Charles H. Sheldon

The wider margin of 1894 came weeks before the worst moment of Sheldon's governorship. In mid-December the outgoing state treasurer, W. W. Taylor, left for New York and did not return, and in January 1895 the new administration found the accounts $367,023.84 short. The day before the shortage came out, Sheldon had praised Taylor in his address as efficient and faithful; he later asked that the words be struck from the record. Pinkerton detectives were hired, Taylor was convicted that August, and former governor Mellette, a bondsman, gave up most of his property.

What the plaque says

Charles H. Sheldon Second Governor of South Dakota 1893 - 1897 Born at Johnson, Vermont, Sept. 12, 1840. His father died when he was 4 and at 6 he was bound out to work on a farm. He had 3 months schooling per year until 14 when, to get better educational opportunity, he got a store job for room and board and $20.00 per year. First rejected, he enlisted Sept. 23, 1861 in Co. "E" 7th Vermont Infantry and was mustered out in 1865 as a captain. Resourceful, capable he made his mark in the Army. He became a storekeeper in Illinois. Married in 1875 to Martha Frizzel, they had two children, Ethel, 1878 and Charles H., Jr., 1881. He came to Dakota Territory in 1880. He homesteaded near Pierpont in 1882. Active in G. A. R. affairs, he was a member of the Council of 1886 where he was an able legislator. At the Republican Convention in 1890, he made an impromptu speech "with such eloquence and power as to raise the convention to a high pitch of enthusiasm". Nominated for Governor in 1892 and again in 1894, he won by a wider margin, showing that the people approved his administration. He retired to private life but in the campaign of 1898, went to the Black Hills on a speaking tour, where, exposed to bad weather, he took sick and died at Deadwood on October 20, 1898. Buried at Pierpont.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Sisseton Historic State Park — 18 mi
  A stone fort on the Coteau des Prairies built to watch the Dakota after 1862, renamed for the Sisseton who scouted for it, restored by the WPA and saved again by a boy who grew up loving it.

More markers nearby

• Brown County / Day County — 8.0 mi
• Bristol — 12 mi
• Pioneering in Dakota — 16 mi
• Webster — 18 mi