A fallen hero

Lloyd Shelton was my great grand uncle. He was the younger brother to my great grandfather, Ira Shelton. During the past year when I started looking through the compiled histories that my Grandma Graham sent me, I took note that Lloyd was killed in France in 1918. But since he was not a direct ancestor, I put learning about his service in the back of mind--on my endless "to do someday" lists.

A new found cousin,who is also a niece of Lloyd's, sent me these photographs and it has me itching to learn more about what happened to Lloyd. Born on 29 October 1891, Lloyd was one of 8 children born to Nathaniel and Sarah Shelton in Memphis, Missouri. His younger brother, John Benjamin Shelton, also served during the Great War.

The Missouri State Archives reports that Lloyd was inducted into the Army on June 3, 1917 in Nebraska City, Nebraska. when he was 22 2/3 years old. He served with Company B of the 6th Nebraska Infantry, and then was in Company L of the 59th Infantry. The Nebraska connection was odd to me, but I learned from a very wise genealogist friend that this is probably where the military recruiter was from. All of his recruits he essentially had inducted in his home area.

Lloyd served overseas from June 29, 1918 until his death on December 4, 1918. The Missouri State Archives remarks that Lloyd "DIED 4 DEC 1918 OF WOUNDS RECEIVED IN ACTION; MOTHER, MRS SARAH SHELTON, MEMPHIS, MO NOTIFIED." Another distant relative who has an excellent website here reports that Lloyd died in a military hospital in France.

Lloyd died just two weeks after peace was declared on November 11, 1918. How tragic. Imagine the relief Sarah must have felt when she heard about the Armistice. Then two weeks later to learn that one of her two boys would not be coming home in the way that she had hoped.

Although a student of history, I have never learned that much in particular about the American involvement in World War 1. This family connection makes me want to learn more. I've learned from a quick search that one of the greatest battles fought by Americans was the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. It went from September 26, 1918 until the end of the war on November 11th. I'm assuming (maybe not a wise thing to do), that Lloyd was wounded in this battle.

Lloyd's unit, the 59th infantry, was a part of the 8th Infantry Brigade, 4th "Ivy" Division of the American Expeditionary Forces. (Interesting note-my brother who is currently in the Army was part of the 4th infantry division!)

I think I need to see what the National Archives has about this battle, as well as Lloyd's military records. Anyone else interested?

Family History Blog Success!

One reason I started this blog was to connect with distant relatives who may also be researching our common family lines.

I'm happy to report that my first connection was made recently, thanks to this blog! I received a letter in the mail from my Grandmother last week. She forwarded me a letter written to her by her cousin. (I need to double check the relationships to be exactly sure). This lady's grandmother was the sister of my great-grandfather, Ira Shelton. She also is a granddaughter of the mysterious Nathaniel Shelton! She was doing some searches online and ran across one of my blog posts about Nathaniel Shelton. Like we are so apt to do while online, she navigated away from my blog and couldn't find it again. But she figured I belonged to my Grandmother, so she wrote her a letter asking to find me. Viola!

Like me, she is an amateur family history researcher. We've exchanged some of the information that we each have on Nathaniel. Some of it conflicts, and like my information much of it needs to be verified and sourced. So there is some work ahead of us. But I would like to share with you something she e-mailed me today--a photograph of Nathaniel and Sarah Deen grave site in Memphis, Missouri. I'm excited to get to know this new cousin and work together with her in discovering more about our common ancestor.

Going back on the Shelton/Dean side and finding a cousin

I've got a google alert set for anything that pops up in the internet having the words "Nathaniel Shelton" and "Memphis, Missouri." As regular readers will recall, Nathaniel is a brick wall of mine and I'm always on the lookout for anything that will help me find his parents or even give me an idea of what his life was like.

Yesterday, a hit came for Nathaniel's death certificate on someone's website. I have had the document for some time, but it was exciting to see that there was someone else out there who had been researching Nathaniel. First off, the website is AMAZING and very well documented. I'm sure it took years of work to compile and document everything. There are over 49,000 individuals in this person's tree, and over 1,300 photos. It is searchable and is really a treasure.

Who is the website owner, exactly? The website is called "The Families of Dennis W. Brumm." Perhaps he is a distant cousin? I do believe we are some sort of

cousin, since I found the following picture on the website. It is the cabin of John Dean and Mary Nicely. John and Mary were ancestors of Nathaniel's wife Sarah Dean. They are my 5th great grandparents, they are Dennis' 4th great grandparents. This is what the site shared about this cabin in West Virginia:

"This is the house in which my fourth great grandparents, John Dean and Mary Knicely, lived. They were married January 12, 1787 in Rockingham County, Virginia. These were kindly provided by Jim Shelton, another descendant of John and Mary. Jim kindly provided the photographs and the following information, (November 2008):

"...Attached are a couple of pictures of the John Dean cabin that I had taken while we were there. The log cabin is in very good shape for its age. It had been sided and a tin roof put on it. The cabin was lived in by the Dean family for many years after old John had died [1813]. John Dean built the cabin in the 1790's. And at the time we were there, Dean Gap was owned by a Mr. Teeter...

John Dean was buired on the hillside over looking his cabin in Dean's Gap, along side his father-in-law, Anthony Knicely. There are two stones there marking their grave site. A distant cousin of mine was there 5-6 years ago and saw them. When we were there 3-4 years ago with him, it was so overgrown that we could not find them."

My research at this point does not go beyond John and Mary on the Dean family line. But I'm hopeful that with the new connection with this cousin and his connections that I may learn more about the Shelton/Dean lines.

Brick Wall #1 - Nathaniel Shelton...Who's your daddy?

A friend, who happens to be a professional genealogist, defined a brick wall as a "solvable problem." I like that definition, especially when I feel like I'll never get past a certain point.

Like this one. I'm hoping that by gathering my thoughts enough to write this post, I may notice something I had not before. If not, then I'm hoping that perhaps another person researching this family line will have a piece of the puzzle I do not.

His name was Nathaniel Shelton. He is my great-great grandfather. He's the one sitting in the chair. It's my understanding that the man standing next to him is his nephew. I can't confirm that becuase I have NO idea about Nathaniel's family of origin. What I would love to find out is who Nathaniel's father was.

According to his death certificate, Nathaniel was born 19 Feb. 1839. This is not sure since the 1900 Census lists the year as 1843. The death certificate says he was born in Kentucky, although census records say different at times. (No town names are ever mentinoed). He died in Memphis, Missouri.

The census records are a mystery. I have been unable to locate him for sure prior to 1870. I know that 2 of his wives names were Sarah, and the names of his children. That is how I am able to say for sure in 1870 that it is my Nathaniel.

1840 Federal Census

I haven't done much here becuase the only named individuals are heads of households, and I don't know Nathaniel's father's name.

1850 Federal Census: Illinois>Hancock>Warsaw Ward 1>page 21

Thomas Shelton, age 36

Marena Shelton, age 25

Nathaniel Shelton, age 12

Nancy E. Shelton, age 7

Stephen Shelton, age 1

This may be him--I don't know for sure. One of my problems is that I don't know his father's name. His death certificate names a "Samuel Shelton" from Kentucky as his father. His widow was the informant on the record, so she may not really know herself.

1860 Federal Census: Illinois>Hancock>Warsaw Ward 1>page 21

Thomas Shelton, age 45, teamster, born in Kentucky

Angeline Shelton, age 29, born in Tennesee

Nathaniel Shelton, age 21, farm laborer, born in Tennesee (actually used " beneath Angeline)

Nancy Shelton, age 15, born in Illinois

Martha E. Shelton, age 9, born in Illinois.

Oh how I wish they asked about relationships in these early records!!

1870 Federal Census: Illinois>Hancock>Township 4, Range 9>Page 4

Nathan Shelton, age 27, born in Illinois, farm hand

Sarah Ann, 22, born in Indiana, keeping house

Cora, 6/12, born in Illinois.

The ages are a bit off here for Nathaniel. If the 1860 Nathaniel were the same as this one, he would be about 31, not 27. But look 10 years later...

1880 Federal Census: Missouri>Scotland>Union>District 87>Page 15

Nathaniel, 35, farmer, born in Indiana, fathers birthplace Kentucky, mother's birthplace Germany

Sarah Shelton, 24, born in Iowa, father and mother born in Virginia

Cora Shelton, 11

Thomas Shelton, 6

Viola Shelton, 2

Kate Brown, 18, boarder, domestic servant

Now Nathaniel is listed as being 35. He should be either 41 or 37!

I know all the reasons why there could be errors here (uninformed informant, human errors, etc).

I do know that the 1870 and the 1880 Nathaniel's are the same person since I do have compiled family records from his wife Sarah Deen Shelton's side of the family, which has the same names of the children.

Also, this is the first time we see anything about a foreign born mother. Interesting....

1890 Federal Census: Veteran's Schedules

Nathaniel is listed here as a Civil War veteran. This confirms other military records I have. Unfortunately, the 1890 census records are largely lost.

1900 Federal Census: Missouri>Scotland>Union>District 149> Page 11

Shelton, Nathan, born 1843, age 57, born in Indiana, Father born in KY, mother in Penn.

Sarah F. Shelton, 1855, age 44, mother of 9, 7 still living born in Iowa, parents birthplaces unknown

Hettie S. Shelton, age 18

Molly Shelton, age 16

Ira Shelton, age 12

Samuel Shelton, age 10

Bennie Shelton, age 5

Ruth L. Shelton, age 1

Some thoughts on this one, the age would match up with the 1870 census. However, it doesn't jive with the 1850 record (assuming it is the same Nathaniel) If he was 57 in 1900, he would have been 7 in 1850....not 12. If he was 7 in 1850, Marena (who was then age 25), could certainly be his mother, having borne him at age 18.

Also, a German born mother, or one born in Pennsylania? There were a lot of German immigrants in Pennsylvania. Could be one or the other. But again, I have NO clue about Nathaniel's parentage. Does Marena sound German? Could be...

1910 Federal Census: Missouri>Scotland>Mt. Pleasant>District 154>page 13

Nathaniel S. Shleton, age 68, married 3x, born in Indiana, Father born in KY, mother in Penn, farmer.

Sarah F. Shelton, age 55, married 2x, mother of 10 children, 7 still living, born in Iowa, parents born in VA

Samuel Shelton, age 19, born in Missouri, father born in Indiana, mother born in Iowa

John B. Shelton, age 14, born in Missouri, father born in Indiana, mother born in Iowa

Ruth Lu Shelton, age 10, born in Missouri, father born in Indiana, mother born in Iowa

Nathaniel died on May 19, 1915 in Memphis, MO at the age of 76 (maybe). The informant on the death certificate was his wife of 35 years, Sarah. Information she gave about her husband for the certificate:

• Date of birth 19 Feb 1839
• His occupation was a teamster. (Strange since census records all say farmer)
• His birthplace was Kentucky (again, census records all say Indiana, except 1870, which says Illinois)
• His father's name was Samuel Shelton (first time we see this name)
• No birthplace of father or mother is listed, nor is mother's maiden name filled out.

After writing this over the past few hours are re-examining the census records, I've come to one hypothesis: Nathaniel's father was Thomas, his mother Marena. He was born in 1843. Thomas was born in KY, Marena in either Germany, or in Pennsyvania of German ancestry.

Of course, this all could be completely wrong. I suppose I now need to start researching Thomas Shelton (and Shelton's in general) in Kentucky??

My head is getting sore!