This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Shelton, Merritt Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/wNHBAIB/2681.1 Message Board Post: Joseph and Permelia (aka Arminta) were my third great grandparents through their daughter Mary M. Shelton Miller. Arminta is the name that came down through the family. My father was scheduled to be named for his mother's grandmother (Arminta Jane Miller) who was named for her grandmother, Arminta Merritt Shelton. However, in her father's War of 1812 pension file, she is listed as Permelia and in his probate record she is called Amelian?! Her father, Edward Merritt, came from Stokes County, North Carolina to Grainger County, Tennessee where he raised his family. In 1857, he gathered those who were willing to move and went to Doniphan County Kansas, where he died in 1866. There were Sheltons in Stokes County, and Joseph may come from one of these lines, but I have never been able to establish a firm connection. John Shelton is the only man listed in the 1840 census of Grainger County with a male in the household of the age to be Joseph, but he doesn't show up in the 1830 census, and the only Shelton man who does, Eli Shelton, has no male in the household the right age. Joseph was consistent in listing his birthplace as Tennessee, but even if I ignore that and look in Stokes County, NC, there are too many possibilities. For the record, Joseph and Permelia were among the party who went to Kansas. Permelia Arminta died in Elwood, Doniphan County in 1904. Joseph died in Burr Oak, Doniphan County in 1913. I have a great deal of information on their Kansas descendents which I would be happy to share if you are interested.