This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/wNHBAIB/3000.1.2.1 Message Board Post: I am sorry but I cannot help you with this family. I know absolutely nothing about them. All that I know about Sheltons in Lunenburg County, VA, is that James Shelton, son of Ralph Shelton, d. 1733, Middlesex County, VA, settled in Lunenburg in the 1760s and his will was proven there in 1798 with an inventory of his estate done in 1799.. He had children as follows: daughter named Rachel who married Aaron Quisenberry daughter named Henrietta who married her cousin, Young Shelton, and moved to Pittsylvania County, VA. son named Benjamin married Anne "Nancy" Hurt and moved to Pittsylvania County, VA. daughter named Caty who married a man whose surname was Mason a son named Stephen a son named David married Elizabeth Shields and lived in Pittsylvania County, VA a son named Thomas moved into North Carolina I do not know where Stephen lived -- whether he stayed in Lunenburg County or also followed his brothers in moving on; however, the following census records imply that he remained in Lunenburg County since the name "Stephen" appears throughout these families in the following years.. Since I have easy access to U. S. census records, I checked the 1880 listing for Sandy Shelton, age 22, making him born in 1858. The head of the household in which he is living is Ellen A. Shelton, age 45 years with, as you stated, a sister named Mollie. I then checked the 1870 census for Ellen Shelton and found her to be the wife of William T. Shelton, b. 1830 in Virginia, and living in his household was a man, John Shelton, age 72 years, born in Virginia, whom one would assume was William's father. Also in the household was a son named Stephen A. Shelton, age 12 yrs and b. in 1858, the same year as the Sandy Shelton of the 1880 census. I rather suspect "Sandy" was Stephen A. Shelton's nickname. In the 1860 census William heads a household with Ellen as his wife and son Emmett, age 5 yrs; son William, age 3 yrs; son John, age 2 yrs; and a woman named Sabith Lester, age 60 years whom one might speculate was Ellen's mother. I did not find William in the 1850 Lunenburg County, VA, census; however, I found the household of John W. Shelton, age 55 years and b. in 1795 in Virginia with resident in his household Stephen Shelton b. 1827, Nancy Shelton b. 1831 and Lewelling Shelton b. 1837. John's wife was obviously deceased and he appears to be the John living in the household of William Shelton in the 1870 census.