In a dark corner of our genealogy files all of us Thomas Shiles ancestor have this file hidden away. To embarrassed to let it see the light of day. Levy list of Somerset County -- 1724 Merrick Ellis for Ann Shiles for fornication -- 600 (Citizens of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, 1659-1750 By F. Edward Wright) This leaves the questions: Who was Ann Shiles and did she really fornicate? Who was Ann? Lets assume it was MISS Ann Shiles: Merrick Ellis was married to Alice Elzey(1690-1740), Alice and her mother, Major Waller(1664- ), were namesakes of Alice Elzey's grandmother Alice Major whose second marriage was to Thomas Shiles, the emigrant Shiles. Thomas Shiles left two sons, Thomas Shiles Jr. and John Shiles. If the age of fornication is roughly 16-30 years of age, Ann would be born in the ~1694-1708 range. This would make her a as of yet undocumented daughter of either Thomas Shiles Jr. or John Shiles. Lets assume it was Mrs. Ann Shiles: Then she and and her husband might have been Quakers. After 1700 the Church of England hijacked civic affairs, and Quakers were uncooperative. Ann may have been accused of fornication for not registering her marriage with the church. Her husband, of course, would not be accused. In 1660 Thomas Shiles, the emigrant grandfather, was apprehended as a Quaker and sentenced to receive 20 stripes on his bare back. Prospective husband---Thomas Shiles III, son Thomas Shiles Jr.. Thomas Shiles III was noted as " gone to Carolina" in the 1755 Worchester Debt Book. Thomas Shiles, acquires land in Chatham Co. NC in 1762. In 1773, Thomas Shiles and ANN SHILES sell land in Edgefield SC awarded by Gov. Charles Montagu conceivably for service during the Cherokee War. Captain Thomas Shiles returns to Somerset and in 1775 testified in court about a confrontation with a Loyalist militia. Bests, Glenn