHER. THE CHILDREN ARE ; KENT, GLENN AND DEAN, OF MOUNT AYR; CLAY OF BOONE, IOWA; WEIR OF CHAPPEL, NE; MRS. JUNE DOUGLAS OF UPTON, WY; MRS. MATTIE JONES OF CASPER, WY.  HIS FATHER’S FAMILY CONSISTED OF EIGHT SONS. THE MOTHER DIED IN 1883 AND TWO BROTHERS, NEWELL AND JULIAN, HAVE PASSED AWAY. THE SURVIVING BROTHERS ARE MARION, CHARLEY, SIMEON AND FRANK E.  OF MOUNT AYR. THE FUNERAL SERVICES WERE HELD FROM THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN TINGLEY AT 2:30 WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, BEING CONDUCTED BY REV. W.W. GORDON, PASTOR OF THE CHURCH. INTERMENT WAS IN THE FAMILY LOT IN TINGLEY CEMETERY.