Shortreed, Thomas 1842 - 1913

SHORTREED, ELLIS, HAMMOND, ERVIN, GORDON, RICHMOND, HAWKINS, KOPONEN, HUNT

Posted By: Reid R. Johnson (email)
Date: 8/8/2012 at 22:44:34

Postville Herald, Postville, Iowa, Apr. 21, 1938. From the files of the Iowa Volksblatt of Friday, Apr. 25, 1913.

Thomas Shortreed, aged 69 years, passed away Saturday at the home of his daughter, Mrs. J. P. Ellis. The remains were taken to Mandan, North Dakota, where funeral services were held.

Submitter is not related.
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Added by Connie Ellis from Ellis Family Records; and letters from Shortreed families during the 1980's and 1990's.

The newspaper death notice was mistaken when it described the relationship of Thomas Shortreed to the J.P.Ellis family.

Thomas Shortreed was born 20 October 1842 at Freeport, Illinois to William Shortreed and Susan Hammond. William Shortreed moved his family to Postville, Iowa but I do not have the date when this happened. It is known that William was in business in the area called "Cabbage Hill" and he had several sons. (I think he had a Knitting factory.)

Thomas was in the Union Army during the Civil War, enlisting in Allamakee County, Iowa. He received injuries during the war which caused him to have one leg shorter than the other. In 1876 he married Lora Ervin in Postville, Iowa. Lora was the daughter of Roxanna Ellis and Enos Ervin. Roxanna Ellis was the half sister to J.P. Ellis, making Lora a niece to J.P. Ellis.

Thomas Shortreed was one of the original owners of a blacksmith shop which would later be known as the Ellis Blacksmith Shop, a longtime Postville business. When John Pearl "J.P." Ellis was about 14 years of age, he went into an apprenticeship for Thomas Shortreed. At the age of 21, J.P. bought an interest in the business and in 1908, J.P. Ellis bought the entire business. After Thomas sold the Blacksmith Shop, he and his family moved to Falon, North Dakota. Thomas was visiting the J.P. Ellis family when he died. His body was sent to Flasher, North Dakota for burial in the St. John's Cemetery near Mandan, North Dakota.

Thomas and Lora (Ellis) Shortreed had 13 children:
1. Minnie Bell Shortreed married to a John Gordon and she died in North Dakota.
2. Bertha Mae Shortreed died as an infant and is buried in the Postville Cemetery.
3. Louis Thomas Shortreed lived and died in Arkansas.
4. Allene Shortreed married Henry Richmond
5. Frank Emerson Shortreed married Ada Parker Hawkins and they lived in Los Angeles, California area.
6. Lester Shortreed lived and died in the state of Washington
7.Gladys Mabel Shortreed married Adolph A. Koponen and they resided in the state of Washington.
8. William Shortreed
9. Hallie Fay Shortreed married Rollo Hunt and lived and died in the state of Washington
10. Sidney Raymond Shortreed lived and died in the state of Washington
11. Harold Shortreed died in Falon, North Dakota in 1911.
12. Dewey Shortreed lived and died in the state of Washington.
13. Fred Shortreed lived and died in the state of Washington.