52 Ancestors: #25 - Jefferson SHIFLETT

Amy Johnson Crow of No Story Too Small has issued a challenge:  write one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor.  It can be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem – anything that focuses on one ancestor.

About the time the Shawnee were paid to leave Ohio and move to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi, the Shifletts arrived to settle in a little community in north central Ohio called Shelby.  My third great-granduncle Jefferson SHIFLETT was the only one of Jacob Shiflett’s sons to leave home and make his fortune beyond his native Virginia.

Many families were leaving the Shenandoah Valley between the 1830s and 40s, so Jefferson was probably in good company.  Based on his marriage in Allen County, Ohio in 1840, he probably traveled in the mid-late 1830s.  His bride was a native “Buckeye,” Mary “Polly” BRACKNEY. 

Jefferson evidently never intended to return to Virginia.  When his father Jacob died in 1841, Jefferson did not return to claim his share of the land left to him.  Thirty years later when his brothers and sisters decided to sell the land after their mother died, Jefferson appointed J. T.  Bray his Power of Attorney in Virginia to sell his interest in the land. 

Bray struck a deal on Jefferson’s behalf and sold his portion to William Patterson for $200.  His brothers and sisters sold their portion to their sister Virenda and her husband Miley Frazier.  Miley and his son Henry Timber Frazier eventually amassed around 1000 acres of land in what later became Shenandoah National Park and the Skyline Drive.  In 1999, a hiking trail was renamed “The Frazier Discovery Trail” to honor the association between the Fraziers and the mountain.  One of the special features of the trail is Patterson Field where the Fraziers once cared for Patterson’s cattle. 

Meanwhile back in Shelby, Ohio, Jefferson and his family were doing just fine on the farm.  In 1870 their real estate which was comprised of 15 acres improved and 25 unimproved was valued at $700.  Personal property was worth $170. 

Most of Jefferson’s children and grandchildren and other descendants remained in Ohio. He outlived his wife, and so he made his home with his children in his later years. While visiting his son Asa in 1887 in Sidney, Ohio, Jefferson took ill and died.  His body was returned to Auglaize County, Ohio and buried.

Three Generations:

Jefferson SHIFLETT ( 1807 Orange County, VA - 08 Apr 1887 Shelby, OH ) & Mary “Polly” BRACKNEY ( 1820 – Before 1887 ) 20 Apr 1840  Allen Co, OH

1. Hardinia SHIFLETT ( 1840 Ohio - )

2. Madison SHIFLETT ( 1841 Ohio - 1869 Shelby, OH ) & Elizabeth FOWLER (28 Aug 1847 Ohio - 23 Apr 1932 Marshfield, OR ) 27 Nov 1864 Ohio

• Elfrida Clementine SHIFLETT ( 1866 Ohio - )
• Ellen SHIFLETT ( 24 Jul 1867 Jackson, Shelby, Ohio - )
• Cora Elizabeth SHIFLETT ( 17 Nov 1868 Ohio - 14 Mar 1966 Waldport, OR ) & Frank L. BUKER (24 Oct 1860 Boone, NE - 31 Oct 1931 Lincoln City, OR ) 02 Jul 1885 Cedar Rapids, Nebraska

3. George W. SHIFLETT ( 1843 Ohio - ) & Sophrona DAVIS ( 16 Feb 1843 Shelby, OH - 23 Jan 1918 Dayton, OH ) 17 Aug 1862 Shelby, OH

• Nelson SHIFLETT ( 14 May 1862 Shelby, OH - 24 Apr 1945 Shelby, OH ) & Lydia Elizabeth WILDERMUTH ( 1867 – 1938 ) 08 Mar 1888 Shelby, OH
• Britimart Conyart SHIFLETT ( 24 Sep 1866 Shelby, OH - 20 Dec 1931 Shelby, OH ) & William Franklin BALDWIN (15 Nov 1860 Fletcher, OH - 04 Jul 1926 Boulder, CO ) 09 Apr 1882 Shelby, OH
• Edith Rosalie “Edie” SHIFLETT ( 10 Dec 1871 Shelby, OH - ) & George A. WIFORD  10 Sep 1887
• Elsa Leota M. SHIFLETT ( Jan 1880 Ohio -  Montgomery Co, OH ) & James W. DRURY 02 May 1897 Shelby, OH

4. July Ann Catherine SHIFLETT (15 Jan 1848 Ohio - )

5. Elizabeth A. SHIFLETT ( 1848 Ohio – Before 1860 Ohio )

6. Asa W. SHIFLETT ( Jun 1854 Ohio - 30 Jan 1907 Miami Co, OH ) & m1) Arvella PENCE (1856 Ohio – Before 1893 Ohio) 09 Mar 1874 Auglaize, Allen, OH ) ;  & m2) Christena Ida BRANDON (Feb 1871 Darke, OH - 17 Dec 1947 Miami Co, OH ) 04 Jan 1893 Darke, OH

Asa and Arvella had the following children:

• Carrie Alice SHIFLETT ( 30 Sep 1874 Logan, Auglaize, OH - )
• Mary Ellen SHIFLETT ( 20 Nov 1876 Logan, Auglaize, OH - )
• Charles SHIFLETT ( Sep 1879 Ohio  - ) & Caroline RONEY (Sep 1881 Ohio - ) 12 Aug 1899 Auglaize Co, OH
• William B. SHIFLETT ( Jun 1884 Ohio - )

Asa and Christena had the following child:

• Asa Wilson SHIFLETT ( 13 Jul 1900 Ohio - 28 Feb 1961 Fostoria, Seneca, OH ) & m1) Lottie Frances THOMAS  4 Mar 1919 Ohio ; & m2) Esther Elizabeth DEMUND 31 Oct 1929 Fostoria, Seneca, OH

7. Virenda J. SHIFLETT ( 29 May 1856 Shelby, Ohio - )

8. Elizabeth Rachel SHIFLETT ( 04 Sep 1862 Shelby, OH -  29 Dec 1911 Wapakoneta, Auglaize, OH ) & Franklin L. KANTNER  (19 Sep 1859 Ohio Pushetta, Auglaize, OH - 14 Jun 1936 Wapakoneta, Auglaize, OH ) 17 Sep 1882 Ohio

• John Jefferson KANTNER ( 24 Jul 1883 Auglaize, OH - 15 Oct 1951 Auglaize, OH ) & He Caroline Susanne SAMMETINGER (11 Apr 1889 Auglaize, OH - 11 Dec 1969 Ohio )  20 Jun 1909 Pushetta, Auglaize, OH
• Harvey KANTNER ( 05 Feb 1885 Ohio -  Nov 1955 Ohio ) & Glenna STINE
• Maud E. KANTNER ( 18 Jun 1886 Ohio - 30 Jan 1912 Wapakoneta, Auglaize, OH )
• Clarence KANTNER ( 11 Jan 1889 Ohio - 13 Oct 1962 Dayton, OH ) &  LeEtta O. WIFORD (09 Jan 1893 Shelby, OH - 12 Mar 1983 Auglaize Co, OH )
• Franklin R. KANTNER ( Dec 1891 Ohio - 23 Nov 1901 Wapakoneta, Auglaize,OH )
• Oreada Amanda KANTNER ( 06 May 1894 Ohio - 31 Jan 1934 Lima, Allen, OH ) & Robert W. BURDEN (24 Jul 1872 - 13 Feb 1933 in Wapakoneta, Auglaize, OH )
• Grace G. KANTNER ( 12 Oct 1896 Ohio -  08 Oct 1988 Wapakoneta, Auglaize, OH ) & Raymond Leslie HODGES (24 Mar 1891 Danville, IL - 25 Mar 1951 Lima, Allen, OH ) 30 Jan 1915 Wapakoneta, Auglaize, OH

© 2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.