Sheldon Family Association

Purpose of the Association
The Sheldon Family Association (SFA) was founded in 1939 by a group of Sheldon descendants, to further the interest in their heritage and preserving family history. Today, the Sheldon Family Association is a non-profit 501(c)7 organization. It seeks to promote and grow its family name databases and the history of the name (with spelling variations) by opening its membership to all individuals and researchers interested in adding to and perpetuating the family name and history.

The SFA has become more than just a lineage genealogy society of the initial colonial Sheldons.


 * Through its research the SFA has evolved from its initial presumptions by recognizing there are more Sheldons in the USA than those who can trace themselves directly to the presumed 5 colonial ancestors.
 * SFA researchers and members have added and continue to add more records and have started to use DNA evidence to expand our knowledge of the Sheldon history both in the USA and England. The purpose being to address the question of “Where did we come from?”
 * SFA has reached out to a number of organizations. One is Ancestry.com where we have established a new digital database that a member can access and contribute to with permission. Another is the Allen County Public Library, the USA’s second largest family history library to scan and digitize the years of paper records, letters, and research collected by or done by SFA before the age of computers. Portions of the data will be made internet accessible. The goal of SFA is to be the definitive source of Sheldon family trees and the history associated with the name.
 * SFA has expanded the access to the Sheldon Family Association Quarterly by making it accessible to members via this website. It has also developed its own Facebook Group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/986762548832869 . Individuals who join can get the latest news about developments on record research, DNA information, and association activities.
 * SFA continues to hold annual “Reunion” meetings which move to different locations across the US. The meetings focus on visiting Sheldon family historical sites, attending instructional courses, activities to meet “cousins” and to conduct its annual membership business meeting.

The SFA genealogical data begins with that collected by the Reverend Henry Olcott Sheldon. He was a circuit preacher that rode from village to village in the early to mid 1800 across parts of Ohio. This was at a time that many Sheldons started moving from New England, westward. He documented many Sheldons and identified the New England “colonial progenitor” Sheldons. He knew the relationships between them was unclear, as were some of their English origins. Since then, with the research done by the Sheldon DNA project, DNA testing has shown that the 5 progenitors can be placed into two groupings. Group A consists of Godfrey (4), John (8) and Richard (22) who are all related and originate in the Derbyshire area of England. Group B consists of Isaac (5) and John (13) who are shown to be related to one another. To date there is no DNA relationship between the Group A and B Sheldons. The English origins of the Group B Sheldons is not clear. We have theories and suspicions that are helping us make progress on identifying their possible places of origin. Take a few minutes to learn more about the Sheldon Family Association, and its long history, activities and resources. And if you have a Sheldon ancestor, please request a free search Sheldon Family Association Website.

Record Collections
https://sheldonfamily.org/contact-us/
 * Our database is restricted to paying members but we are more than happy to get you started with a lookup.  Contact us by going to the following link:

Indexes for (County/town/state name)

 * Our database allows for searched by county/town/state but it is restricted to paying members. We are more than happy to do a lookup for you.  Just follow the link below and provide your question(s):


 * https://sheldonfamily.org/contact-us/

Periodicals

 * Sheldon Family Association Quarterlies (Back Issues) Available to members only.

Look up Services
Contact us by completed the form at the link below:

https://sheldonfamily.org/contact-us/

Local Repositories Association Members Visit
In 2015 the SFA gave the Allen County Library (ACPL) our SFA Index Cards and Manila Folder Document Files to preserve them for us and any other researcher. In 2018 ACPL received a final set of boxes from Rose Newton’s estate. The library has been diligently scanning our records to allow us to see them. On Sept 7th, 2019 we received notice they had opened the link to our card file scans and some Folder scans. This was no small chore as they have produced over 40,000 pictures from our collection. A vast amount of time and effort went into scanning and filing all the documents and there are still more to go. The ACPL people have struggled with our “Sheldon Numbering” system and what is written on the cards and folders. To see what they have accomplished so far, you can go to their site of Sheldon Family Resources and use their search engine.


 * https://sheldonfamily.org/allen-county/

Benefits to Those Who Join the Association
Cost of membership and how to join:

Benefits:

Reunions/Meetings
Annual reunions/meetings are held annually at different locations around the country. Please see our website for details: www.sheldonfamily.org

Board Meetings
Board Meetings are held monthly and restricted to board members and committee chairs

Association Projects

 * Since July 2006, The Sheldon Family Association has a Sheldon DNA project in conjunction with Family Tree DNA http://www.familytreedna.com email or phone 713-868-1438. For more information see DNA-Project
 * Hundreds of “Sheldon Places” and locations have been documented as our country grew westward. To see our Sheldon Places data, you must be a member. Sign up here
 * We are continually adding new Sheldon (Shelden) information on our Sheldon Family Connections and Links pages. If you have a website with Sheldon-related information, or know of one, please Email:  webmaster@sheldonfamily.org.
 * The SFA also has a file of “Unconnected Sheldon Lines” and a database is underway for these Sheldons (Sheldens) and their descendants.