Re: Ralph Shelton,b.1685 in VA

Hello,

I am sending you and others interested in this line a message (copy/paste) sent to a mailing list for the surname SHELTON at [email protected] Shelton, the author of this message is an excellent, knowledgable researcher:

Subject: Sarah Shelton Gissege Bickley
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1999 22:05:19 +0000
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]

To descendents of Sarah Shelton Gissege Bickley & son Ralph

I don't know to what degree anyone is aware of data regarding Richard Gissedge or Joseph Bickley or the details around Sarah Shelton's arrival(?) in Virginia, but the following records may be of interest:

1)Cavaliers & Pioneers abstracts of Virginia Land Grants, p.187 vol II, covering patent book no. 6 : Thomas Carter, 1000 acres in New Kent County, VA, St. Stephen's Parish, dated 1 June 1678, book page 651, land is bound by branches of Apostecoque Creek & Timber Branch, Mr. Richardson by Cheescake
Path, in sight of Abbot's plantation, by GIZAGE'S line, to Maj William Wyatt, to Mr. Bird's path....

2) ibid, p. 255, for patent book 7 : Mr. Thomas Plunkett, 582 acres in New Kent Co, St. Stephen's Parish, dated 16 Apr 1683, original page 238, bound by RICHARD GIZAGE, by Richason's (or Richardson as above) line, by Chescurack (or Cheescake above) Path, Nicholas Abbot to William Burch (or possibly Bird as above)...

3) In 1691, King & Queen County is formed in a redistrict of lands from New Kent County, and Richard Gizage (Gissedge) is rezoned in King & Queen.

4) ibid, p. 3, vol III, covering patent book 9 : Col Richard Johnson, 3285 acres in King & Queen County in Pamunkey Neck on both sides of Goodwin or Monkewin Swamp, next above Thomas Bray, RICHARD GISSEDGE & James Minge, dated 25 Oct 1695,

NOTE : the preceeding 3 entries were for the importation of individuals whose names are also provided.They are, in part, lengthy & didn't seem relevant, however, you should really get copies of the originals from the patent books & see if some other ties are 'explained'.

This places Richard Gissege / Gissedge as being born prior to 1657 realistically to be a landowner in right by June 1678.This would make him most likely in his 40's or more around the time of his marriage to Sarah Shelton, and being a landowner for at least 22 years prior, she is most likely a second or more marriage.

5) ibid, p. 55, vol. III, covering patent book 9 : Lewis Davis, 320 acres in King & Queen County, St. John's Parish, in Pamunkey Neck (see 4 above) on John Davis' spring branch to the mouth in the Acquinton Swamp, to Thomas Herbert's corner, dated 24 oct 1701, original book page 418, for importation of 7 persons, Lewis Davis & his wife Anne, John Pore, Elizabeth Dode, SARAH
SHELTON, John Saxon, Thomas Coakes.

This record would appear to record the importation of Sarah Shelton into King & Queen County, with her importer Lewis Davis (who was a financier or ship owner apparently since he claims headright on himself & wife as well as the other 5 persons).The time of recording is set at 24 Oct 1701.The actual
importation date is indeterminate based on this single record -- it could be as little as 1 month prior or as long as a decade or more.Davis would have had the importation headright claim, but he could have taken as long as he wished to select the tract of land he wished to cash it in on.Of note, however, is that Sarah SHELTON is listed -- she would have been a SHELTON at importation IF this is the same Sarah, mother of Ralph Shelton.

If this is the correct Sarah Shelton, then where is Ralph you might ask -- interesting question.It is possible that he was also imported & Davis simply didn't need to cash in the headright -- I think this is a low probability, though, since he cashed in his own & his wife's claims and would have presumably kept those to last as they are easiest to prove and simplest to keep track of.Sarah could have gotten pregnant prior to or during the voyage over, with the husband dying prior to or in route -- this was not uncommon.
The surviving accounts of the passage to America is mostly that people were crammed in the holds of ships for weeks, had to live mostly off what food they took with them, & any sickness on the ship spread very quickly.If the child's existance was not really known or born yet, then Davis may have not known he had a headright claim thereto.A third possibility is that Ralph is a bastard child.I think this is also an unlikely possibility because such an action often carried a bit of a stigma unless the father married the mother -- and then the child typically took the father's name.Widowhood carried no stigma at all.As we recall from the school bonds for Ralph Shelton, it is noted that Joseph Bickley was a Major in the militia and, after his death, one of his sons inherited a titled estate back in England through his father -- given
the social standing of Bickley & the longstanding landowner standing of Gissedge, I would think it is a low probability that either would have married a woman with a bastard child in that particular time and social environment.

6) 1702 : King William County is formed in a redistrict from lands out of King & Queen County, and is thus a grandchild county of New Kent.

7) King William County records (I overlooked writing down the citation, but I believe most are familiar with it -- they are the ones in the only book on King William & were printed in the William & Mary Quarterly), dated 1702, Richard Wall of Bristoll, Merchant, power of atty. to friend William Noyes, witnessed by William Holliday & RICHARD GISSEDGE.

8) ibid, the King William entries regarding the schooling bond for Ralph Shelton, dated 1703 & 1704 mentioning that Richard Gissedge is dead by 1703, Sarah Gissedge married him, & Ralph Shelton is her son, & that Joseph Bickley is a Major.

9) Caviliers & Pioneers, vol. III, p. 91 : William Aylett, 1000 acres in Essex County, south side of Rappahannock River, ...., dated 24 Oct 1704, original book pg. 640, for transporation of 20 persons, .... JOSEPH BICKLEY .... (other names are not of any particular importance to me, however, again I would suggest you look at them if interested & maybe there is a surprise there).

Again, a date of 24 Oct 1704 does not mean that is when the importation took place, & as we can see by the King William records, Joseph Bickley was in the colony by 1702.This is simply the date by which time the claimant had looked over the area, picked out the land he wanted, gotten a survey done on the tract, gotten the survey paperwork certified and taken it to the county clerk & paid the entry fee : which, again, could be 1 month or 1 year or 10 years or whatever -- it just says that importation occurred sometime BEFORE that date.

What is also interesting is that Hanover was created out of New Kent as well in 1721, so if we were to really be accurate, the Rural Plains line at the time of 1700 was in New Kent County then.Unfortunately, that little bit of info doesn't really help anyone looking at either of these lines --- Hanover burned, King & Queen burned, King William burned & a large part of New Kent burned as well : 0/4 on completeness.However, it does open up more avenues of exploration on the early records : I would also suggest looking at York County since it is the parent of New Kent which was formed in 1654.In addition, Gloucester was formed in 1651 from York as well.It is possible that during these early years of 1650 - 1700, legal documents may have been filed in the nearest courthouse vice the one of residence, which could have
been one of the other counties for some branches of the families.

I can provide copies of these to anyone interested, or you can certainly obtain the Virginia Caviliers & Pioneers series in most libries with a geneology section of any size : it is a very popular early record series & for these burned counties, is often the only land records in existance.