From the 1911 book Past and Present of Hardin County Iowa, pp. 589-590:

George W. Sheldon

A man who possessed the respect and good will of all who knew him and was classed with the representative men of Hardin county, was the late George W. Sheldon, a man whom to know was to admire, for he led a most exemplary life and sought to do his full duty in all relations with his fellow men, being a man of honor, public spirit, charitable impulses and unswerving integrity and enterprise, consequently he is deserving of conspicuous mention in a history of his county along with other well known and worthy pioneers who did so much for the general upbuilding of the same.

Mr. Sheldon was born in Holmes county, Ohio, June 16, 1834, and he was the son of Thomas Sheldon and wife, a complete sketch of whom is to be found under the caption of T.J. Sheldon, appearing on another page of this work.

The subject attended the public schools in Ohio and he assisted with the general work about the home place until he was married, on November 4, 1854, to Aleva Sevilla Lohr, who was born in Holmes county, Ohio, June 20, 1834, the daughter of Henry and Eliza (Porter) Lohr, of the county mentioned above. Mr. Lohr was a tinner by trade and he spent his life in Ohio. He was twice married, his last wife being Rebecca Richardson, also of Holmes county, Ohio.

The following children constitute the family of the subject, two of whom are of the first union: Melissa A. married Walter Race, of Eldora township, this county; William H., who is farming in South Dakota, married Ada Biglow; Loretta J. married Jerry Hayden, of Jackson township, this county; Aleva Catherine died young; George D. is a merchant at Ratcliffe, Iowa; Leonard Lee is farming near Trenton, Nebraska; Ida May married Ralph Glidden, and they live near Ratcliffe, Iowa; John L. is farming in Hardin county, Iowa; Thomas L. is also farming in this county; Bertha Belle is at home.

It was about 1856 that Mr. Sheldon and his wife came to Hardin county, Iowa. They settled at Point Pleasant, Tipton township, when the country was new and undeveloped, and although they underwent many hardships and inconveniences, they persevered and succeeded. Later they bought a farm in Pleasant township and there they made their home until 1900, when they retired and moved to Hubbard, and there Mr. Sheldon lived until his death, on May 19, 1906. He had bought a neat and comfortable home there and had a small farm. His widow and daughter are living at Hubbard. He was very successful as a farmer and stock man and left a valuable estate to his family.

Politically, Mr. Sheldon was a Democrat, but he was not a politician. He was a member of the Methodist church, as is also his widow. No family in the county is held in higher esteem than the Sheldons, they having been prominent here from the days of the first settlers.