Charles Henry Sheldon (September 12, 1840October 20, 1898) was the second Governor of

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Biography

Charles Henry Sheldon was born in

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, the third of four children of Gresham and Mary (Brown) Sheldon. After the death of his father in 1844, Sheldon worked as a farm laborer from the ages of twelve to eighteen; and then, he worked at a store. He joined the abolitionist movement. On November 23, 1861, Sheldon joined Company E of the

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Regiment and then entered active service in 1862 as a sergeant at

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. On July 13, 1865, he became a captain and was then mustered out at

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. Sheldon's last year in the military was spent on the western frontier. After leaving the Army, Sheldon entered the mercantile business in

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. Sheldon's first wife, Mary Walters Sheldon, died in 1874. They had two children. His second wife was Martha Frizell Sheldon with whom he had three children.

Career

After spending his last year in Illinois at

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, Charles Sheldon moved to Groton in Brown County,

Dakota Territory The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of ...

because of the health of his son, James. Doctors had told Sheldon that only a northern climate could help his son, who was suffering from malaria. Sheldon settled on government land and became a farmer. Sheldon entered politics in 1886, when he represented the twelfth legislative district in the Territorial Legislature. He represented

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, Roberts,

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, and Codington Counties; and, this continued until 1887. In 1890, Sheldon was chairman of the Day County delegation at the state Republican convention in

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. At the state Republican convention in 1892, Sheldon was nominated for Governor. In the general election, he beat both A. L. Van Osdel (the Independent candidate) and Peter Couchman (the Democratic Candidate). He held the office for two terms from 1893 to 1897.

Death

In 1897, Sheldon retired to his farm near Pierpont. He went on a speaking tour for the Republicans during the 1898 election campaign but fell ill as a result of a cold. Sheldon gave his last speech at

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on October 15, 1898, and died of pneumonia five days later, with his wife and son at his bedside. He was buried at the Pierpont Cemetery.

References

External links

National Governors Association
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheldon, Charles H. 1840 births 1898 deaths Republican Party governors of South Dakota People of Vermont in the American Civil War Deaths from pneumonia in South Dakota People from Johnson, Vermont Members of the Dakota Territorial Legislature People from Groton, South Dakota Union army officers 19th-century American farmers