52 Ancestors: #46 - Joshua 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.

For a long time I just assumed that my 4X great-grandfather Joshua SHIFLETT was the brother of another of my 4X great-grandfathers, Jacob SHIFLETT.  After all, they were contemporaries; they lived near one another; they appeared together as witnesses in a number of legal documents.  But another descendant of Joshua has presented a stronger argument that Joshua was the son of Thomas, thus making him the brother of Jacob’s father John, and therefore Jacob’s uncle. 

So I’m going with that unless I can prove otherwise.

Joshua was born in Albemarle County, Virginia about 1774 and remained there his entire life.  On August 22, 1797, he married Melinda BRUCE, daughter of Richard BRUCE and Caty WHITE.  They raised at least three confirmed children but perhaps more.  The 1820 census for Fredericksville Parish in Albemarle shows a family that I expect to see:

MALES

1 10-15 – possibly Isaac

1 16-25 – possibly a son-in-law Michael Shiflett

1 45+ – Joshua

FEMALES

2 under 10 – possibly children of Minerva and Michael

2 16-25 – Minerva and Melissa

1 26-44 – Melinda

But in 1830, the family is more difficult to pinpoint:

MALES

2 5-9 – ?  Who are these children?

1 20-29 – Isaac

1 60-69 – Joshua

FEMALES

1 15-19 – ?  Who is this?

1 50-59 – Melinda

1 female slave 36-54

THREE GENERATIONS:

Joshua SHIFLETT ( 1774 Albemarle Co, VA –  About 1838 Albemarle Co, VA ) & Melinda BRUCE (1783 Albemarle Co, VA – Sep 1872 Greene Co, VA )   22 Aug 1797 Albemarle Co, VA

1. Minerva SHIFLETT ( 1798 Albemarle Co, VA – Before 1850 Albemarle Co, VA ) & Michael “Miley” SHIFLETT  (1793 Albemarle Co, VA – After 1850 Albemarle Co, VA ) 10 Feb 1818 Albemarle Co, VA

• Caroline SHIFLETT ( 1825 Albemarle Co, VA – )
• George SHIFLETT ( 1828 Albemarle Co, VA – )
• Hardinia SHIFLETT ( 1831 Albemarle Co, VA – )
• Franklin SHIFLETT ( 1833 Albemarle Co, VA – )
• Columbus SHIFLETT (1835 Albemarle Co, VA – )
• Decatur SHIFLETT ( 1837 Albemarle Co, VA – )
• Hester A. SHIFLETT ( 21 May 1841 Albemarle Co, VA – 23 Jun 1920 Greene Co, VA & William MCALISTER 30 Jul 1866 Greene Co, VA
• Henrietta Clay SHIFLETT ( 02 Jan 1845 Albemarle Co, VA – ) & Lucian Quint COLEMAN (1859 – ) 21 Nov 1880 Augusta Co, VA 

2. Melissa SHIFLETT ( 1802 Albemarle Co, VA – After 1870 Harrison, WV ) & Joseph Joel SHIFLETT (1791 Albemarle Co, VA –  19 Apr 1856 West Virginia)  20 Oct 1824 Albemarle Co, VA

• Joab SHIFLETT ( 1824 – )
• Maria SHIFLETT ( 1825 – )
• Joseph SHIFLETT ( 1832 – )
• Zephania SHIFLETT ( 1834 – )
• Catherine SHIFLETT ( 1837 – )
• Anderson / Alfred SHIFLETT ( 1839 – )
• John SHIFLETT ( 1840 – )
• Louis SHIFLETT ( 1842 – )
• Melican SHIFLETT (1844 – ) 

3. Isaac SHIPLETT ( May 1807 Albemarle Co, VA – Jan 1862 Albemarle Co, VA ) & Susan JORDAN  (1814 – 28 Feb 1882 Rockingham Co, VA ) 24 Oct 1836 Albemarle, VA

• Philip Penelton SHIPLETT ( 29 Oct 1837 Albemarle Co, VA  – 16 Mar 1919 Rockingham Co, VA ) & Jennetta Ann DOVEL (17 Jan 1841 – 24 Mar 1922 Rockingham Co, VA )
• Octavius SHIPLETT ( 1841 Albemarle Co, VA – 03 Jul 1863 Gettysburg, Adams, PA )
• Lycennius H. SHIPLETT ( 1844 Albemarle Co, VA  – 16 Mar 1919 Rockingham Co, VA) & Emily J. “Ginny” BRUCE  17 Dec 1867 Albemarle, VA
• Comaia Clarissa SHIPLETT ( 1847 Albemarle Co, VA – 03 Sep 1894 ) & John Wesley LONG ( 1847 – )  25 Jul 1867 Albemarle, VA
• Segourney F. SHIFLETT ( 1851 Albemarle Co, VA  – 09 Feb 1926 Washington DC) & George Harvey EPPARD (1839 Albemarle Co, VA – 13 Jan 1917 Rockingham Co, VA )  28 May 1870 Rockingham Co, VA
• M. E. SHIPLETT ( 1854 Albemarle Co, VA – )
• George SHIPLETT ( 1856 Albemarle Co, VA – )

© 2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.