GRAFTON MCCLELLEN SHEDENHELM

      Grafton McClellen Shedenhelm (1813-1882) is my 2x great-grandfather... and he may well be one of your great-grandparents too because he gave birth to many, many Shedenhelms/Shetenhelms in America.                              

Grafton Shedenhelm

      We know that Grafton migrated to Ohio with his father because the record shows that he bought 80 acres of land in Seneca County in 1834 and another 40 acres in 1835. Indeed, he purchased a considerable amount of wooded land and set-up his own saw-mill. He operated the saw-mill for decades and he was one of the first men in the county to build a brick home. In a section entitled "Shedenhelm Crossing," Warner, Beers & Co. (1866) noted that "Grafton Shedenhelm established a saw-mill about 35 years ago which he has carried on to this day. The capacity is about 5,000 feet per day. Fox & Staley's stove factory, at this point, was established in 1884." (History of Seneca County, pg. 637) It is apparent, then, that Grafton was a entrepreneur who took advantage of the trees that covered his land, rather than clearing them as his neighbors did. According to the 1850 Federal census, Grafton owned property already valued at $3000... and this was before his saw-mill became all that it would become.

Mary Elizabeth Shaull

Catherine Malinda Shaull

      Grafton Shedenhelm, like many of our other ancestors, played a big role in Seneca County. He arrived there when it was still frontier, bought land at 21 years of age and owned a small business by the time he was 37. However, his contribution to our family was rooted in the number of children he procreated. He married Mary Elizabeth Schall in 1834, when she was 17, and together, they reared 9 children- George Nicholas (b. 1836), Henry David (b. 1838), Reuben William (b. 1839), George Washington (b. 1841), Thomas Monroe (b. 1846), Levi Jacob (b. 1848), Elizabeth Jane (b. 1842), and Catherine (b. 1843). Unfortunately, Mary Elizabeth, born to John David Schall and Elizabeth Kime, died in August, 1849... so Grafton married her half-sister, Catherine Malinda in September, 1850. Catherine was born to John David Schall and Margaret Blue, and together, she and Grafton reared 10 children- John Grafton (b. 1852), Samuel Scott (b. 1854), Frances Marion (1858), Joshua McClellen (b. 1861), Clinton (b. 1865), Ellen (b. 1855), Margaret (b. 1856), Ida (b. 1859), Elizabeth (b. 1860), and Mary L. (b. 1864). Grafton was to marry again in his old age, but his contribution to our family was complete in 1864- 28 years after his first child was born.

Grafton Shedenhelm and Mary Elizabeth Shaull/Schall
   George N, Shedenhelm married Elizabeth Hoover, and the record shows that he owned land in Hopewell Township, Ohio in 1874. Henry David Shedenhelm married 1) Elvira Parker and 2) Mary Jane Hoover, and he had 4 children with each of his wives. The 1910 Federal census indicated that Henry was farming near James N. Shedenhelm in Pleasant Township at that time. Like his older brother, Henry David remained in Ohio and is buried in Old Fort Cemetery in Seneca County. Reuben William Shedenhelm and his wife, Eliza Bear, farmed NW of Marengo, Iowa, and they reared one son, James W. Shedenhelm.  James Washington Shedenhelm (b. 1841) married Josephine Hoover and they raised at least 6 children in Ohio. Thomas Monroe Shedenhelm married Harriet Hoover and they had 3 sons. I suspect that Thomas farmed throughout his life, but according to the 1930 census, in which he was listed as a widower, he was residing at 76 Broadway Street in Green Creek, Ohio. Like his brother, Reuben, Levi Jacob Shedenhelm (b. 1848) farmed west of Marengo, Iowa. He married Martha Wood and they had a son named Oliver. Finally, Grafton and Mary Elizabeth's daughters- Elizabeth Jane and Catherine- married "Slaymakers." Elizabeth wed Charles Henery Slaymaker and Catherine married Reuben A. Slaymaker. Both couples had 9 children.

Grafton Shedenhelm and Catherine Malinda Shuall/Schall
      John Grafton Shedenhelm married Lucy Ann Ross and they spent their lives in Ohio. Their children were Lessie Shedenhelm, who married Frank Adams; Myrtle, who married Eugen Melroy; William Grafton, who married Laura Adams; John Sherman, who married Flossie Ekleberry; and Russell Shedenhelm, who married Zelma Walcutt. Taken together, Lessie, Myrtle, William, John, and Russell added at least 13 children to our family.
      Rebecca Ellen Shedenhelm married John Tuman, and they also spent their lives in Ohio, rearing Ida, Burton, Nora Ellen, who married Charles Adams, and Lloyd Monroe.
      Margaret Shedenhelm married and lived with her husband, William Nevills, in Michigan.
      Frances (Frank) Shetenhelm married Mary Frederici and they spent their lives together in Michigan, where they reared 11 children; Benjamin Edwin Shetenhelm, who married Olive Randall; Sadie B. Shetenhelm, who married Glen Miller; Allen, who married Lena Travis; Margaret, who married Frederick Frith; Frank; Olive, who married Marion Corey; Arthur, who married Mabel Housler; Ruth, who married Dewey Briggs; Walter Shetenhelm, who married Nina Hall; Earl, who married Francis Case. Like the Sheetenhelms of Maryland, the Shetenhelms of Michigan added their voices to our wonderful family story.

Francis "Frank" Marion Shetenhelm

      Ida Matilda Shedenhelm married Edell Farver and they lived together in Ohio.
      Mary Lucinda Shedenhelm (b. 1863) was the last of Grafton's children. She married a man named L.J. Miller.
      Finally, I will close with Joshua Shedenhelm, my great-grandfather, who married Mary Elizabeth Johnson. They relocated from Ohio to Iowa, where Joshua made a living as a auctioneer, a veternarian, and a farmer, and they had 4 children- three of whom lived to adulthood. They were 1) Clarence M. Shedenhelm, my grandfather, who farmed in a number of locations around Marengo, Iowa; 2) Jennie Belle Shedenhelm, who married Thomas Tanner and gave birth to 7 children-Esther Alma, Edna Lucille, Gladys E., Harold E., Thelma, Harold "Bus," Harriet, and Corrine; and 3) Melvin Shedenhelm, who married Bertha Cheney. They had 9 children together: Treva, who married Ray Adlers; Lee; Leona, who married Howard Morehouse; Eva Raunee, who married Frank Rounceville; Harley, who married Helen Jones; Rachel, who married Patrick Eddington; Eugene, who married Violet Scott; Dale, who married Lois Nunn; and Kernneth. Clarence Shedenhelm married Myrene Simmons and they had 8 children: Mary Glene, who married Lawrence Tetley; Juanita, who married Kenneth Fisher; Cecil, who married Maxine Welton; Evelyn Rae, who married Emmitt (Pat) Nace; my father, Gale Allen, who married Stella Sylvester; Duane Dean, who married, Maxine Burrell; Betty Mildred, who married Eldo Carlson; and Helen Marjorie, who died at age 7 with rheumatic fever.
   

Marjory and Gale Shedenhelm

One BIG Happy Family
      It all began in Maryland (Pennsylvania if we count the landing) and then, mostly because of great land deals and their own frontier spirits, our family (with differing variations of our surname) spread to Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Oregon, California, and Iowa. If you are related to any one of Grafton's children, you are related to me... and I am related to you (sorry, but you can't choose your family). I am extremely proud of the discipline, spirit, and strength that my ancestors exhibited, and the more I discover about them, the more proud I am! I have not been able to research the Eckharts, the Brashears, and for that matter, even the Schalls, the Rosenbergers, and the Slaymakers. But there are several texts available for research. I encourage you to use them... and to provide corrections and information to me.