Anna Shelton (NOT Childers), and Nancy Shelton - my genealogical brickwall.

This is going to be pretty lengthy, so to start off, I will sum up my thoughts in a nutshell. Anna Shelton, the daughter of Nancy Shelton (in the 1850 Meigs Co. TN census) is NOT the same Anna Shelton that married Josiah Childers. Her mother Nancy Shelton, is STILL a mystery (and it PAINS me to say that, especially after twenty years in the hunt).

I have been researching my Shelton lineage, off and on, for about fifteen years. My dad started this whole thing almost twenty years ago. But both of us have been stuck at the same brick wall the entire time, a single name that has kept us from linking to the vast line of Sheltons, going centuries back into England. This brickwall fueled my motivation for genealogy in the first place, and I am bound and determined to eventually discover the answers.

In southeast Tennessee, somewhere around the mid 19th century about three separate Shelton lines collided into each other. A large, easily traceable line from Virginia, another line from NC, and then my line. So over the years there has been much confusion over who is who, and where our Shelton ancestors came from.

My Shelton roots begin with Nancy Shelton and her seven kids, living in Meigs County, TN in 1850. Anna, Manuel, William, Rily, Zebedee, Louisa and Frances. With no real clues to figure out where Nancy came from, (although the census says she was born in Virginia) her parents, nor her husband... we have been stuck in the same place for quite some time.

Many researchers have offered many answers, and all have been pretty much debunked. The most recent offer I found several months ago, on an archived rootsweb forum post. At first I was absolutely thrilled to read that somebody may have finally solved the riddle, or at least part of it. I was unsuccessful in posting a reply on rootsweb, so here is the original message itself.  My reasons for disagreement will follow afterwards.

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From: "Joyce G. Reece"
Subject: [SE-TN] Nancy Shelton
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2007 18:13:29 -0400

Nancy Shelton
Born 1793 in Virginia
Died unknown

WHAT WE KNEW:

What we actually knew about Nancy Shelton was almost nothing. For years the assumption that she was the wife of William 'Buck' Lawson didn't sit well. Neither did the assumption that she was the sister of James A. Shelton in McMinn County, TN born 1791. We had NO documentation to prove anything.

We knew she appeared only on the 1850 Meigs County, Tennessee census with children

#385
Nancy Shelton age 56 born in Virginia
Anna age 25 born in Kentucky (circa 1825)
Manuel age 22 born in Tennessee (born circa 1828)
William age 19 born in Tennessee (born circa 1831)
Riley age 17 born in Tennessee (circa 1833)
Zebedee age 14 born in Tennessee (circa 1836)
Louisa age 12 born in Tennessee (circa 1838)
Frances age 10 born in Tennessee (circa 1840)

Several researchers tried many ways to prove the suggestion that Buck Lawson was indeed the husband of Elizabeth. Absolutely nothing documented it....only the Arthur Paul Shelton Book....which isn't really documentation.
We knew that Nancy's son Zebedee had lived in the Childers Creek area of Greasy Creek Community of Polk County, Tennessee. Zebedee appeared on the 1860 Polk Co., TN. census with wife Nancy, last name unknown. We have since learned she was a Smith. We knew they were woodsmen by trade....better known as loggers. Zeb is interred at Hiwassee Union Baptist Church cemetery, Reliance, Tennessee...confirmed by WPA records, printed in "Resting Places, Polk Cemetery Records by Joann Finnell''.

A. There is only one Anna Shelton in the area at the time of the marriage of Josiah Childers, Jr. That Anna is the daughter of Nancy Shelton mentioned above. There is no doubt that she is Mrs. Josiah Childers.

B. The wife of Zebedee Shelton is Nancy Smith a kinswoman of Josiah Childers. The Smith ascendancy is John Smith and Panthia Childers.

C. The link between Josiah Childers and John and Elizabeth Shelton is presented below:
McMinn County, Tennessee, Wills and Estate Records, abstracts, Page 156

John Shelton,
CR4, 530, 4 Jan 1841, Jeremiah Benton, Thomas Lasly and Charles Hester appointed commissioners to lay off year's support for widow Elizabeth.

WB C 343-347, 1 March 1841, Inventory of sale by Thomas K. Napier and Josiah Childers, Adm.; report of above comm.

WB D 135, 13 April 1843, Sett. by Adms.

WB E 61, 13 Sept 1849. Sett by Josiah Childers, one of Adms.; paid heirs John C. and Joseph Shelton, John McGinley and T.K. Napier.

McMinn County, TN Deed Book J, Entry 464: 6 May 1851 Copy of circuit Court decree, 16 Dec `850: Josiah Childers vs Elizabeth Shelton widow, Elizabeth Shelton, John Harris and wife Matilda, John McGinty, and wife Nancy, T.K.Nipier and wife Mary and Martha Shelton, heirs of John Shelton dec'd.

McMinn County, TN Deed Book K, Entry 293, 25 March 1853, Josiah Childers of Carroll Co., Ark. to Hezekiah C. Cooke: land....conditional line made by John Shelton....except the widow Elizabeth Shelton's dower

Research work done by Linda Childers, W.T. McCracken & W. Donald Jarvis in the Polk County Tennessee Heritage Book reveals:

"Josiah Childers, Jr. was married on April 22, 1838 to Anna Shelton, daughter of John and Elizabeth Schrimpsher Shelton. Josiah and Anna lived for several years in Polk County and their first seven chidren were born there, By 1852 they had moved to Carroll County, Arkansas...''.

 

We had questioned the ''why'' of the ages.... the children in Nancy's 1850 household were awry. They'd left plenty of room for Nancy to have older children. She's 26-27 when the eldest, showing child in born. The above documents will allow us to add those children.

John C
Matilda (Harris)
Joseph
Nancy (McGinty)
Mary (Nipier/Napier)
These will be the five eldest children.
Following will be
Anna (Childers)
Manuel
William
Riley
Zebedee (m. Nancy Smith)
Louisa (Woods)
Frances (Frankie) (Love)

Further research in Meigs County may reveal one of two things....a death record for Elizabeth after 1853 or a marriage record that puts her in another household.

It is my conclusion that the Nancy Shelton showing in the 1850 Meigs County Tennessee census is NOT the sister of James A. Shelton nor was she the spouse of William 'Buck' Lawson. This solves a mystery that has existed in McMinn County TN for many, many years. Which raises even more questions....which John Shelton is this?

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When I first read this information, I was ECSTATIC. But I couldn't shake this feeling in the back of my mind, something didn't seem right. When I concluded that much of what the researcher had found had not actually been verified, I decided to comb through the details myself.

First of all, I do not dispute for one second that Josiah Childers married an Anna Shelton in 1838. This information CAN be verified, and there is marriage documentation to prove it. I do however have a concern with statements like this:

"There is only one Anna Shelton in the area at the time of the marriage of Josiah Childers, Jr. That Anna is the daughter of Nancy Shelton mentioned above. There is no doubt that she is Mrs. Josiah Childers."

I'm sorry, but there is just no way to prove that there was just one Anna Shelton in the region at that time, just as there is no way to prove there was one Nancy Shelton in the region (I've actually ran across dozens of Nancy Sheltons in KY, TN and VA in the early 19th century). Doing so would only be pure speculation and you would need hard evidence to prove it... but I'll come back to that later. What we do know for a reasonable fact is that Anna Childers WAS an "Anna Shelton" at some point.

Another problem I have is that the researcher is trying to link Nancy Shelton to Elizabeth Shrimpsher Shelton as being the same person, based solely on the idea that Nancy's daughter Anna and Anna Childers are the same person. And on top of needing better evidence, we need a really good reason why Nancy's name has now become "Elizabeth" in the above-cited civil record. On a thought, after a little searching I see that Elizabeth Shrimpsher was born 1797, which is close to Nancy Shelton's 1795... but could be merely another coincidence. Another thing to note is the timing of John Shelton having died around 1841, which feasibly could coincide with no husband showing up on the 1850 census for Nancy. But that is still not the hard evidence we should be looking for.

The more I studied the facts, the more I started to run into red flags, and the more this theory started to unravel. A concern I had with the civil case itself is that all of the 'younger' Shelton children were not represented at all, either indirectly or directly. Not even a mention. In regard to the census records, since we know Anna Childers married Josiah Childers in 1838, then WHY is she showing up on the 1850 census living with her mother and younger siblings? Even more importantly, why is her last name still listed as "Shelton" in 1850? If it were the same Anna, it should read as "Childers."

And then I found it. An 1850 Census for Polk County, TN showing Anna CHILDERS living with her husband Josiah and their children. So in 1850, we at least now have TWO distinct Anna Shelton's, in two completely different households. A few years later Anna Childers and her family would move to Arkansas/Missouri, while Anna SHELTON (daughter of Nancy) would stay in Tennessee. I found another Census record from 1860, (also for Polk County) that shows an "Ann Shelton" living with a younger "Louisa Shelton." Both females are pretty much the exact age of Nancy's daughters listed in the 1850 census. Their brother Zebedee is also in the 1860 Polk TN census, which supports the idea that Nancy's children stuck together, or at least tried to live in the same area (their brother Manuel being just across the North Carolina border at that time).

So my conclusion, based on existing evidence: Nancy's daughter Anna Shelton was NOT the same Anna Shelton that married Josiah Childers. And my ancestor Nancy Shelton, was NOT Elizabeth Shrimpsher Shelton.  It's far more likely that while Anna Childers moved out of the area, Anna Shelton lived on in Polk County, TN with her younger sister, probably after the death of Nancy Shelton.

The above researcher put a lot of hard work into connecting the dots, but in my opinion it just provides proof as to the identity of Anna Shelton Childers' parents. As far as my ancestor, Nancy Shelton however, we are back at SQUARE ONE. The mystery, and brickwall, remains intact.

-Josh Shelton