SHELDON




John Sheldon, immigrant ancestor, was born in England in 1630, died in 1708. He settled in Providence, Rhode Island, and was a tanner by trade. He testified Feb. 23, 1675, in relation to the corn mill at Pawtucket that he was forty-five years old. He deeded land May 18, 1685, to his eldest son Timothy, and on the same day sixty acres to John and Nicholas, his sons. He was taxed in 1687; deputy to the general assembly in 1702. He deded his homestead to his son, Nehemiah, March 20, 1708, on condition that he maintain his father the remainder of his life.
He married (intention of marriage March 6, 1659, and marriage March 29, 1659-60) Joan, daughter of _____ and Fridgswith (Carpenter) Vincent.
Children: 1. Timothy, mentioned below. 2.. John, born in Pawtucket. 3. Mary, married Jan. 12, 1688, Stephen Arnold. 4. Nicholas, died Nov. 23, 1747. 5. Nehemiah, born 1672, died 1754.

(II) Timothy, son of John Sheldon, was born in Rhode Island, March 29, 1661, died in 1744. He lived at Providence. He was a cooper by trade. He married Sarah, daughter of Alexander and Jane (Holbrook) Balcom. He deeded to his son Timothy, Jan. 22, 1714, land with house, and other lands Dec. 6, 1716, to his brother, John Sheldon, and to his sister Martha, April 20, 1724. He gave the homestead by deed Jan. 20, 1738, to his son Daniel and he was living March 31, 1744.
Children born at Providence: 1. Martha, May 5, 1687. 2. Timothy, March 1, 1689, mentioned below. 3. Daniel, Jan. 29, 1691. 4. Mary, Aug. 1, 1693.

(III) Timothy (2) son of Timothy (1) Sheldon, was born March 1, 1689. He lived at Providence. He married (second) Rebecca _____. Children: born at Providence: 1. Timothy. 2, Son, died in West Indies. 3. Wealthy Ann, 1713. 4. Daniel. 1715. 5. Rev. Benjamin (twin). 6. Benajah (twin). 7. Jonathan. 8. Rev. James, of Troy.

(IV) Rev. James Sheldon, son of Timothy (2) Sheldon, was born in Providence in 1726. He married Diadam Perry. Children, born at Providence: 1. Cynthia, 1751, lived at Kinderhook. N.Y. 2. Daniel, 1753, of Newport, Rhode Island. 3. Urania, 1754, of Troy, New York. 4. Roxalana, 1755. 5. James, mentioned below. 6. Mary, 1758, lived in Genesee county, N.Y. 7. Asaa, 1761, of Utica, N.Y. 8. Lucretia, 1764, of Attleboro, Mass. 10. Lesfe, 1766, of Troy. 11. John, 1768. 12. Mercy, 1769. 13. Rebecca (twin), 1773. 14. Timothy (twin), 1773.

(V) James (2), son of Rev. James (1) Sheldon, was born in 1756, died in 1819. He settled in northern New York after the revolution. From Albany, N.Y., he removed to Trenton, that state, and built a stone hotel there, conducting it for many years. He was a soldier from Providence in the revolution and was at Fort Groton at the time of the massacre.
He was a minute man and after putting his wife on a horse went to the fort but found the gate closed and he with others fought outside. His wife barely escaped with her life on horseback. He married Mary Cheseborough Lord.
Children, born at Providence and in New York: 1. Asa Lord, mentioned below. 2. Thomas, 1783, died young. 3. Thomas M., 1784, lived at Turin, New York. 4. Mary C., 1786; married John Harris. 5. Timothy, 1788, lived at Gouvernour, N.Y. 6. Henry B., 1690, lived at Remsen, N.Y. 7. James, 1792, lived at Buffalo. 8. Abby, 1794, married Andrew Billings. 9. Elijah, 1796. 10. Lydia, 1800, lived at Leyden.

(VI) Asa Lord, son of James (2) Sheldon, was born in Providence, Sept. 29, 1781. He attended the public schools but was largely educated by his own reading and studying at home. He was a soldier in the war of 1812 and was in the battle of Sacketts Harbor. When but a boy he began to work at lumbering and he superintended a lumber camp for three years.
In 1804 he came to Martinsburg, N.Y., located on a tract of wild land, which he cleared, and set out an orchard. This farm is now owned by his grandson, Edward Morgan Sheldon, and consists of about one hundred and fifteen acres. He followed farming successfully all his life.
In politics he was a Democrat until the Republican party came into being and afterwards a Republican. He held the office of commissioner of deeds and coroner of Lewis county. While he was coroner it became his duty to investigate the murder for which Lawrence McCarthy was afterwards hanged. This is the only case of capital punishment ever inflicted in this county.
He died Nov. 8, 1869; his wife Jan. 21, 1869. He married, Nov. 18, 1807, Harriet Holmes, born in Dutchess county, Nov. 2, 1789.
Children: 1. George Avery, born July 5, 1809, died Oct. 10, 1836. 2. Augustus Perry, Nov. 18, 1813. 3. James Henry, Jan. 20, 1816, died Sept. 4, 1871. 4. Morris Holmes, Feb. 8, 1819, died young. 5. Harriet Cornelia, Oct. 30, 1820. 6. Andrew Jackson, May 31, 1829, died May 5, 1831. 7. Martin, mentioned below.

(VII) Martin, son of Asa Lord Sheldon, was born Jan. 20, 1833, in Martinsburg, N.Y. and was educated in the common schools, Lowville Academy and a select school at Martingsburg. He then taught school nine terms, six in the town of Martisburg and three in the vicinity. He then engaged in farming on the homestead in Martinsburg, first making a specialty in raising wheat, and later other grains, and in keeping a dairy.
In politics Mr. Sheldon was formerly a Republican, now a Prohibitionist, and active in the temperance movement. From 1872 to 1882 he wasw supervisor of the town of Martinsburg and from time to time he was elected to other offices of trust and honor. He was the last town superintendent of schools, being succeeded by a county superintendent.
He married, March 28, 1854, Margaret C., born in Charlotte, Vermont, Sept. 20, 1832, daughter of Rev. Calvin and Eliza (Robbins) Yale. Her father was a son of Calvin Yale, who was born in Lenox, Berkshire county, Mass.
Children: 1. Mary Alene, born Nov. 15, 1855; died in 1876. 2. Charles Edward, 1858, died aged three years, seven months. 3. Fanny Theodosia, Jan. 16, 1865; was a student at Wellesley College, graduate of Cornell University, took a post graduate course at Chicago Univeristy; now a prominent educator. 4. Edward Morgan, Sept. 27, 1866, attended the public schools, Lowville Academy, and Cornell University, from which he graduated with a degree of A. B., and Cornell Law School; was a clerk for a time in the law office of President Cleveland's firm, Bissell, Cleveland & Bissell, of Buffalo, and is now in active practice in Buffalo; spends his summers on the homestead; married Annie Sabina Armstrong; children: Elizabeth, Margaret, Anna, Martin Armstrong and Harriet Cornelia. 5. Dr. Harriet Eliza, March 10, 1870; attended Lowville Academy; graduate of the Hahnermann Medical College of Chicago; practiced three years; attended Moody's Institute of Chicago; engaged in mission work in Chicago and at Hamilton, Ontario; went to Africa as a missionary in Jan. 1909. 6. Maggie Blossom, died young. 7. William Martin, died at age of six years.


SECOND ENTRY:

Isaac Sheldon, doubtless a relative of several other immigrants of this name, came when a young man to Windsor, Conn., and was given permission to keep house with Samuel Rockwell. He bought the Peter Tilton lot, Windsor. He had sons, John and Isaac, the last named mentioned below.

(II) Isaac (2) son of Isaac (1) Sheldon, was born about 1630. He married in 1654, Mary Woodford.
Children:
1. Mary, 1654.
2. Isaac, 1656.
3. John, 1658.
4. Thomas, 1661.
5. Ruth, 1663.
6. Thankful (twin of Ruth), 1663.
7. Mindwell, 1666.
8. Joseph, 1668.
9. Hannah, 1670.
10. Eleazer, 1672, died young.
11. Samuel, 1675.
12. Ebenezer, 1677.
13. Mercy, 1681.

(III) Ebenezer, son of Isaac (2) Sheldon, was born 1677, died 1755. He married Mary Hunt, who died in 1767, aged eighty-eight.
Children:
1. Ebenezer, born 1702; killed by the Indians, 1794.
2. Miriam, 1704; married Nathaniel Strong.
3. Noah, 1706; of Southampton.
4. Stephen, mentioned below.
5. Katherine, 1711, died young.
6. Aaron, 1713.
7. Israel, 1715, of Southmapton.
8. Thomas, 1716, of Berkshire, Mass.
9. Hester, 1719.
10. Elias, 1721.
11. Jemima, 1722, died 1794.
12. Mary, 1724.

(IV) Stephen, son of Ebenezer Sheldon, was born at Southampton, 1709, died 1781. He married Thankful King.
Children:
2. Stephen, 1739, of Southampton.
3. Esther, 1742.
4. Joseph, 1744.
5. Thankful, 1748.
6. Emma, 1752.
7. Simeon, 1755, solider in revolution.

(V) Captain Ebenezer (2) son of Stephen Sheldon, was born in 1738 at Southampton. He married Esther Strong.
Children:
1. Arctas, 1764.
2. Sabrina, 1766; settled at Meadville, Pennsylvania.
3. Ebenezer.
4. Esther, of Southampton.
5. Joseph, mentioned below.
6. Horatio, 1775.
7. Sophia, 1777, or Norwich, Mass.
8. Sally, 1779.

(VI) Joseph, son of Captain Ebenezer (2) Sheldon, was born in 1773 in Southampton, Connecticut, and came to New York in 1802, living at Martinsburg, Lewis county. He removed to Antwerp after his second marriage. His homestead was a mile and a half from Lowville. He cleared a farm in the wilderness and kept the first hotel in this section. In religion he was a Methodist; in politics an old-line Whig.
He married Mary, daughter of Richard and Hannah (Bradford) Arthur. She was born in Westfield, Mass., and came to Lewis county with her mother's family in 1802.
1. Mary, born 1798; married Joseph Green, of Hounsfield.
2. Ira, mentioned below.
3. Ansel, born 1803; settled at Denmark.
4. Edmund, 1807; lived at Denmark.
5. Albert, 1809; lived at Pitkin, N.Y.
6. Emily, 1811; lived at Gouverneur, St. Lawrence county, N.Y.
7. Bradford, 1813; died young.
8. Angeline, 1817.
9. Appolonia, 1819.
10. Sarah Ann, 1823.

(VII) Ira, son of Joseph Sheldon, was born in 1802 at Martingsburg, Lewis county, N.Y. He was brought up on a farm and educated in the public schools. When a young man he taught school in the winter months and farmed in the summer. In 1830 he settled on the farm where his son Abial B. now lives, [1910], clearing it and making it valuable and productive. He lived there during the remainder of his life. He was a Methodist in religion and a Whig in politics. He died in 1856.
He married, in 1830, Fannie, died in 1875, daughter of Abial Bingham, who came from Montgomery county, N.Y. to Lewis county. The Bingham family is one of the old colonial Connecticut families.
Children of Ira and Fannie (Bignahm) Sheldon:
Sarah M.
Hon. Cyrus L.
Abial B.
Warren F.
Mary.
Rev. Henry C., of the Boston Theological Seminary.
Emma J.

(VIII) Abial B., son of Ira Sheldon, was born in Martinsburg, on the Sheldon homestead, June 27, 1838. He attended the district schools and Lowville Academy. While a student at the academy he missed neither chapel nor recitation during the five terms there, walkiing daily a mile and a half in all kinds of weather and traveling. He settled on the homestead, to which he succeeded as owner, and he has conducted it with notable success for more than half a century. Although he has reached the age when many farmers feel obliged to retire, he continues to manage the farm and in winter often is without help. In politics he is a staunch Republicvan, having voted for every Republican candidate for president since the party was organized. He was supervisor of the town of Martinsburg for eight years and has held the office of district clerk for forty-nine years. This office has been held by one of the Sheldon family continuously for more than ninety years. Mr. Sheldon is an active and consistent member of the Methodist church and has been class leader and steward for thirty-five years. He is also treasurer of the mission and has attended every missionary meeting for twenty-nine years. He is a member of the local grange, Patrons of Husbandry.
He married, Feb. 22, 1870, Mary E., born at Harrisburg, N.Y. March 14, 1833, daughter of Henry and Polly (Stoddard) Humphrey.

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