Elias Shoultes

The extent of Elias's education is not known. There is no record of his attending school and the United States Census Report of 1850 for Tioga County indicates he could not read or write. A further mystery is that the census of 1850 indicates that Elias was a resident of his parents home, while his alleged twin brother Elijah (1835-1912) is shown as a resident of their oldest brother, Peter Adam (1821-1856).

Elias Shoultes does not appear in any additional United States Census Report for this area of New York State after 1850. He is not in the 1855 Tioga County Census and no documents state his whereabouts. The original family legends stated that he may have moved west or that he had died and the gravestone no longer existed.

On July 19, 1982, the following correspondence was received, which appears to document the later life of Elias Shoultes. The letter was written by his great-granddaughter, Mrs. Edward C. (Catherine) Pasche of Seattle, Washington. It is transcribed as follows:

Endeavoring to complete my Shoultes ancestry from Mathias through his son Jacob, I wrote to the Berne Historical Society for help and which I got from Mrs. Euretha Stapleton, she sending me the updated material you did last year. I was delighted and I am hopeful it will help me to complete my papers for DAR membership.

I am enclosing my connecting line to Elias Shoultes, one of the sons of Jacob Ira, which might be of interest to you. My mother and aunts always said their father Seymour was an orphan, and he didn't know any family background. This partly is true as he and his brother were put in an orphanage by their mother upon the death of their father, Elias. My Aunt Ruth recently told me that Seymour was not interested in his family ancestors; thus it has been a bit difficult for me to get this all together.

It you have anything else on the Shoultes, would be happy to hear from you.

Based upon the new information from Mrs. Pasche, the following assumptions can now be made about the life of Elias Shoultes.

It appears that Elias Shoultes moved to Wisconsin during the middle 1850s. The reasons for this journey are not known. He married the former Rhuhanna (Emma) McElroy (1837-1892) on December 23, 1858 at Fountain Prairie, Wisconsin. Her family background is not known at the time of this writing. It is speculated that communications were kept between Elias and members of the family living in New York State during these times.

Elias and Emma Shoultes established a farm and gave birth to two sons. It is documented that Elias enlisted as a private in Company I, Regiment 18 State of Wisconsin Militia in 1861. An interesting observation of the enlistment paper is Elias height which is stated as 6 feet tall. By Shoultes standards, this is extremely tall for this period of time. Elias saw some brief action as a soldier but the whereabouts of his unit are not known at the time of this writing. At nearly this same period of time, his brother Seymour (1841-1915), living in New York State, enlisted as a soldier. Seymour is on record as a deserter from Camp Rathbone, Albany County, in 1861 but was later found as a resident of Maxville, Wisconsin. Seymour served with Company G, 25 Wisconsin Infantry and marched through Georgia and South Carolina with General Sherman during 1864 and 1865.

Elias Shoultes became sick, and was sent home in 1862. It appears that he became stricken with "consumption" and died on October 20, 1862 at the age of 27 years. He is buried at Fountain Prairie, Wisconsin.

According to family legends, Rhuhanna McElroy Shoultes (1837-1892) could not afford to care for her two young sons, and had them places in an orphanage. However, records indicate that she remarried in 1865 but did not claim her sons from the orphanage. This fact remains very mysterious to the family. Seymour (1860-1924) and Charles (1861?-1892?) grew up in the orphanage and eventually moved west to the Washington Territory when they reached adulthood. The story is told that Rhuhanna, attempting to secure a pension from Elias service as a soldier, located Seymour during the 1880s and asked him to sign a verification letter to enable her to collect the pension grant. His descendants claim that Seymour refused to sign the letter. It is also a great mystery as to why Elias's brother Seymour (1841-1915) did not assume responsibility or custody for his brother's young sons which was the custom of these times. Seymour L. eventually returned his family back to New York State in the 1870s.