Early life

Shelden was born in Essex County, New York on July 7, 1814. Shelden’s father George Shelden was a farmer in Essex County for many years. In 1832, Ransom Shelden moved to Chicago, building the first hotel in what was then known as “Fort Dearborn.” However, he soon moved again to a farm near Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

Shelden married Theresa M. Douglas, also of Essex County, in 1839. She was a cousin of Douglass Houghton. The couple had four sons: Carlos D. Shelden, George C. Shelden, Christine M. Shelden, and Ransom B. Shelden Jr.

Houghton

In 1847, Shelden moved to Portage Entry in the Keweenaw Peninsula with his brother-in-law and began trading and fishing. Four years later they moved to the Quincy Mine and opened a mine store. Around the same time, Sheldon bought land on the south side of Portage Lake, and in 1852 moved his store there.

Shelden and his brother-in-law had also been purchasing swaths of land throughout the Upper Peninsula, and by 1852 owned around 55,000 acres. Shelden invested in copper mines, lumber yards, and real estate, as well as iron mines in Iron Mountain and Crystal Falls and platted the village of Houghton. In about 1862, Shelden built Pewabic House, the oldest still-extant building in Hancock, Michigan.

In 1871 Shelden was elected as president of the town, a position he held for seven years until his death on May 17, 1878. The main street of Houghton, variously called “Sheldon Street,” (inaccurately) “Shelden Avenue” and “Sheldon Avenue,” was named in Shelden’s honour, as was the “Sheldon Center”.

Ransom B. Shelden Jr.

Ransom B. Shelden Jr. was born on June 10, 1852, the same year his father arrived in Houghton. He was the first child born of a settler in Houghton County Ransom Jr. attended both the Genesee and Mount Pleasant Military Academies in New York, then went to work for his father. He also became a clerk for the Deputy United States Collector. Shelden married Cordelia A. Paull; the couple had two sons.

House history

In 1893, Ransom B. Shelden Jr. purchased several lots on College Avenue from his father’s copper company. By 1896, he had built this Queen Anne house for his family. However, the Sheldens lived in the house only for a short time; in 1898 Ransom Jr. sold the house to John H. Rice and moved to California.

Rice was the president of the First National Bank, a founder of Houghton Chamber of Commerce in 1919, and a director of other Upper Peninsula businesses such as the Copper Range Railroad and Ontonogan’s Belt Mines. John Rice’s family owned the house until 1941. The house was resold several times, and in 1969 the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity purchased the home; it has since been used as a fraternity house by students at the nearby Michigan Technological University.

Sources

History of Houghton County Michigan by Debi Hanes: Click Here

Historical and biographical record of southern California by James Miller Guinn: Click Here

Polk’s Houghton County Directory 1916-1917 by the Croatian Printing & Publishing Co (Pg. 666): Click Here

Copper Range Railroad Company Annual Report. Filed April 24, 1902: Click Here

National Register of Historical Places ID (80001862): Click Here

A history of the northern peninsula of Michigan an its people by Alvah Littlefield Sawyer (Pg. 1013-1015): Click Here

History of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan – Western Historical Co., 1883. Pages 283-286: Click Here

Houghton County Directories – Cross Reference “John H. Rice”: Click Here

Mines Register: Successor to the Mines Handbook and the Copper Handbook – Cross Reference “John H. Rice”: Click Here