A link to Page 1 of the original magazine is HERE.  You can scroll down for additional pages.

What we have to do for each individual in each family group:

1. Add name and year of birth if noted.
2. Add year of birth: If year of birth is listed, add as listed.  If no birth is listed, add an estimated year based on any clues you might have.  Format: “Abt. 1790”.  To help with adding estimated years of birth, I use the following process.  It’s incredible how often this system is found to be close to accurate when later compared with other documentation.
   1. Keep the children in the order as listed in the magazine unless other documentation confirms otherwise.  The Rev. did try to list in chronological order when it was known, but did sometimes guess.
   2. If there is a known marriage date, the first child is estimated for the next year.
   3. If no marriage, but there is a year of birth for the mother – add 18 years for the first child.
   4. If no marriage or mother’s birth, but you have the fathers – add 21 years for the first child.  If we are following this consistantly there should always at least be an estimated year for the father.  If not, go to the paternal grandparents and follow the same process to find his estimated year of birth.
   5. All additional children alternate 1 and 2 additional years between children for the first decade, and then two years between children after that.  Example: if parents are married in 1790.
      • Child 1, born Abt. 1791 (one year after the marriage)
      • Child 2, born Abt. 1792 (one year after the last child)
      • Child 3, born Abt. 1794 (two years after the last child)
      • Child 4, born Abt. 1795 (one year after the last child)
      • Child 5, born Abt. 1797 (two years after the last child)
      • Child 6, born Abt. 1798 (one year after the last child)
      • Child 7, born Abt. 1800 (two years after the last child, end of the first decade)
      • Child 8, born Abt. 1802 (two years after the last child)
      • Child 9, born Abt. 1804 (two years after the last child)
      • Child 10, born Abt. 1806 (two years after the last child)
      • Etc.
3. Add “The Sheldon Magazine” Source
   1. Add Source “The Sheldon Magazine” (already created, select from the drop down)
   2. Citation – type “The Sheldon Magazine”
   3. Date: 1855
   4. Transciprtion: Page number, name, Sheldon #, and any comments in the far right column in quotes.  Example – Page 4: Josiah #326 “Steventown, N.Y.”
   5. Web Address: exact page of the Magazine or 1st page: https://archive.org/details/sheldonmagazine00shelgoog/page/n26/mode/1up
   6. Facts & Events: select all that apply.
4. Add Fact: Custom Event
   1. Title: Sheldon Magazine
   2. Description: example – Josiah #326 “Steventown, N.Y.”
   3. Add Source: select “The Sheldon Magazine” already created.

• Page 1 
• Page 1r
• Page 2
• Page 2r
• Page 3
• Page 3r
• Page 4
• Page 4r
• Page 5
• Page 5r
• Page 6
• Page 6r
• Page 7
• Page 7r
• Page 8
  • 234 – Benjamin
  • 235 – John
  • 241 – Nicholas
  • 242 – Stephen
  • 247 – Joseph
  • 248 – Christopher
• Page 8r
  • 252 – Mercy
  • 253 – Mary
  • 254 – Job
  • 255 – John
  • 256 – Pardon
  • 258 – Waity
  • 658 – Betsey
  • 262 – Angell
  • 263 – Charles
  • 268 – Tillinghast
• Page 9
  • 267 – Nicholas
  • 277 – Caleb
  • 281 – Lydia (claimed by Dale)
  • 282 – Anna (claimed by Dale)
  • 284 – Nehemiah
  • 287 – Elizabeth
  • 289 – James
  • 373 – Abner
• Page 9r
  • 290 – John
  • 301 – Thomas
  • 302 – Roger
  • 304 – Isaac
  • 305 – John
  • 306 – Susanna
  • 321 – Isaac
• Page 10
  • 307 – Joseph
  • 309 – Benjamin
  • 310 – Joseph
  • 312 – Ezekiel
  • 320 – Sarah (claimed by Dale)
  • 322 – Daniel
  • 328 – Joseph
  • 367 – Seth
• Page 10r
  • 324 – Rebecca
  • 327 – Isaac
  • 351 – Josiah
  • 352 – Enoch
  • 359 – John
  • 365 – Samuel
• Page 11
  • 369 – Ebenezer / 982 Catharine Catlin
  • 370 – Ebenezer
  • 371 – Remembrance
  • 373 – Abner
  • 375 – Mercy (claimed by Dale)
  • 350 – John
  • 358 – Charles
• Page 11r
  • 376 – Capt. Amasa
  • 379 – Elijah
  • 384 – Gen. Epaphras
  • 385 – Remembrance
  • 386 – John
  • 387 – James
  • 391 – Mary (claimed by Dale)
  • 852 – John
• Page 12
  • 392 Mary (claimed by Dale)
  • 395 Rachel (claimed by Dale)
  • 398 Dea. John
  • 399 Capt. Simeon
  • 401 Capt. Caleb
  • 403 Asher
  • 405 Anne
• Page 12r
  • 408 Jemima (claimed by Dale)
  • 409 Benjamin
  • 410 Rebecca (claimed by Dale)
  • 411 Mary (claimed by Dale)
  • 412 Phebe (claimed by Dale)
  • 413 Jerusha
  • 425 Lois (claimed by Dale)
  • 426 Col. Elisha
• Page 13
  • 429 – Samuel
  • 430 – Charles
  • 433 – Samuel
  • 451 – Mary
  • 454 – Berthia
  • 456 – William
  • 459 – Samuel
  • 460 – Elisha
• Page 13r
  • 461 – Mehetebel
  • 464 – Elijah
  • 465 – Dea. Seth / 962 Sarah Parsons
  • 479 – Simeon
  • 480 – Joel
  • 486 – Noah
  • 487 – Catharine
  • 489 – Hannah (claimed by Dale)
  • 493 – Stephen
• Page 16
  • 530 Caleb
  • 531 Catharine
  • 533 Mary
  • 534 Isaac
  • 541 William
  • 149 Ephraim
  • 300 Martha
  • 1183 Phebe
• Page 17
  • 561 Rebecca
  • 562 John
  • 565 Elijah
  • 566 Rachel
  • 568 Apphia
  • 569 Daniel
  • 570 Seth
  • 580 Chloe
  • 544 Eleanor?
• Page 19
  • 607 Moses
  • 610 Martin
  • 612 Silence
  • 613 Sylvester
  • 614 Sarah
  • 615 Solomon
  • 616 Frederic
  • 617 Clarissa
  • 1397 Edmund
• Page 24r
  • 746 – Israel
  • 5051 – ?
  • 749 – Rosanna
  • 766 – Mercy
  • 768 – Lydia
  • 769 – Waity
  • 770 – Sarah
  • 771 – Daniel
  • 773 – Betsey
• Page 29r
  • 945 – Daniel
  • 946 – Seth
  • 947 – Col. Amasa
  • 968 – Isaac
  • 980 – Spencer
  • 990 – Elijah
  • 991 – Jehiel
  • 992 – Timothy
• Page 30
  • 993 – Samuel
  • 994 – Selah
  • 1001 – Ebenezer
  • 1003 – Oliver
  • 1005 – Elihu
  • 1006 – Thomas
  • 1007 – Sylvanus
  • 1010 – John
  • 1013 – Jona
  • 1017 – Mary
  • 1020 – Eliakim
• Page 34r
  • 1179 – Mary / 1192 Lynde Lord
  • 1180 – Joseph
  • 1210 – Silas
  • 1225 – Whiting
  • 1226 – Sarah
  • 1227 – Hannah
  • 1201 – Dr. Elisha
• Page 35r
  • 1240 Mercy
  • 1242 Mehetable
  • 1244 Elsha
  • 1245 Erastus
  • 1246 Hon. Benj.
  • 1263 Theodore /  Hannah Lyman
  • 1265 Irene
  • 1277 Eunice
• Page 41
  • 1583 Amos
  • 1584 Jonathan
  • 1585 Jeremiah
  • 1602 Capt. Joseph
  • 1604 John
  • 1605 Apollos
  • 1614 Elizabeth
  • 1615 Rachel
  • 1618 John
  • 1619 Asa
  • 1620 Mary
• Page 41r
  • 1622 David
  • 1626 Ruth
  • 1651 Hannah
  • 1652 Daniel / 1782 Rachel Sheldon
  • 1653 Capt. Seth
  • 1654 Abraham
  • 1656 Isaac
• Page 45
  • 1734 – Lucretia
  • 1735 – Asaph
  • 1736 – Israel N.
  • 1739 – Dr. Milton
  • 1749 – Gaylor
  • 1742 – Alexander
  • 1745 – Miriam
  • 1746 – Smith
  • 1747 – Delia
  • 2358 – Eliza R.
• Page 47r
  • 1814 Julius C.
  • 1562 Ethan
  • 1678 Sylvester / 1563 Anna
  • 1679 Cephas
  • 1681 Jacob
  • 4687 Sarah Jane
  • 1836 Asa
• Page 71r
  • 2843 – Emily
  • 2844 – Henry
  • 2845 – Wolcott M.
  • 2846 – Wm. T.
  • 2848 – Daniel
  • 2849 – Mary Ann
  • 2851 – Wm.
  • 2879 – Elvira
  • 2881 – Electa P.
  • 2896 – Apollos
• Page 74r
  • 3019 Salmon
  • 3020 Socrates
  • 3026 Simon
  • 3027 Amasa
  • 3028 Electa
  • 3035 Elisha
  • 3036 Diodorus
  • 3039 Rev. Benj. F.
  • 3050 1/2 Hervey
  • 7374 Amanda
• Page 89r
  • 3988 Jesse
  • 3989 Olivia
  • 3990 Israel
  • 3992 Eli
  • 3994 Edwin
  • 3266 Rachel
  • 1627 Lucy
  • 1629 Daniel W.
  • 1379 John
• Page 90
  • 4011 Elbridge G.
  • 4012 Lucinda
  • 4013 Samuel H.
  • 4014 Asa G.
  • 4018 Sophia
  • 4019 George
  • 4024 Elizabeth
  • 8645 Elvira
  • 4925 Mry
  • 4067 Philena
  • 4068 Alta
• Page 101
  • 5865 Sarah
  • 5869 David
  • 5867 Mary
  • 5870 Martha
  • 5901 Sarah
  • 5902 David
  • 5904 Abraham
  • 1272 Levi
  • 1884 Abigail
• Page 111
  • 7089 – Julia
  • 7090 – Gamaliel
  • 7091 – Nancy
  • 10050 – Elizabeth
  • 913 – Dea. Stephen
  • 7092 – Henry
  • 7093 – Rev. Silas
  • 7094 – Samantha
  • 7095 – Isabel
  • 11017 – Alsena
  • 10238 – Dea. S. Goodrich
  • 7096 – Margaret
  • 7098 – Julius
  • 6385 – Emily
  • 6384 – Susan

On the first Sunday of every month, beginning this Feb 4 at 12 noon PST, we will be having a work party on Zoom for our Sheldon Magazine Project.  In this project we will be transcribing the original volumes of the Sheldon Magazine, published in the 1850’s by the Rev. Henry O. Sheldon.  The magazine does not have articles, but is rather a list of all of the Sheldons that he could find and their descent from the original progenitors.  Anyone participating will get training in these zoom parties on reading the magazine and how to enter the information into the database, and you will be given access to edit our tree in order to help with the project.

• When the time comes!  You can join the Zoom meeting by clicking HERE
  • 1st Sunday of every month (12 noon PST)(3 pm Eastern)(8 pm London)(7 am Mon in Sydney)

Here is a link to the original magazine and a brief description on the Rev. very unique system.  Click on Sheldon Magazine.  This should take you to the beginning of the list.  If you like you can scroll up from there to read some of the Rev. description.

When looking at the pages, try to imagine an actual book open in front of you.  Page 1 will be the open page on the left, and Page 1r will be the open page on the right.  r = right.  Logical!  Each page will also have 50 spaces for children represented.  So page 1 has children 1 to 50; page 1r has children 51 to 100; page 2 has children 101 to 150; page 2r has children 151 to 200.  This also means that each open layout is 100 people – 50 on the left and 50 on the right – which also means that you can tell exactly where you can find an individual as a child if you already know their reference number.  As an example, the Sheldon given #1580 would have to be on page 16r: the 1500’s must be on layout 16/16r and 80 is above 50, so Page 16r.

You will often see empty spaces that the Rev left on purpose in order to add in more children as he found them – this was particularly true in the early generations where he was not confident of the information – and in fact there were several errors in the early generations.  But not to worry – the first several pages of the magazine have already been transcribed into our database with the errors corrected.

Going back to page 1 – it’s good to understand that the Rev. was working under the assumption that all Sheldons in the United States were descended from one of three brothers – Isaac, John, and William.  In truth, he was not far off, but he had several of these early individuals confused with each other.  Thankfully our extensive yDNA study has been an invaluable resource to work through these errors.

Let’s look at those three brothers as an example of how he organized the magazine.  (Again, please disregard the specifics in these early generations, it is wrong and requires a long explanation – which we can review in the meetings if interested).  You will see the three brothers as the first three children at the top center of the page.  All children listed right down the center of the page.  As the father of these “three brothers” was unknown, no father is listed.

#1 is Isaac (as a child, top center), whom he believed was the eldest of the three brothers.  To the right of his name is a few dashed followed by the number 1 again, this designates that his family (with Isaac #1 as the father) will listed on Page 1.  Further to the right he is given the note “Dorchester, Mass.”  Let’s follow his line down to the next generation.  We noted that his family will be shown on page 1, which (in this case) is the same page we are on.  In following generations these listings will be several pages apart.  Now, on the left, at the top of the left column, is “1 Isaac” – this is the same “1 Isaac” at the top center of the page but now he is being listed as the father of his household.  To the right of him are his two children #4 John & #5 Isaac.  They will also be continued again on Page 1 (although the 1 reference was missing here for #5 Isaac).  To the right of John is written “16–  Billerica, Mass.”.  This means that he was born in 16?? something and that he settled in Billerica, Mass.  (note: we now know that this John of Billerica was of a completely different family, and it was John of Kingstown, Rhode Island, aka #13 John, that was the son of Isaac).  #5 Isaac has “29, Removed from Windsor, Ct 1654” next to his name.  Note that the 16– of the brother above is off set from the 29 of Isaac below.  This is because the “29” is referring to his birth in 1629.  Writing the 16 over and over was redundant and cost more money to produce due to needing to purchase several extra copies of the 1 and 6 for the typeset.

If we continue down the left column of the page you will again see the next two brother #2 John, and #3 Williams – now as parents with their children listed to the right.

Now let’s continue further town Page 1 to see #5 Isaac as the father – this family group is the first complete family with several good reference examples.

This group has several additional points of information that will be common to find in later generations.  Isaac is the head of household and now his year of death (1708) is noted next to his name.  His first wife, “Mary Woodford 1684” is listed under him.  Just like him, the year of 1684 notes the year of her death.  Much further below is his 2nd wife “Mrs. Mehet. Ensign, 1720”.  Again, 1720 will be the year of her death.  Also remember that Mary died in 1684.  If you look at the years of birth of the children starting with Mary in 1654 and going all the way down to Jonathan in 1687 – Mary died in 1684, after the first of Mercy in 1681 and before Jonathan in 1687.  By listing “Mrs Mehet Ensign” to the left of Jonathan, he is showing that this was her first (and only) child with Isaac – which we can confirm by the years noted.  Also look a the daughters Ruth and Thankful which have a bracket on their names.  They were also both listed as born 1663 – this is indicating that they were twins.  Daughters will have their husband noted on the right.  Sons will often have the city they settled noted to the right.  Cities were always in Italics to tell them apart from other notes.  Let’s go through of these children:

• #33 Mary, born 1654, married John Bridgeman – their family continues on Page 1
• #34 Isaac, born 1656 – his family continues on Page 2
• #35 John, born 1658 – his family continues on Page 2
• #36 Thomas, born 1661 – his family continues on Page 2
• #37 Ruth, born 1663 (twin of Thankful), married Joseph Wright & Samuel Strong – their family continues on Page 2
• #38 Thankful, born 1663 (twin of Ruth), married Benjamin Edwards – their family continues on Page 2
• #39 Mindwell, born 1666, married Jonathan Pomeroy & Jonatham Lyman
• #40 Joseph, born 1668, died in Boston, Massachusetts – family continues on Page 2r
• #41 Hannah, born 1670, married Samuel Chapin of Springfield – their family continues on Page 2r
• #42 Eleazer, born 1672, died young (in later generation only a d would be noted for “died young”), no family continued.
• #43 Samuel, born 1675 – his family continues on Page 2r
• #44 Ebenezer, born 1677 – his family continues on Page 2r
• #45 Mercy, born 1681, died 1681 – no family continued.
• #46 Jonathan, born 1687 – his family continues on Page 3

This project will continue on the 1st Sunday of every month until it is completed.  Although a good chunk has already been transcribed, there is still a large amount to do.  Anyone who would like to participate is welcome to do so.

Click HERE to open Zoom for the meeting at 12 noon PST.  If it is your first time with zoom you may need to create a free user account.

This afternoon we had a nice and productive business meeting, and some important decisions were made.

First we would like to give a warm welcome to Paul Sheldon, our new webmaster!  Paul hails from England and has a great deal of experience, we are very fortunate to have him onboard.  We would also like to thank George Sheldon, our previous webmaster, for all of the wonderful work and long hours he dedicated to developing this site.  He has been invaluable and we all look forward to seeing what he does next.

Meeting Schedule: To further our goal of creating active, interesting, and productive participation – while allowing individual flexibility – we will be adjusting our zoom meeting schedule going forward.

• 1st Sunday of every month, 12 noon PST: Now dedicated as a work party for our Sheldon Magazine Project.  In this project we will be transcribing the data from the original Sheldon Magazine, various volumes published in the 1850’s, into our tree database.  All participants will learn how to do this and be given access to make updates to the database for this purpose.
• 3rd Sunday of every month, 12 noon PST: Now dedicated as a work party for our Census Project.  We are currently working on the 1790 US Federal Census.  Once this is done we will move onto the 1800 US Federal Census and so on.  The focus of this project is to locate each Sheldon in the census and attach this source to their profile in our database.  All participants will learn how to do this and be given access to make updates to the database for this purpose.  This project is also an excellent opportunity to learn more about census records, their purpose, how to read them, and how to use them to our advantage in genealogy.
• All other Sundays, 12 noon PST:  All other Sundays will be left open for volunteers to host.  The host will be given access to open the meeting and will stay for its duration.  The subject of the meeting will be up to the host.  It may be to continue the above projects, work on other projects, or just have a genealogy “sewing circle” to work on your tree and socialize with no specific agenda.  If you would like to host a meeting at a different time then Sunday at 12 noon PST, please let us know.  We will confirm the time is free.  We want to be as open and flexible as possible for everyone.

We also had some reports:

• Sue Sheldon, our Treasurer, gave a report of our finances which are looking good with special thanks to those who are making monthly automatic donations.  If anyone else would be willing to donate just $5 a month (cheaper than a Starbucks coffee!), it would be greatly appreciated.  These small donations add up quickly and make a big difference.  As we are a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation, all donations are tax deductible in the United States.
• We also made a $300 donation to the Sheldon surname DNA project held by ftDNA last year, and will continue to support the project as more funds become available.  That project is currently focused on testing the y-chromosome (passed from father to son) in male Sheldons in the UK and Australia with the hope of better tracing those various unique Sheldon lines and finding matching counterparts to the American lines.  The data already gathered has been invaluable and has lead us to multiple exciting discoveries previously covered in our blog articles.
• Our last count update on the tree database was in May 2023 with 5,549 individuals and 8,411 documents.  As of today we now have 6,395 individuals and 10,351 documents.  Note that most documents, like census records or the Sheldon Magazine, are shared among multiple individuals.  All people in our database either carry the surname Sheldon/Shelden, or are their parent, spouse, or child.  There is no requirement to be descended from any specific historical Sheldon – we have included many examples of families who have adopted the surname in the last century or two.  We do include living people, but their data is hidden in the public website for privacy reasons.

Thank you! – Dale Sheldon

Not long ago we were contacted by a researcher who had a very intriguing new theory about who authored the works of SHAKESPEARE. What came as quite the surprise is that she had a previously unheard of candidate for the authorship of the works of SHAKESPEARE.  And let it be known that there are many candidates—87 to be precise on Wikipedia’s latest list.

But this individual is not on the Wikipedia list, but is very well known to us as Ralph SHELDON born about 1537, son of  William SHELDON and Mary WILLINGTON SHELDON.  He died at Skilts, Warwickshireand was buried at Beoley St Leonard’s, Worcestershire 30th March 1613.

Effigies of Ralph SHELDON IV (1537-1613) and his wife Anne THROCKMORTON at SHELDON Chapel, Beoley

There are deeply held beliefs on many sides as to the authorship of Shakespeare’s works and we offer up the theory of Ralph Sheldon as author in the spirit of exploring all things SHELDON. On this link you will find the full manuscript of Nancy Peters Maude’s alternative theory, “Was Shakepeare a ‘Hydden Man’“. Whether you end up finding her theory compelling or not, her research is rich in details of Ralph SHELDON’s life and SHAKESPEARE.

Portrait of William Shakespeare from the 1st portfolio

Although Nancy provides lots of material in her “Was Shakepeare a ‘Hydden Man'” one very important detail that can not be quibbled with— is the oldest and best preserved copy of the First Portfolio was owned by William SHELDON (1589-1659) of Weston, Warwickshire. William was the grandson of Ralph SHELDON (1537-1613) through his son Edward SHELDON (1558-1643).

It later was in the possession of Ralph SHELDON (1623-1684) of Weston House, he was later known as “The Great Sheldon.” He was the great grandson of Ralph Sheldon (1537-1613) the subject of this article ans sometimes known as the Tapestry SHELDON.  The copy of #10 of the First Folio is in the Folger Library in Washington DC and bears the SHELDON Coat of Arms on its cover.

First Folio No 10 Sheldon Courtesy of Folger Library.

We leave it up to the reader of Nancy Peters Maude’s Research to draw their own conclusions. Thank you Nancy for contacting us and sharing your research! And for giving us more details about Ralph’s incredible life.

Kelly Wheaton ©2023  All Rights Reserved by Sheldon Genealogy

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Note: image above is Mary Jane Sheldon Barrett with the family pit bull, Jack.

Two days after the 4th of July in 1921, I first saw the light of day in the hotel my mother and father managed in Morrisville, New York (1). Morrisville is a small town about 30 miles southwest of Syracuse.  While still a baby, our family of six moved to manage a hotel in Weedsport (2), which is also near Syracuse.  There I napped in my carriage on the front porch with our faithful pit bull, Jack, nearby. The story oft repeated was that when I awoke Jack would walk in the kitchen and try to alert someone that I needed attention. If he got no response, he would return to my carriage, pause and then go around again until he was satisfied that I could be cared for.

The hotel was within easy walking distance of a grocery store, and I remember making many trips there with my father and Jack. Daddy enjoyed grocery shopping. He said the best time to shop was when you were hungry! Few things come to mind from those days, but I recall my first flower recognition was of Iris growing in clusters by a small stoop on one side of the hotel. There was also a barn at the rear where Daddy kept, at least for a short time, a little piglet that I was allowed to visit in a horse stall lined with hay.

I was three years old our family with the exception of my oldest sister, Thelma, who had married Leo Silvernail nearly a year before (3), traveled by car to Florida. Of course Jack went with us! The purpose of the trip I believe was for my father to scout around for a possible new business. We went to the Gulf side, and while on an outing to St. Petersburg Beach I wandered away wearing my red bathing suit and became lost. Worried parents and probably annoyed big sisters searched the crowded beach until I was found.  Then my tears were torrential.

Apparently no interesting opportunity presented itself, so we returned home. This turned out to be quite fortunate as the next year would find Florida in deep financial trouble with the end of the real estate bloom. Back in Weedsport there were few playmates but one little boy whose name was “Buddy” Gross, was a companion once we were in kindergarten. Buddy and I looked alike with our sun-bleached hair, and we were once in a parade as King and Queen.

I found the door to the school too heavy for me to open so I waited for bigger children to arrive and enter with them. When my mother learned of this she hired a neighbor girl, whose name was Sylvia, to stop by on her way to school and walk with me to I would be assured of getting in the building promptly. For this Mamma paid Sylvia 25 cents a week.

In the Weedsport hotel there was an archway between the office and a small room at the side, and Daddy fastened a pulley in the top of the woodwork with a cord threaded through which hung down to the floor.

It was a toy for me. I could sit on the floor, fasten my dolls or teddy bear to one end and pull the hapless victim to the ceiling! Quite a sense of control. Since the days of prohibition were upon us the old bar room once used in the hotel’s early days now was no longer used as such. It was in the corner of this room that my father had a very large cage built for a friendly raccoon which had been someone’s pet. I remember there was a tree placed in there with a box in the top near the ceiling where the ’coon could hide. Guests were always intrigued. One exciting event happened when someone captured a raccoon and thought our big cage would be a nice home for it. (Never giving a thought as to how the raccoon felt about it.) Well, this was definitely not a good idea, and the new ‘coon made that very clear by chewing his way out of the pen and causing quite a commotion before he was released back to the wild. Our ‘coon probably happy at the departure of the young rebel, was content to remain in his quarters and take tidbits from time to time from visitors.

Burden House, Morrisville – birthplace of Mary Jane Sheldon Barrett

With twelve years difference between my closest siblings and myself you can see I was brought up much as an only child. (“Spoiled”? I don’t know.) My sisters, who were called “the girls” often invited their teenage friends to gather around our upright piano in the evening for a songfest. I recall being picked up and seated on top of the piano as they sang songs of the 20s including, “Four Leaf Clover” which was the first song I learned to sing. All of my sisters played musical instruments—actually they each played more than one (4), and they were allowed to play in a band with Daddy directed at the Morrisville College before I was born.

Before we moved to Sodus my health became a concern when I developed a kidney problem, I was taken to a specialist in Auburn, and I remember when I asked the doctor to show me the needle with which he intended to give me an injection, he tried a slight-of-hand trick and showed me the handle of an instrument instead. In spite of this I had no fear of doctors. Of course, I was praised highly when I swallowed huge pills and accepted a diet which limited my sugar and fat intake. I still have little interest in candy or soft drinks which I was denied.

For whatever reason, we moved a mile out of town to small bungalow—my first experience in a “private house”, but I’m not sure how long we lived there, Daddy bought a small bus line with a route to Syracuse—probably in an attempt at a new business venture, but the decision was soon made to return to hotel management, and our next move was to Sodus, New York. Sodus is mid-way between Rochester and Syracuse.

The hotel in Sodus, being three stories high was the largest of the stage coach inns built in the 1880’s.  There was a full length porch on each of the floors at the front which makes it unique. Of course, I didn’t appreciate that fact when I was in first grade. The school year had already started when we moved to town, and the teachers assigned me a desk directly in back of Mary Margaret Kanpp. She lived even farther than I did from the school, so it was a long walk for us. Many times, especially in bad weather, Maggie, her mother, would pick me up and Mary Margaret and I would ride to school together in Maggie’s polished, black Ford. From then on our relationship was cemented and has held up for nearly 80 years!

In second grade Miss Simms summed up my personality by writing on my report card, “Mary Jane is such a quiet mouse it’s hard to get anything out of her.”

All of my toys were kept in my playroom on the second floor over the hotel kitchen. Behavior was different where the public always had to be considered. Toys couldn’t be left everywhere; there was never to be any screaming or ruckus and conduct in general was restrained. There was one frightening time when a fire started in the kitchen area, and I was taken across the road and watched over by someone as the fire truck pulled up and the sirens blew. Fortunately, the damage was mostly from water, and my playroom remained intact!

When I was very young I had a bed in my parent’s bedroom, and my father came up to bed and found I was still awake he would carry me down the back stairs to the kitchen where we would have a snack—usually warm milk or Ovaltine for me. Often my mother would read to me at bedtime, and sometimes she resorted to reading her novels aloud which perhaps qualifies as, “killing two birds with one stone” as I was satisfied and soon asleep. On other occasions she would make up long and fascinating stories which I loved. I was required to take naps though they were not always successful. In those quiet afternoons I would be left alone in my parent’s room, and I found time to do considerable investigating of the contents of their dresser drawers. One time I even found a series of storybooks which had been purchased with the bright idea of giving them to me one at a time as gifts when the occasion arose. I ever told anyone of my find, and I felt quite smug later as one by one the books appeared as gifts! And you think children can’t keep secrets? When I was older I had a bedroom of my own on the third floor where my sisters, Evelyn and Burta also had bedrooms.

Still a quiet one in the 4th grade, I yearned to be chosen to distribute the mid-morning milk and graham crackers (for which I think we paid 25 cents a week), or to be allowed to “clap” the chalk dust out of the felt backboard erasers outside the building. However, those chores went to the boys! There was a family of five or six children who lived on the other side of the fire station near the hotel, so I was provided with three little girls as playmates. I recall being invited to their home for “supper” once, and we had fried potatoes and “cold cuts”. As I think of it now I realize it could not have been a very nourishing meal for their hard working mechanic father nor for the mother of all of those children, but I enjoyed it. We children washed, dried and put away the dishes after supper and I expect they were delighted to find me so eager to help. I had never had such an important job! Meals at home were vastly different. Our family table was reserved at one end of the long dining room, but we never all sat down to eat together for regular meals. Daddy usually ate with me, my plate having been prepared for me by my mother who had control of the hotel kitchen. Holiday meals, however, were festive events shared with friends as well as family. In those days in small towns people didn’t go out for meals very often and certainly not at holiday time. Sometimes we even had placecards made by my sister, Burta (5), and her boyfriend, Jerry, who was talented as an artist.

I never knew my grandfather, and I feel very sorry about that. My maternal grandmother, whose maiden name was Selena Dana, had been widowed and remarried. So I could have three grandfathers, but they all died before I was born. Both grandmothers lived some distance away, my maternal grandmother in Weedsport, NY and grandmother Sheldon (6) in Brockville, Ontario, Canada. When we visited her one time we went by boat across Lake Ontario, and I was seasick the whole time. I was given lemon juice and wintergreen candies. I doubt that we returned by boat!

My best friend, Mary Margaret (also known as Mog) and I had birthdays only 12 days apart. She was an only child whose father and uncle owned a drug store on Main Street across from the hotel. My father was forever trying to find interesting things to occupy our time. He bought a trapeze which was installed on one end of the porch with a mattress below it in case we fell; he made stilts and taught us how to walk on them properly. When he learned there was a basketball court over one of the stores on Main Street he bought a basketball and arranged for us to use the court. He suggested we form a club (we only had three or four members) and we met weekly, paid dues, and learned about black-balling would be members.

Mary Margaret and I made up a code of the alphabet so we could write secret notes to each other. I wouldn’t be surprised if she remembers some of the characters today. I know I do. For pets I had Guinea pigs and outdoor cats, while Mary Margaret had Angora rabbits. One time the rabbits dug holes and escaped from their specially made outdoor pen. Maggie, Mog’s mother, called the school and asked that we be excused to come home and catch the rabbits. Imagine that happening today! Though the rabbits could really kick and were skilled at hiding, they were no match for the two of us, and we were thrilled at the idea of missing an afternoon of school.

To introduce me to the business world my father said I could order the cigars which were for sale in the hotel office showcase and keep a percentage of the profits. It was a fun task for me, and the names of many of the cigars remain imprinted in my memory today.

In the hotel our only phone was at the front desk and I remember calling Mary Margaret from time to time. Our phone number was 45! Speaking of phones, I recall Maggie calling Theda Lucas the one telephone operator and asking, “Theda, where is the fire?” when she heard the fire siren. Theda knew everything!

I was given a weekly allowance of fifty cents, half of which was to go in the bank. It distressed Daddy when all the banks failed and my money disappeared after I had followed his advice about the importance of saving.

My second sister, Evelyn (7), married Harold (Hike) Furber, and they rented their first home which was a beautifully furnished old house on Maple Avenue in Sodus, NY. It was a treat for me to spend a night there in a big bedroom in a “private house”! Her first baby was to arrive in December when I was 10 years old (8), and I was excited when Mama took me to the hospital, which was just down the street from the hotel, to see her and baby Sheldon. However, we were rebuffed by the head nurse whose doctor/father owned the hospital. She was firm in refusing to allow me to visit the floor because of my age. Mama took me home where I cried bitter tears, and held that nurse in contempt for years. Evelyn was so upset that when her next child was expected she made arrangements to give birth at home. Hike’s cousin, Dr. George Esley who was a new doctor in town delivered the second son, Harold George in April 1933.

By this time Thelma and Leo had a son who was born when I was about four years old. They named him Leo Darwood, but we called him L.D. Eventually they moved to Sodus from the Weedsport area. Daddy bought L.D. a kid goat at one time, but I don’t think it was much appreciated especially when it got in the habit of jumping up on top of their car.  L.D. went in the Army directly from high school. Tragically he was hastily trained, shipped overseas and was killed by short arms fire in the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944, two months after his 19th birthday.

By 1933-34 the depression made a noticeable difference in activities at the hotel. Oh, there were the local Chamber of Commerce dinner meetings and a few couples came for Sunday dinner (restaurants were few and far between), but those seasonal fruit buyers who were a constant year after year were disappearing, and the construction men who lived at the hotel while building roads, including route 14 from Alton to Sodus Point, dropped out of sight. Times were getting hard. My mother who loved clothes was not shopping in Rochester where she would buy yards of fabric to have dresses made for us, and she was definitely not buying expensive three-piece suits like the knitted one I remember so well. Daddy had to make some drastic changes. We packed up and moved to a house on Gaylord Street in Sodus. There Al Harris, who was the father of a family friend, moved with us. He had been a resident of the hotel for many years and just seemed to go along with the territory. Since Daddy had learned the barber trade in his youth, he fell back on that skill as a summer barber in the Adirondacks where a few wealthy people still owned vacation homes. After that he opened his own shop on Maple Avenue in Sodus, and it was a successful venture. Mary Margaret and I went there for haircuts and shampoos which included a scalp massage complete with hot towels! In the meantime, Mama let some of our former Sodus Hotel guests know that we had moved and had a couple of rooms to rent. An early “bed and breakfast” you might say, but I think they were called “tourist homes” in those days. These people had become friends over the years and responded happily as they were experiencing difficult times as well. One man, Lee Barnes, was like a son to my mother, and, in fact, always called her “Mother Sheldon”. When Lee married Mary Lou from Alabama, she became part of the family. It was in the basement of this house that I found an old bicycle. Though it had no tires I learned to ride on it, and soon Daddy managed to buy a new bicycle for me which I rode to school every day.

It was during this time that my third sister, Burta, was married to Gerald Burke on January 1st 1937. Burta discovered many years later when she applied for a passport, that there had never been a name listed on her birth certificate, so she simply registered her name as “Burta Mary”. We were amused to think that she named herself! Their son, Vincent, was born in Ogdensburg, NY in August 1942. Having just obtained my driver’s license, I drove Burta to the hospital in their Plymouth as Jerry was stationed in Greenland.

From the time we were in the 8th grade, Mary Margaret and I spent many nights together either at her home or mine, We laughed at silly things sometimes till our sides ached We took long bicycle rides in the country making our own detailed maps. We rode the ten miles to Lake Ontario where we cooked hot dogs, and on occasion we rode to a nearby town, Alton, for a spaghetti dinner at a diner. We played cards, Chinese checkers and monopoly; we studied together, we shared birthdays (only 12 days apart) in July and took many pictures. We had little time for boyfriends. Our interest in music came at the urging of my father, and we played our alto horns in the band and in the high school orchestra for 5 years. Glen Waldorf directed bands in several nearby towns at the end of the year a choice band was assembled from these schools. We were pleased to be chosen for this “pick band” which gave a special concert in the new Wolcott school. There were the usual holiday parades and sometimes band concerts at which we proudly wore our white shirts and skirts, black ties and purple capes and band hats. Daddy, who loved band music, told me that it brought tears to his eyes when he heard us playing in those parades. Was it sentimentality, or were we really that bad?

Sodus was a Republican, Protestant town, so being Democrats and half-Catholic, our father was in the minority. I say half-Catholic because Mama had attended a Catholic school, Daddy said he had taught Sunday school in a Baptist church when he was young. However, we did not attend church. Perhaps influenced by a Catholic girlfriend, I started going to Mass with her (Mary Margaret was Presbyterian and she went to the Presbyterian church regularly with her grandmother Knapp.) Several Saturdays of instruction prepared me for my Confirmation. I don’t remember Confirmation day, but I certainly have a memory of the white dress that Mama made for the occasion. I didn’t like wearing white, or red for that matter, as I instinctively knew they would draw attention, and I preferred to avoid the spotlight. My Catholic friend had a Rochester cousin, and he and his parents were frequent visitors to her home on Sunday afternoons. What a cute and funny Dutch boy he was with his blond hair and brown eyes. I made it a point of being at my friend’s house on Sunday afternoons! Sparks flew one time when we stole away from the family gathering for a walk in their farm meadow. Suddenly there was a happy surprise with the magic of the first kiss!

Snyder House, Sodus NY with the full length porch on each floor, as described by Mary

In high school I became more outgoing and self-assured. In our Junior year three of us girls decided to become cheerleaders. There had been none that we knew of before, so we simply went ahead and organized a program for ourselves without any supervision or direction. We wore white outfits with a purple and gold letter “S” on our capes. We cheered at basketball games and sometimes even traveled on the bus to out-of-town games. We were spirited and athletic and nothing like the girls in the class ahead of us with their lipstick and silk stockings! We played sports, we pushed for the after-school gym time to practice tumbling on the big mats, and we sang in the Glee Club. The Senior prom didn’t hold much attraction for me. The boy I would have accepted didn’t invite me, and I refused the one who did.

However, I enjoyed helping with the decoration of the gym where the dance would be held. For me the boyfriend department was at a standstill, but Mary Margaret attracted one of our soccer players and they became a twosome. I was repeatedly sent to the principal’s office one year for being late for the several minutes dedicated to “study and guidance” before the regular classes began. I think that allotted time was determined a failure and eventually disappeared. I expect that our physics teacher, Mr. Arnot, had a struggle with me, but I surprised him by getting a good grade on the NY State Regents exam. Mary Margaret and I were the only two girls in the class. Apparently I could apply myself when pressured. (I should have been pressured more often.) For two years I was the class treasurer and helped with the purchasing and selling of candy at sports events to raise money for our Senior class trip to Washington, D.C., and New York City. It was my responsibility to sign the huge check (about a thousand dollars) made out to the tour company for the trip.

Sobering business for me. The trip was a success with the usual tours. We stayed at the Willard Hotel in Washington and the Taft in New York. We didn’t get to meet the president (O.K. who was it in 1939?) but we saw the newly-built platform in Washington where black Marion Anderson was to sing. (A very controversial event.) And in New York we saw Judy Garland on the stage.

While my father was busy at his barber shop my mother became a homemaker in our “private house” on Belden Avenue in Sodus. Mama excelled at dressmaking, making dresses for herself and me. She also made draperies for our dining room windows and slip covers for the living room furniture. She painted a breakfast room set for our kitchen and bought our first electric refrigerator—a “Cold Spot”. Daddy always kept in touch with his siblings in New York State and Canada. Two of his brothers lived in Gouverneur, north of Watertown, NY, and they interested him in an available hotel which they felt was a money-maker.
Mama was not thrilled as she grew up in St. Lawrence County and didn’t look forward to those frigid winters. My uncles, however, made it sound too good to pass up, so she went along with the plan if Daddy would limit their stay to five years, which he did. Even though as he said, “there are more cows that people up there”. So after I graduated from Sodus High School it was adventure time again, we were off to still another hotel and the excitement of college in Brooklyn for me.

I went to Pratt and Mary Margaret went to Albany School of Pharmacy At first we wrote to each other every day and mailed that fat envelope once a week. Thus we kept in touch even though separated by miles. New worlds, new friends, new experiences filled our lives but the bonds of “sisterhood” remained strong.

1. Samuel E. Sheldon (1879-1966) was the proprietor of “Burden House” in Morrisville.  He purchased this property from H. S. Etson in Oct 1920.  On 24 Jun 1922 Samuel testified in a petition in which he described himself as being the proprietor of Burden House in Morrisville.  See transcriptions of three newspaper articles (1920/1) and the petition testimony below.
2. By May of 1923 Samuel had taken over the management of Willard House in Weedsport.  See 1923 newspaper transcriptions below.
3. Thelma Pearl Sheldon (1904-1975) and Leo A. Silvernail (1898-1960), were married in Fulton, Oswego, New York on 28 Aug 1924 by clergyman Albert Ernest Legg.
4. On her marriage record in 1924, Thelma was noted with the occupation of “musician”
5. Albert “Burta” Sheldon (1909-1998) married Gerald V. Burke sometime before 1940.
6. Mary Christen Lago Sheldon (1849-1933), wife of Harvey Sheldon (1847-1920).  They had 10 children.
7. Evelyn Ouida Sheldon (1906-1960), married Harold Neil Furber (1907-1974) on 5 Nov 1930 in Sodus, NY.
8. Sheldon Neil Furber (1931-2022), was born 3 Dec 1931 in Sodus, NY

Newspaper Transcriptions:

Cazenovia Republican – 21 Oct 1920 – Page 7

“-H. S. Etson has leased his hotel at Morrisville, the Burden House, to H. S. Sheldon of Rockdale, and possession was given this week.  Mr. Sheldon is an experienced hotel man”. [note by Dale Sheldon: “H. S. Sheldon” is printed in the original article but was an error, the writer confusing him with “H. S. Etson”.  He was actually S. E. Sheldon]

Cazenovia Republican – 2 Dec 1920 – Page 6

“The high price and scarcity of coal has no terror for Landlord Sheldon of the Burden House, Morrisville, who recently purchased a ten-acre side-hill wood lot of A. L. Howe on the Swamp road north of the village and is engaged in getting out a winter’s supply of wood, swinging the ax himself occasionally.”

Cazenovia Republican – 24 Nov 1921 – Page 3

“One day recently Landlord Sheldon of Morrisville ran his new Ford up a steep incline at the Burden House barn, through a heavy door and almost clean through the rear end of the building before he could make her stop.”

The Advertiser-Journal (Auburn, NY) – 23 to 28 May 1923 – Ad

COOK FOR SMALL TOWN HOTEL – previous hotel experience not necessary.  S. E. Sheldon, Willard House, Weedsport, N.Y.

The Advertiser-Journal (Auburn, NY) – 23 May to 4 Jun 1923 – Ad

ELDERLY MAN FOR CHORE WORK around hotel.  S. E. Sheldon, Willard House, Weedsport, NY.

Petition – 24 Jun 1922

The Petition of Walter M. Aldrich for a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the operation of a stage route by autobusses in and between the cities of Norwich and Syracuse.  Hearing – June 24, 1922 at the Court House, Binghamtom, NY.

SAMUEL E. SHELDON, being duly sworn, and examined on behalf of the petitioner, testified as follows:

• Q: Where do you reside?
• A: Morrisville.
• Q: What is your business?
• A: I conduct the Burden House there.
• Q: Proprietor of a hotel at Morrisville?
• A: Yes.
• Q: Do you know Walter Aldrich?
• A: Yes, sir.
• Q: Have you seen his buses from time to time operating along that road?
• A: Yes, sir.
• Q: How long have you lived at Morrsville?
• A: Two years.
• Q: How far are you from the railroad station?
• A: Two miles.
• Q: What road is that on?
• A: The Ontario & Western
• Q: Does the bus of Aldrich pass by your door on the way direct to Syracuse?
• A: It stops there every trip.
• Q: Do you know the people of Morrisville?
• A: Yes, sir.
• Q: Seen them get on and off the bus?
• A: Yes, sir.
• Q: You may state whether or not you can go from Morrisville to Syracuse and return more quickly by this bus than you can by rail connection?
• A: Yes, very much quicker.
• Q: You have ridden on the Aldrich bus?
• A: Yes.
• Q: Frequently?
• A: Yes, sir.
• Q: You have ridden to Syracuse on it?
• A: Yes, sir.
• Q: And to points this way?
• A: Yes, sir.
• Q: You may state whether it has been a matter of convenience to you?
• A: It has, yes.  It has brought me a good deal of business.
• Q: from time to time is it necessary to ride on this bus?
• A: Yes, sir.
• Q: State whether or not in your opinion, it is convenient for your neighbors to have this bus line?
• A: I have seen any amount of it.
• Q: What is your answer?
• A: Yes.

Mr Sullivan: We don’t waive our objection to that line of questioning.  Commissioner Blakeslee: You can have a general objection to that line of testimony and an exception.  Cross-Examination by Mr. Thorn:

• Q: You keep a hotel at Morrisville, Mr. Sheldon?
• A: Yes.
• Q: How long?
• A: Two years.
• Q: You are in favor of this bus line as a business proposition?
• A: Yes.
• Q: That has a whole lot to do with influencing your judgment?
• A: Yes, a good deal.

Re-Direct Examination by Mr. Flanagan:

• Q: Isn’t it true that other people are benefited in Morrisville same as you are?
• A: Yes, sir, the whole town is.

Re-Cross Examination by Mr. Thorn:

• Q: You never saw this bus line from the first of December to the first of April?
• A: I saw him make some hard attempts to get through.
• Q: He didn’t get through, did he?
• A: Not always.

End of testimony.

1.  Call to Order
2. Opening Remarks by the President.  Introduction of latest Board Member additions (since last year) – Neale and Carol
3. Status Reports:
   1. Treasurer
   2. Membership
   3. DNA
   4. Secretary
   5. Genealogy
4. Old Business:
   1. Approval of Minutes.  Waive reading of minutes.  Move to approve.
   2. Revisit Goals from December 2022 Annual Meeting
      1. 5000 in TNG by May meeting.
      2. DNA Match Group in England
      3. Get the YouTube station up & running with more video sections (Tutorials, Interviews, DNA, Sheldons in the Field, Themed Meetings)
5. New Business:
   1. Election of Officers & Board Members: President, Treasurer, Secretary, Webmaster, Director at Large.  Nominations will be taken from the floor and we welcome anyone interested in taking over one of the existing positions.
   2. New Format for Sunday Meetings – more research based.  Training given.
   3. Longevity & Fundraising: How to ensure we will keep functioning years from now.
   4. Items to Discuss from the floor.

Although Julia and Marcellus were already in our database, I saw that there was a lot of work to do on them, and so I began to fill in the blanks with census records, birth and death notices, etc.  Then I came to something which struck me as peculiar.  A ship manifest that appeared to be sailing round-trip from New York City in 1913.  Was this a mistake?  Up to this point we had long had luxury ocean liners crossing the Atlantic like the Titanic, but their primary purpose was always for travel – to get from Point A to Point B.  They were never for the shear pleasure of going out to sea and enjoying time onboard.  So finding a round-trip manifest at such an early date seemed wrong.  But when I really thought about it, I was not at all sure when that transition was first made.  When was the first actual cruise ship, purely for the purpose of tourism and leisure?

Julia Sheldon and Marcellus Wheeler – about the time of their marriage, 1874

So I googled, as you do, and learned about a chap named Albert Ballin, director of the Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG), or Hamburg-America Line, who first came up with the idea.  He took his first stab at it in 1891 with the Augusta Victoria, but it was a major failure.  He had attempted to retrofit one of his companies existing commercial ocean liners into a luxury cruising vessel.  What he found were issues with limited deck space, a lack of onboard amenities, ugly machinery, and that the ship was to large to fit into the ports of popular tourist cities.  There was also a great deal of push back from the German people, who generally preferred utility over luxury, as well as a growing anti-Jewish sentiment (Ballin was jewish) that would explode in future decades.  So in 1901 he started over and expanded his client base and built the first modern “cruise ship”, or “cruising yacht” as they referred to it at the time – the Prinzessin Victoria Luise.  The Princess was not only a great-grand daughter of Emperor Wilhelm I of Germany, but also of Queen Victoria of England – opening up to interested passengers outside of Germany.  According to a July 2021 article in Smithsonian Magazine – the ship “boasted a large gymnasium, a social hall, a library, a smoking room, a palatial art gallery surrounding the dining room, spacious promenade decks, a ballroom for dancing, a darkroom for amateur photographers and 120 unusually commodious first-class only staterooms—each equipped with elegant European furnishings, brass beds and double-light portholes that were opened when the ship was in warm climates.”

However, although it boasted the same name, this was NOT the ship that Julia and Marcellus sailed on.  I was confused further when I continued to read that the Prinzessin Victoria Luise ran aground in Jamaica in 1906.  And although all of the passengers and crew were rescued, the captains immediate suicide over his blunder after the accident became highly publicized.  Ballin then ordered a replacement vessel, by the name of the Meteor.  But after the 1906 accident, and further still after the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, cruising began to subside drastically.

So what was the ship that Julia and Marcellus boarded in 1913?  Looking further I learned that the same company, HAPAG, built another ship in 1900 called the Deutschland.  Unlike the Augusta Victoria before it, this ship was meant for passenger travel between destinations – like the Titanic – but it was not originally meant for long term luxury cruising like the Prinzessin Victoria Luise or the Meteor – but still, ALL of these ships still also had destination in mind and not necessarily round-trip cruising.  None-the-less, the Deutschland was rechristened as a cruising yacht under the name S/S Victoria Luise in 1911, in honor of the earlier ship and likely intended for destination luxury cruising like her namesake, but after the Titanic disaster on 14 April 1912, and as an attempt to offer an alternative to long distance trans-oceanic travel, she began to sail round-trip New York.  As far as I can tell so far, this may be the first example of a round trip cruise.  Julia and Marcellus boarded the Victoria Luise on 11 March 1913, just short of a year after Titanic, and returned to New York on 7 Apr 1913.  They were 62 years old, while the average age of the passengers onboard was closer to 35.  Perhaps it took a more brave and adventurous spirit to sail again.

(the image at the top of this article is of the Victoria Luise in 1900, as theDeutschland)

If you’ll indulge me for a moment further, I’d like to add one more tidbit of Sheldon history in relation to the cruise industry that I happen to be aware of.  In the Spring of 1918, the 18 year old Wallace George Sheldon walked into a military recruiting office in San Francisco and was not entirely truthful to the British government by saying that he was a Canadian that had just arrived by way of Chicago from Montreal.  In truth, he was born a few miles away in Oakland.  It was his paternal grandmother who had been born in Montreal, and she had left there as a small girl a half-century before.  He was recruited into the British Expeditionary forces as a sapper (the guys who dug the extensive trenches across France and Germany), and later told us (he was my great-grandfather), that he “went over the top” seven times until he was hit with nerve gas.  He was sent to a hospital in England to recover and sailed back to the United States on the Mauritania in March 1919.  The Mauritania was a cruise liner, sister ship to the Lusitania that was torpedoed in 1915, and built by the same company as the Carpathia that rescued Titanic passengers in 1912 and was also torpedoed in 1918.  He later worked for the Matson Line during the 1930’s and 40’s, a later cruise line with regular itineraries out of San Francisco to the Hawaiian Islands.

Wally Sheldon, in his Canadian uniform, with his new bride Elsie and mother-in-law Josephine – Oakland, California – 1920