My Genealogy Hound

GEORGE F. SHELBURN is one of the rising young men of Harlan county. He is at present a prosperous farmer in Albany township, where he owns three hundred and twenty acres of good land, one hundred and eighty of which are broken and under a good state of cultivation. The subject of this notice was born in Warren county, Iowa, November 8, 1858. He is a son of William T. and Sarah A. (Spurgin) Shelburn, the former a native of Indiana and the latter of Kentucky. They came to Harlan county, Nebr., in 1879, where they still reside. The country between the Republican and Platte rivers, known as the great “divide,” was just being settled, when Geo. F. Shelburn put in an appearance. The country presented a somewhat wild and desolate appearance, but he had faith in its ultimate development and made up his mind to stay by it. He took a homestead on section 17, and a timber claim of a quarter section on section 18. His first house consisted of a dug-out and he began farming on a small scale. He worked for a neighbor a day in exchange for the use of his team for a day, to break with. In this manner he managed to get along until he was able to purchase a team for himself.

Mr. Shelburn was married April 17, 1882, to Ambrosia Whittacer, a native of Iowa and born March 24, 1858. She is a daughter of Josiah and Margaret Whittacer, who lived in Iowa several years previous to 1877, the date of their settlement in Nebraska. In politics Mr. Shelburn is a firm believer in the principles of the democratic party, and is well posted in the doctrine of that organization. He was elected assessor of his township in 1889, and performed the duties of that office to the entire satisfaction of all interested.