Peering at the Past – The First Doctor to Practice Medicine in Houston County

fillmorecountyjournal.com · Feb 23, 2026 · Collected from GDELT

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Norwegian immigrants in southeastern Minnesota lived in mostly one-room dwellings “so tight that air is almost excluded.” Light came only through one window. Wrapped in woolen blankets, they kept as warm as possible around a large wood-burning stove. That was the observation of a doctor that made house calls during the 1860s while visiting the Gunderson family in Crystal Valley where five or six were “down with” smallpox. That attending physician feared one of that family, “delirious with eyes closed,” would not survive. A later diary entry noted, “she died choked.” A few pages later, the doctor added finding four family members down with small pox — “covered with pustules and vesicles from head to heal (heel) — one of the family caught it at Rushford … Keep cool, dark, abstain from meat, smear with oil (olive); use expect for cough … Give freely of sulphuric acid, largely diluted with water — 13 to pint of sweetened water if the case is confluent — pocks filled bloody sanies.” Giles James Sheldon (1806-1880), tall and slender with blue eyes, is believed to have been the first physician to practice medicine in Houston County. His diary remains a valuable source of information about frontier medicine from December, 1853 to January, 1869. An 1868 entry mentioned going to S. Anderson’s where he attended his wife, “sick with ovarian abscess, which he opened “in Sacro-ischiatic notch” to remove two quarts of pus. Sheldon, who also served as a frontier judge, had been trained in theology and law as well as medicine — all of which might have contributed to this January, 1869 comment. “These Christmas and New Years celebrations among the Irish and Norwegians have been rendered extremely interesting and happy by the free use of knife, fist and foot — Beer and whiskey have raised the Devil among them and now the law is invoked by the sore head to pour Oil into and over their bruised faces and kicked ribs — One came to me for a warrant — which I have not yet issued — His face looked like a roten (rotten) pumpkin — Alcohol is the King and the Devil is prime minister — Man does seem to be totally depraved and will soon end in smoke.” Sheldon was of English descent, born on a family farm near Norway, a town in Herkimer County in central New York. He was descended from one of three Sheldon brothers, who having been officers in Oliver Cromwell’s army, fled from England in 1661 to escape the vengeance of King Charles II. Long before practicing medicine, he was the recipient of medical care as a frail and sickly child that was therefore home-schooled by his mother until age 14. His formal education, which was periodically interrupted by ill health, included a degree from Union College in New York before he studied theology for two years in preparation to become an Episcopal pastor. However, one biographer noted that due to his “uncertain health,” he switched course to study medicine. His medical practice, which began in his birthplace of Norway, New York, continued in Illinois and Ohio, while also studying law and being admitted to the bar “with the finest paper ever written before the examining committee,” according to one biographer. He and his wife and children decided to move to Minnesota, where he hoped his persistent health problems would improve. In 1851, two years before his arrival, settlers had begun to flock into Minnesota Territory for opportunities in agriculture and lumbering. One steamboat pilot reminisced that any riverboat could make money between 1852 and 1857 because there were more people wanting to migrate than there were boats to bring them. Nineteen years after first practicing medicine, Dr. Sheldon and family, aboard the Mississippi river boat, The Doctor Franklin, arrived on June 27, 1853, at Wild Cat Landing, near Brownsville, the first landing in Minnesota Territory. Among his personal effects were four barrels of books, many of which concerned medicine. The history of regular medical practice in Houston County had begun. At age 47, he purchased 320 acres for $400; another source said 160 acres for $600. Medical graduates in New England had been advised to establish themselves as a farmer. That was practical advice for his new home in Minnesota, which in 1853, despite the influx of migrants, was still sparsely populated. There were only about 20 doctors, most of whom much farther north near Fort Snelling. And there were only about four families near Brownsville. The next year, he settled on a large farm along the Root River in Mound Prairie Township, where he lived for 26 years until his death in 1880. Sheldon’s experience in farming, surveying and medicine along with having been a postmaster plus his legal knowledge made him an extremely valuable contributor on the frontier. Within a year, he was elected the first judge of probate and presided at the first court held at the county seat. He generally avoided political controversy but did not hide his disapproval of Negro slavery and southern slaveowners. He doubted that President Lincoln was equal to the “requirements of his station.” The doctor’s son, G. James Sheldon, Jr., enlisted as a volunteer in the Wisconsin Cavalry. Sheldon surveyed, platted and named the village of San Jacinto, where he secured a post office. He treated George Canon, the first postmaster, through an extended illness. When finally unable to continue, the patient turned over his postal duties to his doctor. Sheldon took stamps and other items home to serve as an interim postmaster. The doctor would later be appointed to the position and served as postmaster until the post office closed on Jan. 19, 1871. Still in the 1850s, he platted the village of Sheldon in Sheldon Township. He several times served as a county commissioner, court commissioner and county coroner. To be continued … more journal entries about frontier medicine Sources: “Backwoods Doctor Giles James Sheldon, First Practicing Physician In Houston County on the Minnesota Frontier,” by Ruth J. Mann, B. S. and Jack D. Key, M. A., M. S. Minnesota Medicine, Volume 68, 1985. “Notes on the History of Medicine in Houston County Prior to 1900,” by Nora H. Guthrey, Mayo Clinic, History of Medicine in Minnesota. February, 1946. Doctor Giles James Sheldon.Photograph taken at Hokah, Minnesota,July 10, 1873, by 18-year-old boy artist.