Person:Moses Shelby (2)

Information on Moses Shelby

Moses Shelby was born 05 May 1728 in Tregaron, Cardiganshire, Wales, and died 13 Oct 1776 in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He married Isabel Alexander, daughter of William Alexander and Agnes Alexander. She probably died in 1780 in Cabarrus County, North Carolina.

On May 4, 1744, his father, Evan, turned over to Moses a fifty-acre parcel of land called "Hunt's Cabin," located a short distance from the right bank of Licking Creek about eight or nine miles southwest of Evan’s home, Maiden's Choice, which places it in present day Washington County, Maryland. However, about 1760, Moses and his family joined the great exodus to the south, going to South Carolina. The slight information we have on this move indicates that they may have settled near the sea coast below the Santee River, near Charleston. Whether Moses found the climate or the soil of South Carolina unsuitable, was offered better inducements, or what, we don’t know but we do know that two years later, on June 2 1762, he bought a sizeable piece of land on "the waters of Clear Creek," a branch of Rocky River, in Anson County, North Carolina. His sister, Mary, and her husband, Adam Alexander, had already relocated to this area.

The court minutes in Mecklenburg, over the next several years, contain many references to the “orphans” of Moses Shelby. It is not known for sure what happened to Isabel after Moses’ death. Some think she followed him in death in 1780. However, there is an interesting entry in the court records of nearby Cabarrus County that states: "The last Will of testament of Isable Craton was proved in Apr Court by the Oath of E. Speiars. . . .Isable CRATAIN dec'd. Daughter, Mary WILEY, bequeathed a woman slave, was to be sold after being valued by Robert COCHRAN.” Moses’ and Isabel’s oldest daughter, Mary, married Oliver Wiley so it is quite possible that the Isabel Craton that is mentioned is the widow of Moses Shelby.

Source: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~beckenbachsimons/mosesshelby1.htm