What is Sheldon, North Dakota?

There's been one mystery in our Sheldon family that I've never found an answer to.  Here's how it started.  While going through my Grandma Hagan's genealogy papers back in the 1980s, I found 2 interesting items about our ancestor, Edward Sheldon.

1)  a letter from the County Clerk of Ransom County North Dakota dated Sept 13, 1881.  It indicates that they are enclosing deeds (from March?) that were recorded, specifically one from BD Wilcox to EE Sheldon.

2)  An envelope dated 1893 from the State Bank of Sheldon North Dakota.  Someone's handwriting (probably Edwards) indicate that the contents probably held an abstract (deed?) of the 640 acres of the original town site.

Now, Edward Sheldon had been living in Jackson Michigan during this time.  And I really had no idea why there was communication about land in North Dakota.  But what peaked my interest was the fact that the town was SHELDON North Dakota.  I wondered if it was just a coincidence that our ancestor was Edward Sheldon, and the town was named Sheldon. I had these papers for about 30 years, always wondering about this mystery.

Just recently I decided to do a google search on "Sheldon North Dakota" and see what I found.  [You see, there is new digitized information going up on the net all the time, so it's useful to search your ancestors names periodically.]

Anyway.... JACKPOT!!!   I found that the town of Sheldon North Dakota had digitized a 100 year town history dated 1911.  In it,  it describes the formation of the town. (http://digitalhorizonsonline.org/cdm/ref/collection/ndsl-books/id/44417)

The Fargo & Southwestern Railroad was being built through Ransom County, North Dakota.  B.D. Wilcox bought land (I think 640 acres) from the railroad for $3200. He apparently had no money to pay for the land, so he sold the land to our ancestor, E.E. Sheldon for $3800. [Now how in the world did E.E.Sheldon who lived in Michigan, get into land speculation in North Dakota?].  The article states that Edward then platted the land, sold off some lots, deeded half the land back to the railroad so that the town could be built on that land.  About a year later, he then sold the rest of the land to another party for $8000.

So Edward made a $4200 profit in 1 year in 1882.  I did a little research on this.  The average wage earner in 1880 made $16 per week or $832 per year.  And $4200 in 1882 would be about $97,500 in todays dollars.  $4200 would be equal to about 5 years of wages. (http://www.davemanuel.com/inflation-calculator.php)

So a couple questions come up about this:

1)  How did Edward come to have $3800 to invest?
2)  How did Edward get into land speculation in North Dakota?
3)  Why would Edward speculate on land on North Dakota?

This was new great information and really filled in a lot of blanks about these North Dakota papers.  Research to do is to get copies of the deeds.  Probably put together a financial history to see where he might have come into money.

Here's his descendancy chart::

If you want to read more about Edward Sheldon, here is the link to my main family history page biography:
http://members.toast.net/jan.monnin/hagan/Sheldon,Edward/sheldon,edward-bio.htm

Found! William Hagan

So, in my last post, I was discussing John A Hagan and making an Irish connection.  To recap, a newspaper article had mentioned that he had a brother in New York.  The only other clue I had was a letter written to John A Hagan's son, with instructions to visit his Dad's (John A Hagan) brother in New York.  Included in the letter (and a few others) were the names of his cousins, Daisy, Lulu and Annie Hagan.

So, based on that information, I started looking for census records in New York with these 3 girls listed as daughters.  And success!  I found them in 1870 living in the 7th Ward of Brooklyn in New York.

Once I was able to absolutely establish them in Brooklyn, I started finding other records.  I found an 1872 passport application dated June 6, 1872.

I know that you can't read all the small print on this application. I enlarged it as much as would fit.  But near the bottom you'll see his description, which I find very interesting (since we have no known photos of him).  He's age 35.  5"11 3/4" tall.  He has a high forehead and blueish gray eyes.  His nose is straight with a medium mouth. His hair is dark brown.

Notice on this page is his signature.  William Hagan is a very common name at this time.  But this signature is how I knew that this was "our" William.   Compare this signature with the signature on the triplets letter from my post on August 31, 2016.

Next I find them on the 1880 census living at 63 Cambridge Place, Brooklyn.  It's interesting to note on this census that William Hagan's parents are listed as being born in Scotland.  (Again, we are never sure who the informant is for these census records).

Next we find them on the 1900 census. (the 1890 census was destroyed by fire).  They are living at 644 Tenth Street, Brooklyn. There is some more information on this census that was not on previous censuses.  The exact month and year of birth.  For the wife, the number of children born and the number of children living.  3/3.  The other very important piece of information is the naturalization info.  William states that he emigrated to the US in 1853 and that he was naturalized.  So there is my next piece of information that I need to find.  That might give us his exact place of birth in Ireland.

Next I searched the website:  www.familysearch.org, which is the family history online records repository for the LDS Church of Latter Day Saints.   On here, I found a transcription of a death record for William Hagan, who died on May 2, 1905.  Also, on the same website, I found a transcription of a death record for Annie Hagan, who died on June 21, 1906.  I need to write for copies of both of those death records, for more information.

I also found a few pages from both William & Annie's estate.  If I ordered the complete files, they might contain more information about William's family in Ireland - unlikely, but possible.

But one very interesting piece of information I found - I noted on the death certificate transcription recap that William and Annie's burial place is listed as "Cypress Hills Cemetery" in Brooklyn, New York.  I did some research on Cypress Hills Cemetery and it's a national cemetery for burial of soldiers who fought in the Civil War.  So I need to write the cemetery and figure out if William is buried there, who else is buried on the plot, and see if there are any additional information on William, such as Civil War Service.

So if information comes back from the cemetery that says William fought in the Civil War, then I have a lot more records military to locate, such as his service records, pension records, etc.

The only other piece of information about John A. Hagan's and William Hagan's Irish heritage from our family is one item.  Back in the 1990's, I had written my Grandad's brother, Jerry Hagan, about our family's history.  One thing he wrote was that John Van Hagan was from County Cork Ireland.  We know, of course, that John Van was born in Kansas and it was, in fact, that John A. was born in Ireland.    So when I'm able to find the above information, it will be interesting to see how our family story has lined up with fact.