Ralph Shelton and Mary Crispen

The earliest mention we have of Ralph Shelton in Virginia was when one Thomas Meriwether was awarded a headright grant of land as a reward for bringing seven new settlers to Virginia, including Ralph. Recorded in the Essex County Order Book October 10, 1702:

Certificate according to Act of Assembly is granted to Tho. Meriwether for the importation of seven persons into this colony by name Sarah Eaton, Richd Cullen, Ralph Sheldon, (name illegible), Mary Millner, Isaac Bayly, Edw Cartwright.

To attract settlers the colonies offered headright grants to new arrivals. If you couldn’t afford the trip, you could arrange with someone to pay your passage; typically they would get the land grant and you would enter a period of indentured servitude to pay off the debt. But there’s no record of Ralph being indentured, or being released from indenture. In fact, he appears to have had a close relationship with Meriwether, because when the latter drew up his will in 1708 Ralph Shelton was not only a beneficiary, but also a witness. This implies a close relationship; the other beneficiaries were all family members. This set of facts has led to speculation that Ralph was in fact the brother of Thomas Meriwether’s wife Susannah. That would neatly explain the facts, but there is little evidence of it.

What we know from this is that Ralph Shelton showed up some time before 1702, but we don't know when. For reasons that are not quite clear to me it is generally believed that Ralph must have been of age, that is at least 18, when he arrived. This doesn't quite align with an approximate date of birth of 1685, but it's probably not far off.

Who Ralph Shelton Was Not

No one knows who Ralph Shelton’s parents were. Since Shelton has so many descendants, there has been something of a cottage industry attempting to fill this little void in our knowledge. For example, if you assume that spelling was haphazard and arbitrary, then anyone named Shelton, Skelton, or Chilton is fair game. There are plenty of choices, and they're pretty interesting. In reality, while there are routine misspellings (as in the Order Book notation above), family lines seem to tenaciously hang on to the spelling of their name, even through generations of illiteracy.

So Ralph was almost certainly not the son of Peter Shelton and Susan Jackson, who were probably Chiltons anyway. And he’s probably not related to the Skeltons, including Bathurst Skelton, whose widow Martha married Thomas Jefferson (but Thomas Meriwether was connected to them, if I’m not mistaken).

Confusingly, Ralph Shelton wasn’t even Ralph Shelton. Our guy lived in Middlesex County near the Dragon Swamp and married a woman named Mary. But there’s another Ralph Shelton matching that entire description, about 15 years younger, and no known relation. So it’s easy to be misled.

What’s Happening?

What was going on around 1700, when Ralph Shelton showed up in Virginia?

• It was the best part of 100 years after the founding of the Virginia Colony in Jamestown, a long day’s ride to the south, across the York River.
• There were people who had lived an entire long life in slavery. There were already people who were 5th generation slaves.
• George Washington’s father was a child in Westmoreland County, about 50 miles north of Middlesex County, across the Rappahannock River.
• The capital of Virginia was officially moved from Jamestown to Williamsburg, where the College of William and Mary had just been founded.
• Not coincidentally, William was on the throne in England, but “and Mary” had died a few years earlier. The Jacobite resistance was in full swing.
• Louis XIV, the Sun King, was on the throne of France.
• Peter the Great was on the throne of Russia.
• Edmond Halley, the comet guy, was undertaking expeditions on the Paramour.
• A few years earlier Isaac Newton had invented calculus class.

Life in Middlesex County

Ralph Shelton was a planter in Middlesex County his whole life. He was also occasionally called upon to appraise property, and to conduct surveys. For example in the Christ Church Vestry Book, about 1727:

ordered that Mr. Garrot Daniel and Mr. Ralph Shelton procession every particular person's land between Briery Swamp (from the Millstone Valley to the Dragon Swamp), and the upper end of the county, and from the main road to the Dragon Swamp, on the south side of the main road

Those “swamps” are streams, and their names have survived so this appears to be talking about the area here. Dragon Swamp forms the western boundary of Middlesex County. The land Thomas Meriwether bequeathed to Shelton was near Dragon Swamp, perhaps near the area Shelton was asked to survey.

The fact that Ralph Shelton was a witness to Thomas Meriwether’s will and that he was able to perform surveying work imply that Shelton was able to read and write, and therefore had at least a little education.

As far as I know there is no direct evidence of Ralph Shelton owning slaves, but slavery was common in their area and there’s no reason to doubt it. Ralph’s will was damaged, but when Mary died years later her will included: “I give my negro wench Janey and all her increase to my son Daniel Shelton and to his heirs forever.” The “... and to his heirs forever” part is especially chilling in this context, albeit common for “property” bequests. Slaveholding was routine among Ralph and Mary’s descendants in Virginia, and there’s no reason to think it’s new to those generations, just better documented.

Mary

Ralph Shelton married Mary in about 1706. She is generally believed to have been born around 1685, the same approximation used for Ralph. There is no clear evidence of her last name, but it might be Crispen, since they had a child by that name. This would be following the genealogy-friendly practice of using the mother’s maiden name as the given name of one of the boys. You see similar examples in the previously-mentioned Bathurst Skelton, whose mother was of the Bathurst family, and the explorer Meriwether Lewis (of “... and Clark” fame), whose mother was related to Ralph Shelton’s benefactor Thomas Meriwether. The descendants carried on the practice, as we’ll see.

Ralph and Mary had eleven children:

• Thomas (1707) married Mary Probert.
• Ralph (1709) married Mary Daniel. These two are my ancestors.
• Elizabeth (1711) married William Davis.
• Crispen (1713) married Letitia (last name unknown) and later Mary Bauford.
• Reuben (1715) died young. 
• Mary (1716) died young.
• Catherine (1719) married George Blakey.
• John (1722) married Elizabeth Lawson.
• Benjamin (1724) married Mary, last name unknown.
• James Roderick (1726) married Jane, last name unknown.
• Daniel (1729) married Lettice Young. Five of their eleven children married first cousins! One of the boys was named Young Shelton.

Reuben was a relatively unusual name, and its occurrence here is one hint that these Sheltons might have been related to Sheltons in Maryland, for whom Reuben was also a family name. Ralph and Mary’s son Thomas (above) also had a son named Reuben, who might have been named after this infant. If there was a Maryland connection, then the idea would be that Ralph was imported from there, not from England. In that case I don’t understand why his passage would be so expensive that Meriwether would have had to pay it, but I don’t know much about it.

Ralph Shelton died in 1733, about 50 years old. His oldest son was 25 years old but his youngest was just 4. In his badly-damaged will he says that Thomas should take care of his minor children, but if Thomas is dead then Ralph or Crispen should take over. Mary and Thomas were the executors, and among the witnesses was one Thomas Clark. Mary would go on to marry someone named Clark, but we don’t know her future husband's first name.

Mary died in 1750, and her will was also damaged, but much more legible. A transcription done by Ken Shelton:

In The Name of God amen I Mary Clark of the Parish of Nottaway in the County of Amelia in Virginia being very sick and weak in body but of sound mind and memory thanks be to almighty god, have thought fit to ?? This my Last will and Testament ?? and form following & Revoaking and making void all other will or wills, by me or before made and first and foremost(?) all ?? commemorate(?) my soul into the hands of my [lord? god?] or for salvation & through the ?? with ?? my ?? redeemer, & as to my Temporal Estate after Due payment of my just debts & funeral expenses and Legacies I dispose thereof as followeth.

Item I give to my Grandchild Reubin Shelton one shilling sterling.
Item I give to my son Ralph Shelton one shilling sterling.
Item I give to my son Crispin Shelton one shilling sterling.
Item I give to my son John Shelton one shilling sterling.
Item I give to my son Benjamin Shelton one shilling sterling.
Item I give to my son James Shelton one shilling sterling.
Item I give to my Daughter Elizabeth Davis the best of my wearing clothes.
Item I give to my Grand child Patient Catey Blackey one shilling sterling.
Item I give my negro wench Janey and all her increase to my son Daniel Shelton and to his heirs forever, Furthermore I give all the rest of my estate to my son Daniel Shelton and to his heirs forever.

My Will and Desire is that my son Daniel Shelton may be my whole and sole executor? &ce. Witness whereof I have here to set? my hand? and fixed my mark this 30th day of July? 1750

Signed Sealed and Delivered in presence of (illegible witness names). Mary (her mark) Clark L.S. [legal signature].

At a Court held for Pittsylvania County the 29th Day of August 1774. The Within last will and testament of Mary Clark Dec'd was Exhibited in Court by Daniel Shelton the executor therein named and proved by the oaths of the Witnesses thereto and ordered to be recorded and on the motion of the said executor who made oath according to Law certificate is granted him for obtaining probate thereof in the form of Law giving security whereupon he together with Crispin Shelton Gent. his security entered into bond & acknowledged the same according to Law. Test. Will. Tunstall Clk.

The “one shilling sterling” Mary left to her older children seems to be just a token, a placeholder; it wasn’t worth much back in 1750, either. Including the grandchildren in the will tells us that Thomas and Catherine are already dead.

Previously: Introducing the Sheltons
Next: Ralph Shelton Junior and Mary Daniel