Tulare County Biographies

FRANK O. SHELDON

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 
        The interesting industry established in Porterville by Frank O. Sheldon, 
an enterprising and progressive young carpenter and builder, has proved quite a 
valuable addition to the general building trades here�about and is contributing 
no little to the substantial development of this section. Mr. Sheldon's 
specialty is the manufacture and sale of houses cut and fitted ready to be put 
together and he has made a very gratifying success with his enterprise, no fewer 
than seventy-five houses in and about Porterville and in the vicinity of 
Strathmore having thus been erected by him during the time of his operations 
here. He has a well equipped plant for the carrying on of his operations and is 
recognized as one of the leaders in his line in this section of the state. Frank 
O. Sheldon was born in the city of Charleston, West Virginia, July 11, 1891, and 
is a son of William Newton and Sarah (Morton) Sheldon, the latter of whom is 
still living, now making her home in Lamont, Nebraska. The late William Newton 
Sheldon moved with his family from West Virginia to Nebraska in the early '90s 
and in this latter state became a farmer. He died in 1923, and his widow with 
her family still resides there.
        Frank O. Sheldon's education was completed in the high school at 
Hollywood, where he lived with an aunt. He then returned to Nebraska and in 
Lamont in that state took up merchandising in the hardware and farm implement 
line, but not long afterward abandoned the mercantile business to take up the 
trade of carpenter and soon became a skilled workman. When twenty years of age, 
in 1911, Mr. Sheldon returned to California and at Strathmore, Tulare county, 
began working at his trade as a journeyman carpenter. He continued thus until 
1918, when he set up in business for himself as a contractor, with headquarters 
in Strathmore. Four years later he moved to Porterville and has since been in 
business in that city, with a well equipped finishing mill and offices at No. 
510 Second street, where he is prepared to take care of all demands in his line 
of construction, his specialty, as noted above, being the modern style of houses 
cut and fit to order and ready for erection, a process which simplifies the 
operation and eliminates a considerable amount of what otherwise must be 
regarded as "lost motion" in the building trades. In addition to this factory 
equipment Mr. Sheldon also carries in his establishment a full line of paints 
and certain builders supplies and is doing a fine business. In addition to ready 
cut houses Mr. Sheldon contracts to erect houses from the ground up, including 
painting, etc. He makes a specialty of the Sheldon built home, which is of 
better material and workmanship than any ready-cut home.
        On March 3, 1917, in Strathmore, Mr. Sheldon was united in marriage to 
Miss May King, who was born in Arizona, daughter of Ulric King, but who was 
reared in California. Mr. and Mrs. Sheldon have one child, a son, Frank William 
Sheldon, born August 5, 1919. Mr. and Mrs. Sheldon are republicans and are 
members of the local chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star. Mr. Sheldon is a 
Royal Arch Mason, is an active member of the locally influential Rotary Club and 
is also affiliated with the fraternal societies the Knights of Pythias, the 
Fraternal Order of Eagles and the Yeomen.
 
Source:  History of Tulare County and Kings County, California � Kathleen 
Edwards Small & J. Larry Smith, Vol. II, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke Publishing 
Company, 1926., p. 384