The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1922-06-09
W. A. Shelley, Former Prominent Ed
/ gertOn Merchant, Passes Away,

8 =
/ The death Of William A. Shelley has
| touched of a wide circle Of
business men and still wider circle of.
| friends with sadness 50 many did not,
even know that Mr.. Shelley had been
lin. In fact the period of serious illness
covered only the last four weeks, and.
most=ofsztheHatime, eorstes within three
days of his death, he was able to dress,
receive his closest friends and attend
TO such matters as required his DISPOSE
ton. The illness, however, was of
longer standing; Mrs. Shelley had no
! 5ticed that her husband was not as well
as be should be nearly a year ago, but
Mr.. Shelley gdismissed the matter as of
NO consequence. RI .Fa.l~eeg eEafg0~r
| The deceased was born in Golden,
New York, April IA, 1861, son of Rich
| ard and Maria Shelley of London, Eng
land. The elder Shelley was a mer-
chant and the son inherited the genius
of merchandising sfromshis father. In
the seventies che 4Shelleys came west
and settled at Usage, Iowa. Here the
young Shelley grew up and worked in
his fathers business. aaaIn the early
eighties he conducted a wholesale glove
and mitten business in the Iowa town.
| He took the road and on one of his
salesman trips he came to EdgertOn.
An opening here looked good to him
and in 1883 he joined Will sLusk in the
clothing business The following year
he secured the store site where the
Shelley building. nowastands (Anderson
e Farman)9 and conducted high class
clothing store here until about twelve
years ago when he opened haber-
dashery in the Wisconsin hotel, Mil
waukee. He held some interest in the
store here even after opening the Mil
waukee place, 4 but at the time of his
death be had disposed Of his Edgerton
as we'll as his Milwaukee interests, and
only retained ownership Of the store
building in Edgerton.
lin the period between the gradual
letting go of the Edgerton business and
the building up of~~the Milwaukee en-
terprise he purchased large planta-
ton in Virginia and retained ownership
about eight years, when he disposed
of it.
-OnsOetober is, 1884,ghe# was united
in marriage to Miss Harriet Perry, who
with one son survives him. There are
also two#hrothers, one residing in Chi
cago and oneliving in California. There
are no other near relatives.
MIR. Shelley was a born merchant, a
nerchantsof quaiitysUho first and. fore
most endeavored to sell an article that
was worth the price and would be GER
tain to please the customer. He had la
keen knowledge Of goods fine in
stinct for picking the right sort of
clerks, and an abiding interest in the
welfare of his customers. He loved |
the business, was proud of it, and |
looked upon it as an honorable service |
to. the community lo -@t{@i(jGSs
From the organization of the Tobacco !
Exchange bank he continued to serve |
as director. He respected his asso-
sciatesin the bank and enjoyed to work |
with them. His interest in the institu-
tion brought him to Edgerton for the |
May meeting OF the bank. He was |
then seriously i'll but would not admit |
it TO himself or anybody. else, LIS.
After closing out his Milwaukee bus |
mess he conceived the idea of building |
a high ffclass tourist camp, hotel and |
service station at Eagle River i'm the
northern part Of the state. He was |
full of enthusiasm for this project and |
told his friends that here he expected |
to. get some rest and real pleasure out |
of life. Hwas not to EbesS1 Ea4
Tuesday morning last weeknhe drop
ped into coma from which he did not
revive. and life ebbed quietly away
hour after hour, until the end came 7
Thursday evening. ~June ], 1922, at 8 |
o'clock.
Both Mrs. Shelley and her husband
were zEpiseopalians.i Ia The service of |
this church was read at the Thomas
funeral parlors,g and in thesevening at |
1000 the Elks conducted the rites of |
the lodge at the same place, Mrs. |
Shelley being present at these obse-
quiesk5S The sbody shad been AlyingS in |
state during Friday and Saturday fore
noon. & sS8s% enGgsaeEa
It was the wish of Mr.. Shelley as
well as Mrs. Shelley to make burial at /
Fassett cemetery, Edgerton. Sunday +
afternoon at 200 in the Masonic temple |
the rites of the order were observed,
large audiences being present, and the
body was laid to rest ia Fassett GENE
terry in lot between the Underhill and |
G.. Culton lots ba1imiJ --I1o81G
Mrs. Shelley was made comfortable |
at5the home of Mr.. { and Mrs Henry
johnson during her stay in .Edgerton.
ASsGag - q Is q IL ,5%GI8s