Thomas J. Shelton
Thomas J. Shelton was born July 25, 1840, on Eagle Creek, in Brown County, where Spencer Spears now resides. He is a son of William and Betsy (Cochran) Shelton. His mother was a daughter of Gen. John Cochran, whose sketch appears elsewhere. Thomas Shelton, his grandfather, was a native of Maryland, and when a young man, eloped with a neighbor girl, Sarah Kline, whom he married and brought to Charleston Bottom, Kentucky, where there was already a settlement of Maryland people. The entire journey was made on horseback. After remaining in Kentucky a few years, they removed just across the river into Ohio, in Adams County. William, their only son and father of our subject, was but five years of age at this time, and as he grew to manhood, he began to develop at once the successful business man he became. He engaged in flatboating on the Ohio River, and in this way getting a start in business and saved enough money to provide his parents a home, buying the Ben Sowers farm above Ripley, and afterward the Spears farm on Eagle Creek, and in 1845, he purchased the farm in Sprigg Township, where our subject now resides. He died in 1888, at the age of seventy-three. The children of William and Betsy (Cochran) Shelton are Tamer, wife of Samuel Brookover. of Eureka, Kansas; Thomas J., our subject; William J., of Bradyville, Ohio; Sarah E., wife of George Dragoo, of Philipsay, Mo.; Margaret, wife of Samuel Evans, of Hiett, Ohio; Joseph W., of Catlin, Ill.; Lillie, wife of Charles Griffith, of Paola, Kansas, and Hettie, wife of Samuel Glaso. of Manchester, Ohio.
Thomas J. Shelton, our subject, was reared on the farm and obtained a common school education. He married Mary S. Dragoo, daughter of Samuel Dragoo. Their children are Samuel, married to Fannie Gilbert; William; Cora, wife of Robert Roush; Grace, wife of Asbury Mains; Ernst, married Mary Lang; Thomas J., married Icy Gray; Hanson P., married Mary Powers ; Amenda, married Charles Lang; Richard, Chase, Robert and Fay. The last four are at home. Our subject, like his father, has been a successful business man. He is engaged extensively in farming and gives considerable attention to political and public affairs. He is a Republican and has served as Commissioner of Adams County for two terms, from 1885 to 1888, and from 1891 to 1894. He was a delegate to the Republican State Convention in 1892. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias of Manchester, and also a member of the Masonic order at the same place.
From "History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time" - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900