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The Sheltons

 A man named Ralph Shelton showed up in the Virginia Colony around 1700. He had a lot of kids, and those kids had a lot of kids, and now 10 generations later untold thousands of modern Americans descend from ol’ Ralph. And that includes me; Ralph Shelton is my 8th great-grandfather.

The descendents of Ralph Shelton were deeply entwined in colonial life, the American Revolution, and the westward expansion of the United States. Writing a history of the Sheltons in America would be the work of a proper historian, not me. This sketch is intended to help me organize my own understanding of this line of my ancestors, and where possible to provide some links to more complete and definitive information.

Tracing the history of colonial and early Americans is a tedious business of piecing together property sales, spotty church records, handwritten wills and assorted other sources in hopes of making some semblance of sense of it all. One of the benefits of Ralph Shelton’s huge progeny is that this work has been done, published, vetted and refined over the years by hundreds of his descendents, and is now readily available. None of what follows is the result of my own research. In my case I’m particularly indebted to my mother, who documented our family’s links to the Sheltons in the first place. I’ve included some references at the end of this note with sources of further information.

More Information

  • Books I Don't Have
    • The Shelton Trek Across Kentucky: The History of the Jeremiah Shelton Family of Kentucky and Missouri, by Kenneth A. Shelton, 1987
    • Shelton County - A Genealogy of Pittsylvania County's Largest Family, by April Miller, 1992
    • Ralph Shelton of Middlesex County, Virginia, by Kenyon Stevenson, 2002
    • The Sheltons Lineal Descendants from Ancient, Medieval & Modern Kings & from Fifteen Sureties for the Magna Charta by Kathryn Morris Brown, 1981
    • The Sheltons of England & America, by Mildred C. Whitaker, 1941

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