Hello, I am new to this list. I have been doing genealogy very actively since 1977, but went on hiatus for a little more than a year due to personal difficulties. I am slowly trying to get back into it. I hope that you can help me with the following major brick wall in my family. In an effort to identify the wives of Shadrack Wilbanks, I am going to begin searching the neighbors and associates of Shadrack Wilbanks. Thank you most sincerely, Robert M. Wilbanks IV Scottsdale, Arizona Were your ancestors neighbors with, or in any way associated with, Shadrack Wilbanks? If they were, I desperately would like to hear from you. If Shadrack Wilbanks appears in any way in records associated with your family, whether as a witness, purchaser of land or items at an estate sale, neighbor on a deed, etc., please, please contact me. A number of us are desperately searching for the identity of the wives of Shadrack Wilbanks. If Shadrack appears in any records or references with your ancestors, there may be a relationship factor to consider. Especially if you have a missing female relative in your family tree. If your missing female relative could possibly tie in with the information below, then let me know. Take note of the following information about Shadrack Wilbanks and his wives, as well as where he resided. For a more detailed account of Shadrack, please contact me. Shadrack Wilbanks was born circa 1785 in Union County, South Carolina to William Woolbanks-Wilbanks and Abarilla Gos(t)wick. This family appears to have lived near Cross Keys, along branches of either the Tyger or Enoree Rivers. They were strongly associated with the Padgett's Creek Baptist Church, having been a founding family of the church. Through this church Shadrack became a minister. Shadrack married his first wife circa 1803 in Union District. She was born circa 1784-1794 (according to the 1810 and 1820 census). The 1880 census shows her children indicating that their mother was born in South Carolina. One belief is that Shadrack's first wife might have been a woman named Susan/Susannah. However, there is absolutely nothing that can support this. In fact, it is highly probable that this name was drawn from a record in which Shadrack and Susannah appeared together along with other Wilbankses, including Shadrack's brother Marshall. Then another document, discovered later, proved that this Susan/Susannah was the wife of Shadrack's brother Marshall. It is further believed that Shadrack and his first wife may have divorced. Again, there is absolutely nothing to support this belief. We can show that Shadrack was married secondly to a woman named Jane. Her name is clearly recorded in the 1850 and 1860 census and identifies her as born in South Carolina in 1799/1800. This is supported by the 1830 and 1840 census where the oldest female is found too young to be Shadrack's first wife, but is just the right age to be Jane. Therefore, it appears that Shadrack lost his first wife and then married Jane sometime between 1820 and 1830. With a birth date of 1800, Jane cannot be the same woman identified in the 1810 and 1820 census, and she is far too young to be the mother of most of Shadrack's children. Shadrack's known children by one or both wives are as follows: James (b.1810), Hezekiah (b.1817), Thomas (b.1813), John W. (b.1818-1821), Elizabeth (b.1816), Lucinda (b.1815-1820), Mary "Polly" (b.1815-1820), Margaret (b.1820-1825), Mahalia (b.1820-1825), and William James. Shadrack lived in Union County/District, South Carolina from his birth in 1785 until just before 1820. It is possible that Shadrack and his first wife migrated from Union District to Pendleton District, South Carolina as early as 1811/1812. He owned land along Six and Twenty Creek. In 1826 the portion of Pendleton District that Shadrack lived in became Anderson District. Remember, it was sometime in the 1820s that Shadrack lost his first wife and married Jane as his second wife. These events could have taken place in Pendleton/Anderson, unless Shadrack met Jane on a trip back to Union. Shadrack Wilbanks was a licensed minister when he represented the Hopewell Baptist Church in Anderson County on various occasions from 1829 through 1858. In about 1859 Shadrack took his family to Sand Mountain, in Marshall and Dekalb Counties, Alabama. Shadrack lived in Marshall County, right on the line with Dekalb County, where his sons James and John lived. Shadrack's family were very active members of the "Old" Macedonia Baptist Church in Dekalb County. Jane died between 1860 and 1870 and was buried in this church's cemetery, as were Shadrack and several others of his children and grandchildren. Shadrack died in early 1879. Again, we are desperate to identify who these women were that Shadrack married. In more than 50 years of extensive research of the Wil(l)banks family, including the last 25 years by me, and a number of other individuals, no records clearly identify Shadrack's wives. The clue may appear in records of his neighbors and associates. You may be a descendant of these neighbors and associates and so may have some helpful information. I will greatly appreciate hearing from you. Thank you, Robert M. Wilbanks IV Scottsdale, Arizona