Person:Ralph Shelton (17)

Notes

24 Oct 1701 - Lewis Davis, 320 acres in King & Queen County, St. John's Parish, in Pamunkey Neck [see 1695 land grant] on John Davis' spring branch to the mouth in the Acquinton Swamp, to Thomas Herbert's corner, for importation of 7 persons, Lewis Davis & his wife Anne, John Pore, Elizabeth Dode, SARAH SHELTON, John Saxon, Thomas Coakes. [Cavaliers & Pioneers abstracts of Virginia Land Grants, 3:55, covering patent book 9:418]

[This record shows the importation of Sarah Shelton into King & Queen County. 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 could take as long as he wished to select land for his headright claim. If the Sarah Shelton listed is the same Sarah, who was the mother of Ralph Shelton and wife of Richard Gissage, then it shows she was a Shelton when she arrived.

If this is the correct Sarah Shelton, then where is son 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 existence 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.]

1702 - King William County was formed from King & Queen County.

1703. Thomas Beckley [Joseph?] of King and Queen, to John Waller of King William, gent., for whole and sole use of Ralph Shelton, son of Mrs. Sarah Gissedge, relict of Mr. Richard Gissedge, lately deceased. Mentions marriage, by Gods grace, speedily to be performed between Joseph Bickley and Sarah Gissedge (P. 81). [VMHB, 24:4 (1916):388–94]

1703-4. Major Joseph Bickley to John Waller, gent. Bond for two years schooling for Ralph Shelton, son of Mrs. Sarah Gissedge, widow (Book I, 177). [VMHB, 24:4 (1916):388–94]

30 Sep 1703 - Joseph Bickley posted bond for securing certain personal property on behalf of Ralph Shelton, a minor son of Sarah Gissage, whom he, Joseph Bickley, covenanted to marry. [Powell , Washington B. BICKLEY/BECKLEY FAMILY, 'William and Mary Quarterly (1) V, 1896, 124.]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} .

   [From a series of articles, apparently written by Thomas H. Ellis, which appeared in THE AMHERST (VA) ENTERPRISE in 1879.]
   
   Ralph Shelton was born in King and Queen County 25 Sep 1698, his sponsors in baptism being Vincent Inge, Ralph Pea and Lydia Searcy.
   
   Mr. Ellis states that he was the son of Richard Gissage and his wife, Sarah, and that the child, for reasons unknown, took the maiden name of his mother.
   
   Colonel Bell examines the possibilities of Ralph's birth and concludes that 'the scenario which would seem to mechanically best fit the known circumstances is that Ralph was born out of wedlock. [Bell, 35]
   
   This is probably true, but emotionally it seems an unsatisfactory explanation. That he would marry an unmarried woman with a child seems unlikely. Is it possible that Sarah Shelton's husband died on the passage to Virginia or even soon after arrival, perhaps leaving her a pregnant widow?
   
   Ralph must have been about five years old when his father, or step-father, died, and we have no evidence that Ralph was mentioned in the Gissage will. Would primogeniture have been a factor? According to a study by C. Ray Keim, promogeniture, like many English customs and institutions, went through a period of change after reaching Virginia, before being abolished altogether.
   [Keim, C. Ray, PRIMOGENITURE AND ENTAIL IN COLONIAL VIRGINIA, 'William and Mary Quarterly', 3, XXV, 1968, 54]
   
   He says, '... during the first century of the Virginia colony the status of primogeniture and entail remained substantially that set in England during the reign of Henry VIII ... the bulk of lands in England could be devised by will, yet the law of primogeniture held in all cases of intestacy ...' This, however, was not a case of intestacy. Was it decided by Sarah Gissage after her husband's death that Ralph would henceforward be known by the name of his father, Sarah's first husband? Joseph Bickley undertook to guarantee his schooling, which would seem unnecessary if he had inherited from Richard Gissage. It seems impossible at this time to ascertain the facts. At any event, the child was referred to shortly after Richard Gissage's death as Ralph Shelton, and so he was known through-out his life.
   
   He married, 05 Dec 1721, Mary Pollard, dau of Robert Pollard, Gent., of King William Co. Their children (surname Shelton) were:
   
   Elizabeth, b 16 Aug 1724, m Joseph Whitlock.
   Mary, b 01 Aug 1726, m Henry Gosney, had 4 ch.
   Richard, b 14 Aug 1728, m Mary Wright, had 12 ch.
   Jane, b 23 May 1730.
   William, b 03 Nov 1732.
   John, b 25 Apr 1734.
   [There is information on several of these lines in the articles by Mr. Ellis]
   
   Ralph Shelton's will, dated 01 Jan 1743, was admitted to probate in King William Co, 21 Mar 1744. His 'loving brother John Bickley' was appointed executor, and his wife and children were mentioned by name. In only one instance did Mr. Ellis confuse the records of the two Ralph Sheltons. He mentions a land patent of 20 Sep 1745, for 400 acres in Amelia Co, on the north side of the Great Notoway River, which he believed was land of the Ralph Shelton born in King & Queen Co, recorded after his death. It was, rather, land of the Ralph Shelton who married Mary Daniell [sic], as pointed out above.

2.   “Extracts from King William County Records. Book XI.”, in Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. (Richmond, Virginia: Virginia Historical Society)
   24:4 (1916):388–94.

   [see also: ABSTRACTS OF KING WILLIAM RECORD BOOKS, Nos. 1 & 2 and part of No. 3, 1702-1795, 199, Binder #1, Archives and Records Division, LVA.]