MYRON IN SOUTH DAKOTA. South Dakota

(Territory 1861. Statehood 1889)

The Dakotas were part of the Louisiana Purchase. Prior to 1820, Dacotah was part of Missouri Territory. At different points in time, the western half was attached to Nebraska Territory, while the eastern half was included in Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin Territories. The area became known as Dakota Territory in 1861. In 1863, the Homestead Act was passed and settlers flooded into the territory. Dakota Territory was split into North and South Dakota in 1887.

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From "A History of Union County, South Dakota, to 1880" by Edward Elliott Collins (Master’s Degree Thesis)

http://files.usgwarchives.org/sd/union/history/collins1937.txt  

                    Chapter III

                    EARLY PIONEERS IN UNION COUNTY

The treaty under which the Yankton Sioux relinquished their lands in

southeastern Dakota to the United States government was signed in Washington

in 1858, but the Indians were allowed one year in which to give possession. In

July 1859, they moved to their reservation and immediately white immigration

began. Eli B. Wixson was the first of the legal settlers in Union County. He

had come to Sioux City from his New York Home in 1858 and from the bluffs near

that town had viewed the flooded valley of the Missouri towards the west. One

parcel of land appeared above the waters and here he pre-empted and built a

log house and thus was Elk Point Pioneer number one. In 1862 he had part of

his land incorporated as Elk Point Townsite. (18) Mr. Wixson was always fair

and friendly with the Indians. Even during the Minnesota massacre of 1862, he

was not disturbed. Frequently during those early uncertain years from 1859 to

1866 hundreds of Indians were camped in the timber on or near the Wixson farm,

hunting, trapping, gathering and preparing kinni-ki-nic, a bark which grows on

a peculiar red willow. This bark they smoked in their pipes when tobacco could

not be secured. For a lad of six, it was a thrilling sight to see several

hundred of the Yankton Sioux on their way from their Charles Mix reservation

to visit the Omaha or Ponca Indian friends in Nebraska.

In November 1859, David Benjamin, William Mathers and one or two other

bachelors arrived and passed the winter with Mr. Wixson. In the spring of

1860, John R. Wood, wife and six children, and the George Stickney family, W.

W. Adams,

Myron Sheldon, Hastings Seamond and Mr. Bartlett settled in and near 

Elk Point. Mr. Wixson that spring plowed sixty acres of sod and planted corn

which yielded forty bushels per acre. He raised four hundred bushels of

potatoes, food much needed by the immigrants. (19)

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From A. T. Andreas' "Historical Atlas of Dakota", 1884.

http://files.usgwarchives.net/sd/andreas/union.txt

ELK POINT. – This place was first settled, as before stated, by E. B. Wixon, in

July, 1859. The town was surveyed and incorporated as a village by an act of the

Legislature approved April 24, 1862. The first officers were: John R. Wood, President; E.

B. Wixon, Recorder;

Myron Sheldon, Wm. W. Adams, Preston M. Hotchkiss

[Councilmen ??- JRF]. It was incorporated as a city January 10, 1873. The first city

officers were: Mayor, H. H. Blair; Aldermen, E. B. Wixon, J. M. Talcott; Clerk,

McKinzey Kane; Treasurer, J. W. Hoffman; Justice, J. A. Wallace; Marshal, A. H.

Stringer. The present city officers are: Mayor, J. M. Talcott; Aldermen, J. R. Wood,

Charles Murtha, M. Huffman; Clerk, Ira L. Nicholls; Treasurer, J. H. Bryan; Justice, E. C.

Soutar; Street Commissioner, A. Strouble; Marshal, B. Crum.

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From South Dakota Military Data, Dakota Cavalry, 1862-1865, Company B

Doane Robinson's encyclopedia of South Dakota

Published by the author, Pierre, S. D., 1925

http://genealogytrails.com/sdak/CoB.html

Myron Sheldon, age 28. Born in Windham county, Vermont. Farmer. Enlisted Oct. 15, 1862 at Elk Point under Lt. Clark. Corporal. Honorably discharged, and returned to his home near Elk Point where he resided with his family until about 1877, when he sold out and moved to Moscow, Idaho. Died about the end of the last century.

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From http://www.archive.org/stream/historyofsouthea00siou/historyofsouth...

ELK POINT.

The original name of the county of which the prosperous town

of Elk Point is the County seat, was Cole, under which name it,

in connection with a number of other counties, was organized at

the first session of the Legislative Assembly. For reasons which

were deemed good and sufficient, the name of Cole was subsequent-

ly dropped, and the county was named Union. The first officers were: Council — John R. Wood, President;

Myron Sheldon, William W. Adauis, Preston M. Hotchkiss. Re-

corder — E. B. Wixon.

Other sites Myron is mentioned in:

http://books.google.com/books?id=rJkFAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&s... pgs 80, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 103, 104, 106, 109, 111, 115, 116 _____

The History of Windsor County Vermont HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF STOCKBRIDGE

Source: History of Windsor County, Vermont by Lewis C. Aldrich and Frank R Holmes, 1891 Transcribed by Donna Gurr

Sheldon, Egbert, was born in Manchester, Vt., September 14, 1830.

His father, John, was born in Ohio,

and came to Manchester, where he married Sarah Bailey. His three children were Egbert, Myron and John H. John, his father, died at Saxon's River.''' His wife, Sarah, married, second, Darius Porter, and died at Acworth, N. H. By the latter union there were three children, viz.: Herbert and Ellen, both of whom reside in New Hampshire, and Henry, who was drowned when a small boy

=. Myron Sheldon now lives in Washington Territory=

and John in Kansas. Both are engaged in farming. Losing his father at the age of six, Egbert lived until nineteen years of age with different families in Vermont and New Hampshire. At that age he came to Gaysville (Stockbridge), where he was employed for four years in the chair-stock factory of Cheney, Kilbourn & Co., and one year with the same company in Burlington. Since that time he has been engaged in farming. He purchased the farm where he now lives in 1868. He married, March 29, 1854, Cornelia E., daughter of Hazen and Azuba (Whitcomb) Richardson, born in Stockbridge, June 3, 1831. Mrs. Richardson was a daughter of Captain Lot Whitcomb, one of the first settlers of Stockbridge. Hazen D., a brother of Mrs. Sheldon, lives in West Brookfield, Mass. Oscar F., another brother, lives in West Concord, N.H. Mrs. Henrietta Lincoln, a sister, lives in Bethel. Mr. and Mrs. Sheldon have had children as follows: Frank Egbert, born November 29, 1857, died February 20, 1865; Ned Louis, born May 23, 1859, was graduated from Norwich University at Northfield in 1884, and is now a professor in the High School at Norwood, Mass.; Alice May, born December 28, 1868, was graduated at the Bethel High School in 1889, and is now teaching. Mr. Sheldon has served as selectman in Stockbridge seven years.