Ebenezer Sheldon

Ebenezer Sheldon (1754-1825) was born in Suffield, Connecticut. On April 19, 1775, he answered the Lexington Alarm, fought in the Revolution, and, in 1789, was appointed a captain in Connecticut’s militia. Following the Revolution, Sheldon, like many others, suffered financial hardships and sought a new beginning in the Western Reserve. In 1799, he established a homestead in Aurora and returned to Connecticut the following year to bring his wife Lovee and their six children to the area. A family legend relates that when Lovee saw the family’s home she “shed a few tears over the cheerless prospects” of her new life in the wilderness. Sheldon was an agent for the Big Beaver & Cuyahoga Land Company. In the 1799 lottery for lands in the Western Reserve, the company drew Township #5 in Range #8 (Mantua), Township #5 in Range #9 (Aurora). Sheldon was responsible for the deeding of the land in Aurora. Sheldon’s original homestead was located on the Aurora-Mantua border. Sheldon was the township’s first Justice of the Peace, one of the first township trustees, and a founding member of the Congregational church. Sheldon’s circa 1805 deed house was relocated to city owned Pioneer Park in 2016.

Aurora, Ohio · United States