This granite mausoleum is located in the Llano Cemetery. The mausoleum has three steps leading to a recessed entryway. The entry consists of two decorated bronze doors with glass uppers. Two faux ionic columns are on either side of the entry with the carving of a rod with ribbons on either side. Above the entry is an entablature with the name: "John M Shelton". The roof is stepped. A funerary urn is set back on either side of the mausoleum.
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"John Malcolm Shelton
Birth: Dec. 22, 1852
Death: Dec. 7, 1923
Posted: Friday, May 19, 2000
Kay Ledbetter, Globe-News Assistant Regional Editor
John M. Shelton was a pioneer Panhandle rancher and businessman who first settled in the region in 1901.
Born in 1853 in Kentucky, Shelton migrated to Fort Worth by wagon train after the Civil War. As a teen-ager, he joined a trail herd en route to Chicago. Employed as a horse wrangler, he later moved to Fort Griffin, where he heard about the wonderful cattle country in the Texas Panhandle.
He acquired some property and financing in Fort Worth and by 1890, Shelton had accumulated between 1,500 and 2,000 cattle and began his Lazy J brand. He married Flora Exum of Lampasas and by 1900 they had three children.
It was the beginning of what would become four generations of cattle ranchers.
In 1901, Shelton decided to sell out and moved his family to Wheeler County. He and his top hand, J.M. Porter, settled on Sherrill Creek in Wheeler County and Shelton began building his holdings.
He bought a ranch and at the same time encouraged his cowboys and some relatives to homestead as much land as possible, allowing him in a few years to acquire about 200 sections.
Shelton also owned rangeland in Wyoming and Montana, where he grazed as many as 10,000 steers.
In July 1904, Shelton and Oscar P. Jones opened the first State Bank of Shamrock, which later became a national bank.
In 1912, the famous XIT Ranch in the western Panhandle, originally comprising 3 million acres, began disposing of its holdings. Shelton made a deal to buy 27,000 head of cattle and lease about 500,000 acres in the vicinity of Dalhart and Channing. He did this with a partner, Steve Trigg, another pioneer rancher.
The partnership existed for about six years, during which time Shelton disposed of his Wheeler County holdings.
In 1913, Shelton moved his family to Amarillo, where he erected a spacious brick house at 1700 S. Polk St. He opened the John M. Shelton Loan Co., which provided money for Panhandle stockmen and farmers.
On May 1, 1915, Shelton bought 213,000 acres of the former LE range in Oldham County from the Prairie Land & Cattle Co. He sold the portion south of the Canadian River to the Matador Land and Cattle Co. and purchased the 111,000-acre Bravo Ranch, formerly the XIT's Ojo Bravo division in Hartley County.
Shelton and his children - J. Malcolm, Martha Houghton and James M. - subsequently developed these properties as the JJ and Bravo ranches, which became known worldwide for their high-grade herds of Hereford and black Angus cattle. He died in 1923.
In 1965, the family donated the home at 1700 S. Polk to the Junior League of Amarillo for use as its headquarters. Shelton-Houghton House has received both Texas Marker and National Register plaques identifying the structure as an official historical landmark."