I just learned yesterday of the "History of Shelby County, Texas" written about 1850 by Dr. Levi Henderson Ashcraft. For some reason it was never published and though there is no date on the record regarding when it was written, it is presumed to be in the early 1850's. It has not been microfilmed. Does anyone have a copy of this record which was published by Ericson Books in Nacogdoches, TX in 1998 (175 pages)? Since Dr Ashcraft did his work BEFORE the 1882 burning of the Shelby County Courthouse, I am wondering if he by chance included mention of marriages from the early Shelby Co, period (1836 - 1850)? Hoping someone has a copy. Isabelle Cluff Mesa, AZ

I am happy to announce that Dixon Cemetery and Weaver Cemetery have been added the cemetery page on Shelby Co., TX GenWeb page. Links for these cemeteries are: http://www.flash.net/~parino/cem_dixon.htm & http://www.flash.net/~parino/cem_weaver.htm Hopefully Whiteside Grave(s)/Cemetery will also be added. The link for it is: http://www.flash.net/~parino/cem_whiteside.htm I also have a partial listing from the 1900 Shelby Co. Census. It covers part of the area around Weaver. The link for it is: http://www.flash.net/~parino/census_txshelby1900.txt I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Let's all work together to share our data. Jim Barrett

To revisit my wish that Shelby County land deeds were abstracted--Yes, I think it would be a big job, and it would need to be done by very careful people. I can suggest a place where some information might be obtained about how to go about it. I have bought several books from TLC Genealogy (And, yes, I think that TLC stands for Tender Loving Care.) They appear to be a group of several individuals who abstract the genealogical information from deeds, wills, court orders, etc. All names are listed. If it is a land deed, all neighboring owners to the land, if listed on the deed, are given. This company might have a "how to do it" sheet. It would be to their advantage to have one to sell. They do many books in the area of Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and other states You can go to their website at www.tlcgenealogy.com Their e-mail is [email protected] Surface mail is PO Box 403369, Miami Beach, FL 33140-1369 Their phone number for ordering is 1-800-858-8558. FAX is 305-531-1158

THE SOCIETY DECIDED TO TAKE NAMES OF INTERESTED INDIVIDUALS IN THE HISTORY OF SHELBY COUNTY BOOK. EMAIL THEM OR PHONE. IF THEY CAN GET 100 INTERESTED PEOPLE THAT ARE WILLING TO PREPAY IF THE BOOK IS REPRINTED, THEN THE SOCIETY WILL CONSIDER CONTACTING THE PUBLISHER FOR REPRINTING. ESTIMATED COST IS $100 PLUS FOR 100 BOOKS. SO FAR WE HAVE AROUND 12 NAMES. SHELBY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY POBOX 1542 CENTER, TX 75935 CONTACT: JOHN WARNER

The History Book of Shelby County has been sold out since early 1998. The Shelby County Historical Society does not plan on reprinting the book at this time due to costs and quantity needed for reprint. However contact the Shelby County Historical Society if you wish for further genealogy research assistance. They can be contacted by email at [email protected] or by going to their web site www.panola.cc.tx.us/~schs Contact Nancy McLeroy, Becky Yates, Chris Mahan, Joy Shealy or Reba James for further assistance. Presently the Society is undertaking fundraising and restoration of the Museum building which houses their collections. Other projects include archiving and numbering and displaying objects in a educational and informative manner. Volunteers are needed to assist. Contact Connie Hodges, Becky Yates or Ray Jackson for further information.

For those intrested i "Shelby County History", it seems to me that Shelby Coynty Museum was talking about a new printing a feww months ago. Their e-mail is [email protected] Dan

I too am interested in a copy of the history book. Please pass answers to the list. Thank you so much. Tonya Aultman-Harris [email protected] Researching: Aultman (AR, TX, MS),Cox (TX, OK), Parker (LA, TX), Peyton (MS) Help pay for your research (and mine) with AllAdvantage.com ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 1999 5:24 PM Subject: Re: TXSHELBY-D Digest V99 #164 > Does anyone know what it would involve to do such a job? I'm sure many man > (or woman) hours are involved; however, I am curious how one would start such > a project. Perhaps if the parameters were outlined, someone would volunteer > or a position could be created to do this.... > > Also, I am desperately seeking a copy of the History of Shelby County book. > If anyone knows of a copy I can buy, I would love to do so for my father's > Christmas present (he has wanted one for years). Thanks for the help! > >

I appreciate Charlene Walker Brazell's input on re-recording land deeds after the courthouse burned in 1882. I am particularly interested in early Shelby County marriage records from the the time the county was created to 1855. Each time I ask about marriage records for that period I have been told "the courhouse burned" thus the interest to quiere more deeply to discover if any charred, blackened or sooty records survived. Yes, abstracting the land deeds prior to 1900 would be a wonderful gift also. Isabelle Cluff Mesa, AZ -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] <[email protected]> To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Date: Wednesday, December 08, 1999 1:41 PM Subject: TXSHELBY-D Digest V99 #164

Does anyone know what it would involve to do such a job? I'm sure many man (or woman) hours are involved; however, I am curious how one would start such a project. Perhaps if the parameters were outlined, someone would volunteer or a position could be created to do this.... Also, I am desperately seeking a copy of the History of Shelby County book. If anyone knows of a copy I can buy, I would love to do so for my father's Christmas present (he has wanted one for years). Thanks for the help!

About the burned records in the Courthouse. As everyone probably knows, when a land deed is recorded at the courthouse, the clerk simply makes a copy of the deed in a ledger and returns the original deed to the land owner. That owner then takes the deed home or places it in a safe deposit box. (Just as a side note here: An early day clerk making a hand written copy of a handwritten deed goes a long way toward explaining why a name may be spelled three different ways on a record.) After Shelby County's courthouse burned, many--maybe all--landowners took their deeds back in to be recorded again. The courthouse burned in 1882, but my family found helpful deeds that were executed in 1870. A family of adult children made land divisions among themselves of land from their deceased parents. That was proof of who the children of the family were. After the fire, they rerecorded their land deeds. That is not as good as finding extant records, but this is to let you know that some land deed records are older than 1882. Personally, I think it would be a wonderful project for the historical societies to abstract the land deeds prior to 1900 Charlene Walker Brazell

--part1_0.4b9b72a3.257daa0a_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Jane Sanford Keppler Conroe, TX --part1_0.4b9b72a3.257daa0a_boundary Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Disposition: inline Return-Path: <[email protected]> Received: from rly-zc02.mx.aol.com (rly-zc02.mail.aol.com [172.31.33.2]) by air-zc02.mail.aol.com (vx) with ESMTP; Mon, 06 Dec 1999 12:01:35 -0500 Received: from mx0-smtp.goodnet.com (sloth.goodnet.com [207.98.129.103]) by rly-zc02.mx.aol.com (v66.4) with ESMTP; Mon, 06 Dec 1999 12:01:19 -0500 Received: from pavilion (d6-15.phoenix.goodnet.com [209.140.135.80]) by mx0-smtp.goodnet.com with SMTP id KAA10893 for <[email protected]>; Mon, 6 Dec 1999 10:01:13 -0700 (MST) Reply-To: "Isabelle Cluff" <[email protected]> From: "Isabelle Cluff" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Subject: Question Date: Mon, 6 Dec 1999 10:15:09 -0700 Message-ID: <[email protected]> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 4.71.1712.3 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.71.1712.3 Content-Language: en Jane, We have corresponded before and I thank you so very much for your continued service to Shelby County Family History. Recently I have read several accounts of persons needing records from US counties where the courthouse burned and these individual (researchers) had the courage to ask "did any of the records survive?" or "what happened to the records when it burned". To their UTTER AMAZEMENT, the court clerk said they were the first person who had ever asked and in both cases (two different counties) they were told that some of the charred records had survived in a blackened condition. Has anyone ever checked to see if ANY (even a few or part) of the Shelby County records survived when the courthouse burned????? I would appreciate knowing. Perhaps some of the old charred records still exist somewhere. Hoping you will know the answer to my question or give me a phone number or email address where I may quiere. Sincerely, Isabelle Cluff Mesa, AZ --part1_0.4b9b72a3.257daa0a_boundary--

Anyone recognize this family? Please reply to the sender, not me. Tonya Aultman-Harris [email protected] Researching: Aultman (AR, TX, MS),Cox (TX, OK), Parker (LA, TX), Peyton (MS) Help pay for your research (and mine) with AllAdvantage.com ----- Original Message ----- From: Dean Crocker <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 1999 11:05 AM Subject: [CROCKER-L] Help Needed > Subject: Crockers > To: [email protected], [email protected] > > Hello My name is Susan Crocker Muller. My grandfather was > John Cary Crocker, born: January 19, 1877, died: May 14, 1960 > --- married Alvieradar (Francis) Fultz, born: April 29, 1886, died: > May 19, 1974. They lived in Center, Texas. I, at this point do not > know where he was born - probably Texas, however, I plan on > finding out. My father was L. D. (Cecil L.) Crocker, born: February > 13, 1911, in or close to Center Texas. > > I remember my father at one time saying he has or did have relatives > in Troy, Alabama. Any information you have would be greatly > appreciated. > > Susan Muller > >

The Walker Cemetery, Shelby County Texas, is now on line. quick view http://www.rootsweb.com/~txshelby/cem_walker.htm Ray Jackson [email protected] Shelby County Texas Rootsweb Coordinator

--part1_0.1c3c3cc1.257a8caf_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Jane Sanford Keppler Conroe, TX --part1_0.1c3c3cc1.257a8caf_boundary Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Disposition: inline Return-path: [email protected] From: [email protected] Full-name: Hhubble Message-ID: <[email protected]> Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 15:44:23 EST Subject: Hubble family To: [email protected] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Windows AOL sub 54 Seeking information on John Hubble, private Republic of Texas Army 1836 from Shelby Co. Texas. Thanks Hilbert Hubble --part1_0.1c3c3cc1.257a8caf_boundary--

William Thomas Parker was born in York County, North Carolina in the year of 1796. He died in Shelby County, Texas Oct. 28 1886. He was laid to rest on the home place. Just where that is I do not know. He married Elizabeth Reed of York County, N.C. December 1818. They had (3) children. Names I will give later if you want.In the year of 1845 he married Nancy Barton Fisher widow of William Smith. As far as I know they had no children. William Thomas and Nancy had (6) children. Will name them at a later time if you need them. She passed away Abt. 1880 in Shelby County, Texas. At the age of 90 he married a Drecella J Wiggans. They lived together for 10 months before he passed away., I just hope that it is not in the geans for I am 67 years old and older than dirt. I do hope that has helped you. I will give you the rest if it will help you. Happy Trails Don H. Finley ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, November 29, 1999 10:45 PM Subject: Looking for Hoopers & Mays > I am researching my family lineage in Shelby and Panola Counties and could > really use your help. My line includes Hoopers (Richard & Isabella, and their > sons John Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, to name a few) as well as > Cockrells, May and Parker. > > In particular, I am trying to gather information on the following: Thomas > Parker (served in Major Truitts company and was the second husband of Nancy > Richerson Smith) and Linnie May Ryesinger (I have also see her listed as > Lillie). Any help is greatly appreciated! > >

I was visiting the Ancestry.com site, searching for some distant kin through the William Richards & Catherine Burch Richards family, and downloaded a GEDCOM file that had the couple that I was looking for, and among the many names in the file, there is a: W. G. ROSS, whose wife was MARIE SWEETIE WHITESIDE, b. Nov. 7, 1894, and showed that they had no children. This datebase showed that the parents of Marie Sweetie WHITESIDE ROSS were: James Monroe "Stark" Whiteside Jr., b. 7-3-1852, d. 6-19-1920 and Martha Jane Dillon, b. 9-28-1856, d. 3-24-1925. Both died in Timpson, Shelby Co., TX. Anyone out there have any ROSS info, as to let me know if the above W. G. ROSS, might have been related to William Henry Ross, b. ca 1815, d. ca 1862, who was mar. in MS 1-25-1838, to Mary Elizabeth Wilson, b. 1821. William Henry Ross & wife Mary Elizabeth Wilson, had a daughter named Amanda Ross, b. 9-20-1849, d. 6-27-1875, who mar. William M. Golden. These families settled in or near Shelby Co., TX Thanks, Sallie Cannon

--part1_0.d25badd5.25775cf6_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Jane Sanford Keppler Conroe, TX --part1_0.d25badd5.25775cf6_boundary Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Disposition: inline Return-path: [email protected] From: [email protected] Full-name: Hhubble Message-ID: <[email protected]> Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 15:44:23 EST Subject: Hubble family To: [email protected] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Windows AOL sub 54 Seeking information on John Hubble, private Republic of Texas Army 1836 from Shelby Co. Texas. Thanks Hilbert Hubble --part1_0.d25badd5.25775cf6_boundary--

I am researching my family lineage in Shelby and Panola Counties and could really use your help. My line includes Hoopers (Richard & Isabella, and their sons John Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, to name a few) as well as Cockrells, May and Parker. In particular, I am trying to gather information on the following: Thomas Parker (served in Major Truitts company and was the second husband of Nancy Richerson Smith) and Linnie May Ryesinger (I have also see her listed as Lillie). Any help is greatly appreciated!

In the listing for Bethel Cemetery, on the Shelby Co. GenWeb site I find: Maidie Delanie Downing b. 08-28-1900 d. 05-28-1999 and Langston Lunsford b. 03-06-1922 d. 05-18-1999. Maidie was my wife's great aunt. We had expected her to be buried at Mount Bethel Cemetery. I asked my brother-in-law and his wife, they live near Bethel to check it out. Sure enough they didn't fine Maidie in Bethel. While there they decided to check on Langston as he was the only other burial listed for Bethel in 1999. They didn't find him either. We went to Timpson for Thanksgiving and I did a little checking of my own. I found Maidie Delanie Downing, buried right next to her husband in Mount Bethel Cemetery on FM 999 just south of Gary in Panola Co. One of my sisters-in-law thought Langston could have been buried at Bethel Cemetery in Nacogdoches Co. so I went down there. Sure enough Langston Lunsford is buried beside his wife in Bethel Cemetery, Bethel Baptist Church, Appleby, Nacogdoches Co., TX at the end of FM 941. Maidie has a funeral home marker from Mangum and Langston has a funeral home marker from Cason Monk-Metcalf. Hope this helps those who are unable to find Maidie and Langston after a full search of Bethel Cemetery in Shelby Co. Jim Barrett Bedford, TX

Does anyone have any information on Nancy Whiteside, b. 1830, d. 1870, m. James Monroe Whiteside, Sr.? Jim Barrett Bedford, TX