Ben
Sheckler, my grandfather, married Rosalie
Edwards, Melrose, Illinois soon after the Civil War. My father
was
born 1868, Melrose. Around 1871/72, they moved to Knoxville,
Tennessee;
bought a boarding house. Due to the feelings after Civil War,
they
moved back to Chicago, bought half interest in a butcher shop, but in
spring
1873, boarded a train for San Francisco. They met a man who told them
San
Diego was the place to go. After a few days in S.F. they took the
sidewheeler "Orazaba" to San Diego. Due to the high costs in the
area (cart load of wood, $2.50 and a bucket of drinking water,$.25)
they
decided to move again. In summer 1874, they went to the back
country
of San Diego County. Since there wasn't any road on the U.S. side, they
had to travel a good part of the way in Mexico. My grandparents
homesteaded a
ranch in Cottonwood Valley, San Diego County, (now Barrett Valley).
Some
of this story is told in the pages of Highway
94 History. Ben went into the cattle business, and also had a
bee business as a side line. Ben died 1928, on the old homestead,
in the old adobe building he constructed with his own hands back in
1875.
My grandfather, Benjamin, spoke fluent German. See: Maps
I
have some papers that list Benjamin Sheckler
born 1838; died age 90, now he did fool around with his age at
times.
It could have been something that happened during the Civil War.
In a battle he took a 2 ounce slug in the shoulder. By the time
he
reached the hospital they were out of morphine, and he had a real tough
go at it. Before he was completely healed they had him on
his
way to the front again, which disappointed him to no end. Somehow
or other he became a little bit disoriented and found himself separated
from his outfit. As a result he ended up back in
Pennsylvania.
Whatever, he did come up with different birth dates at various
times.
It could have been one of the factors in his deciding to move out
west.
I have legal papers which listed his middle name as "Renner", and
others
as "Rudisell".
My
father, grandfather and grandmother moved up
to Kings County, CA about 1898. They lived there for several
years.
There were a number of dry years in Southern CA and they decided to try
someplace else for a change. They bought a couple of ranches on
the
Kings River. The nearby town was called "Layton".
from page 35-36 in
"Sheckler Book"
- by "Donald Eugene Sheckler I"
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