Thursday, January 04, 2007

Corn Sheller

Above is a drawing of a large floor-model corn sheller patented 19 March 1867 by J. B. Siddle of Caswell County, North Carolina. For more on corn shellers go to American Artifacts.

Who was this J. B. Siddle?

A Civil War soldier, John B. Siddle, enlisted in Caswell County, July 14, 1862. He was a private in Cavalry Co. C, 41st Regiment through October 1864. He was postmaster at Locust Hill, Caswell County, North Carolina in 1885.

Source: The Heritage of Caswell County, North Carolina, Jeannine D. Whitlow, Editor (1985) at 472-473 (Article #637 "John ("Jack") Siddle" by Lillian Walker Mauer).

Is this Civil War soldier the inventor of the corn sheller pictured above? He would have been around twenty-six years old when the patent issued. His father, John (Jack) Siddle, was a Caswell County wheelwright and could have taught the skills necessary to develop the corn sheller.

J. B. Siddle witnessed the 1885 Caswell County will of Antiocus Boswell. Was he the farmer, soldier, postmaster, and inventor?

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