Effner/Shelmandine article from the Historical Room
Naoma/Naomi A. (Effner) Shelmandine
By Karen Cuccinello
This article came to pass after receiving an assortment of newspaper clippings etc. from Peg Kenyon via the Harpersfield Historical Society. One of the items was Naoma’s report card from Stamford Seminary.
Naoma was born May 12, 1911 in Blenheim to Harry D. and Hazel (Schill) Effner. She had one older sister Elizabeth/Betty ( Mrs. George A. Haney). The family is in Stamford in the 1920 census. Through the years her father was a stationary engine engineer, chauffeur, proprietor of a garage, proprietor of The Atchinson hotel and automobile dealer.
Naoma was the pianist for the Stamford Epworth League in 1926. She graduated from the Stamford Seminary in 1928 and from their teacher training class in 1929. In the fall of 1929 she is teaching at the South Jefferson School (which still stands as a residence on Cape Horn Rd.) and her sister was teaching at the Pleasant View School in the town of Fulton. In 1930 she is driving a new sport model Dodge 6 coupe and in February 1931 she escaped uninjured after overturning her car between Hobart and Stamford.
In October 1931 Naoma is accompanying Johnson Shelmandine and mother of Amsterdam on a motor trip to Cleveland, OH. On April 20, 1932 Johnson D. Shelmandine of Amsterdam, age 23, occupation driver married Naoma, age 20, occupation cashier, in Stamford. She must have been a bit of a spit-fire because in 1933 she jumped into politics in her new home running as the Democratic candidate for Amsterdam Collector, I believe she was not successful.
On December 1,1935 their only child Elaine was born in Stamford. I believe she was separated from her husband by 1938 as her whole family, minus her husband, attended the 21st Jacob Frederick Schell annual reunion in Schoharie. In the 1940 Stamford census Naoma lists as divorced and is living at 14 Beaver St. with her daughter, parents, sister and brother-in-law. Her ex-husband has a new wife in the 1940 Amsterdam census.
December 30, 1958 (Schenectady Gazette)-Announcement has been made of the engagement of Miss Elaine E. Shelmandine, daughter of Mrs. Naomi Shelmandine of Stamford and Johnson Shelmandine of Scotia, to Ferdinand E. Kelsey, son of Mr. and Mrs. Rollin F. Kelsey of Stamford. The bride-elect was graduated from Stamford Central school and received her BS degree from Syracuse University, class of ’58. Mr. Kelsey, also a graduate of Stamford Central school, attended New York State Institute of Applied Arts and Sciences at Utica. He served two years in the U.S. Army Engineering Corps (during the Korean War), 18 months of which were spent in the Philippines. Mr. Kelsey is now employed as a senior engineering technician by the New York State Department of Public Works, division of highways and construction at Utica. A spring wedding is planned.
Elaine and Ferdinand appear to have lived in Stamford some but I believe they mostly lived in the Utica area and had two children, Elizabeth/Betsey and David. Ferdinand died January 2017, burial in Stamford Cemetery. Elaine died in 2008.
The Social Security Death Index lists Naomi Shelmandine as dying August 3, 1993 in Oneida, NY. It does not appear that Naoma remarried. The Effner family home at 14 Beaver St.,that now appears to be vacant, was still in the name of family members as of the 2013 tax rolls.