his native land to America and landed at New York City, from which place he went to Milwaukee, Wis., afterward moving to Kendall County, Ill. Here he remained for a period of seven years, then emigrated directly to his present farm, and although the country was raw prairie land, and not a house to be seen here, he determined to pitch his tent. He, with others who had emigrated here, built them log-cabins and began gradually to make improvements, and although he and his family had to suffer many hardships, trials and vicissitudes, which are the usual accompaniments of pioneer life, they were more than ordinarily successful. He has always been an active Republican in his political views, and his first presidential vote was cast for John C. Fremont. In the capacity of school director and trustee, a position he has filled for many years, he has had their advancement at heart, and in his good judgment the people have implicit confidence. He was first married to Miss Maggie Shuld, who was born in Norway June 22, 1819, and to them eight children were born: Betsey (of Story County, Iowa), and Randy (an infant), and Erik (aged eleven, who are deceased, the first-mentioned being married and her husband a farmer of Story County), Martha (who is married, her husband being a resident of this county), Maggie (who was the wife of Ole Fritz, a farmer of Story County, died at the age of thirty-three years), Hamner (married, her husband being a resident of this county). Mr. Sheldahl's first wife died June 18, 1859, and the following January he married again, and to them have been born twelve children: Erik (a clerk of Cambridge), Lou (a clerk in a large retail establishment in the city of Des Moines), Benjamin (deceased), Henry R. (an intelligent and well-educated young man, assists his father on the farm), Anna (whose husband is a farmer in this county), Maggie (a school teacher, and remains with her parents), Carrie, two children who died in infancy, Osmon (who is twelve years of age), and an infant (the youngest in the family, deceased). Both Mr. and Mrs. Sheldahl are devout members of the Norwegian Lutheran Church, the same being located near their home, and all their children are also interested in the cause of Christianity, and contribute liberally to worthy enterprises. Here, surrounded by their children and numerous friends, Mr. and Mrs. Sheldahl expect to pass their declining years, and being very hospitable, charitable and kind to the poor and oppressed, they fully deserve their present good fortune.
Parley Sheldon, farmer, banker, and breeder and dealer of standard-bred horses, Ames, Iowa. This prominent gentleman was born in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, on the 7th of June, 1844, and his father, Parley Sheldon, Sr., was a native of New York, born in 1810, and died in Ohio in 1869. The mother, whose maiden name was Elvira Litch, was born in 1810 and died in Ohio in 1854. They were the parents of eight children, six of whom are living. About 1828 the father moved to Ohio and there followed agricultural pursuits the greater part of his life. Parley Sheldon, the sixth in order of birth of the above mentioned children, received a good practical education in the common schools, and subsequently became a student at Geauga Seminary, at Chester, Ohio. Leaving school, Mr. Sheldon was on the farm until he enlisted in the service for the preservation of the Union, and was mustered out of Company B, One Hundred and Seventy-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in July, 1865. In 1870 he began breeding trotting horses, and carried on agricultural pursuits in his native county until 1874, when he came to Iowa, bringing a number of breeding horses to this