JEROME SHELLHORN. There are few citizens of Pawnee County residing here any length of time who are not familiar with the name of this honored pioneer. He first set foot upon the soil of Nebraska in the spring of 1855, taking up his abode on a tract of land in Richardson County, where he sojourned a period of nine years. Thence he removed to Nemaha County, living there also nine years, and in the fall of 1873 took up his abode in Pawnee City, of which he has since been a resident. He has had a ripe experience in mercantile business and farming. In 1882 he purchased ground within the corporate limits of the city, underneath which there lay a strata of sand to the depth of fifteen feet. From this he supplies all the sand for building purposes that is used for miles around. Later he dug a large well which is kept supplied to the depth of twelve feet with living water, and from which, during the dry season, he supplies the citizen by the barrel, it thus proving an inestimable boon to them and the source of a handsome income to the proprietor. Plasterers, builders, fair associations, etc., are supplied from this source.
The reliable old Keystone State gave to our subject his first impressions of life, he having been born in the village of Berlin, Somerset County, Oct. 28, 1826. His father, Henry Shellhorn, in 1854 removed to Nebraska and settled on South Fork, two miles east of DuBois, where he lived until May 4 of the following year, when he died. He was a native of Maryland, and married Miss Anna M. Lour, who was born in Somerset County, Pa., and was the daughter of Henry Lour, who spent his last years in Ohio.
To the parents of our subject there were born twelve children, six sons and six daughters, who, with one exception, all lived to mature years. Of these Jerome, our subject, was the sixth in order of birth. When a mere lad his parents removed to Knox County, Ohio, where he spent his boyhood and youth, acquiring a common-school education, and served an apprenticeship of two years at the weaver's trade. His principal business in connection with this was to make coverlets. At the age of twenty-four years he was wedded to Miss Rachel A. Moore, the daughter of Thomas Moore, Esq., of Knox County, Ohio. In the fall of 1852 the young people decided to seek the farther West, and moved across the Mississippi into Andrew County, Mo. Two years later they came to Nebraska, as we have already indicated. There have come to their fireside eight children, of whom the record is as follows: Thomas H. is at home; Alice I. is the wife of John H. Cummins, and they live in Pawnee City; Elizabeth Eldora married John W. Fisher, of Pawnee City; the others, who were named respectively: Theodore Sigel, Amanda Belle (1st), Amanda Belle (2nd), Theodore Sigel, and Lily May, are deceased.
Mr. Shellhorn, while a resident of Richardson County, was somewhat prominent in local affairs and represented his precinct in the County Board of Supervisors one year. He uniformly votes the Republican ticket, and is a member in good standing of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His paternal grandfather, John Shellhorn, was a native of Maryland, following the occupation of a teamster, and lost his life by drowning while attempting to ford the Potomac River during the breaking up of the heavy ice.
Transcribed and formatted for the Pawnee pages by Dick Taylor, July 1999