A Whole Lotta Family - Person Sheet
A Whole Lotta Family - Person Sheet
Spouses
FatherRoderick James “Roger” “Old Red” Shelton Sr (1754-1815)
MotherSarah Ursula Briggs (1755-1825)
Family Media 
ChildrenNancy (1817-)
Cornelia (1819-)
William C (1820-1904)
Andrew Hooper (1822-)
Caroline (1825-1847)
Eliza “Elicy” (1827-1866)
John Ellsworth (1829-)
Jane (1830-)
Notes for Sarah “Sallie” Hooper
Mountain Woman
Posted 23 Jan 2008 by millerfam7
"...I do want to tell you a little story my grandmother Perrin told me of our Grandmother Sallie. When Unle Bill was about three months old, she had a violent attack of homesickness, I suspect was no different from we other women (me at least). So perhaps worried Grandfather into consenting for her to take her baby and go see her folks. So her horse was saddled; her carpet bag, herself, baby and rifle were mounted, and with her faithful dog she ventured forth to see her mama and to show her baby. REally she must have been a brave woman, for there were bears, panthers, wolves, and Indians lurking along the path. But Grandmother was a mountain woman, nothing frail about that ancestor of ours. Well she stayed threee months wiht homefolks and was ready to come home. She thought of all the reasons she did not want to brave all those terrors, even though she had her trusty rifle and faithful dog. So she wrote Grandfather to come and fetch her home. Manlike he obeyed her request as a command..."
-From a letter at hand from Catherine Shelton (Henninger) about Sarah Hooper.
Sadly, Sarah Hooper Shelton died by drowning. It was in the winter time. She was alone on the river. Supposedly while raising a fish net her boat capsized. They found her body floating in the river several days afterward. A record in the archives of McMinn County shows that on July 4, 1853 one James Bonner was paid for holding inguests over body of sarah Shelton in 1851. She is buried on the homeplace, her grave unmarked.
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Posted 23 Jan 2008 by millerfam7
"...I do want to tell you a little story my grandmother Perrin told me of our Grandmother Sallie. When Unle Bill was about three months old, she had a violent attack of homesickness, I suspect was no different from we other women (me at least). So perhaps worried Grandfather into consenting for her to take her baby and go see her folks. So her horse was saddled; her carpet bag, herself, baby and rifle were mounted, and with her faithful dog she ventured forth to see her mama and to show her baby. REally she must have been a brave woman, for there were bears, panthers, wolves, and Indians lurking along the path. But Grandmother was a mountain woman, nothing frail about that ancestor of ours. Well she stayed threee months wiht homefolks and was ready to come home. She thought of all the reasons she did not want to brave all those terrors, even though she had her trusty rifle and faithful dog. So she wrote Grandfather to come and fetch her home. Manlike he obeyed her request as a command..."
-From a letter at hand from Catherine Shelton (Henninger) about Sarah Hooper.
Sadly, Sarah Hooper Shelton died by drowning. It was in the winter time. She was alone on the river. Supposedly while raising a fish net her boat capsized. They found her body floating in the river several days afterward. A record in the archives of McMinn County shows that on July 4, 1853 one James Bonner was paid for holding inguests over body of sarah Shelton in 1851. She is buried on the homeplace, her grave unmarked.
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Notes for James & Sarah “Sallie” (Family)
early times of james and sarah hooper shelton
Posted 23 Sep 2010 by willownsrn
n a letter written some years ago a William H. Thomas from Athens, Tennessee, an old man, wrote that among those who came to the area along the river were families named Shelton, Robinson (likely Robertson too), Sharp and Graves. With James and Sarah there is an interesting tale of a romantic exploring trip down the river to the mouth of the Hiwassee on a flatboat. They had loaded all their household goods and set out to homestead in the newly opened territory. They may have come down the Nolichicky River which flows across Greene County passing near the town of Chucky, then into the French Broad and Tennessee down to the mouth of the Hiwassee. From there James (8) would have had to pole his craft upstream for some 12 miles to the site in McMinn County 6 miles below Calhoun. Here across from the Cherokee Indian Nation in Bradley County, they established the permanent homestead. In pondering this one wonders if in fact they didn’t make the trip down the Hiwassee from Ducktown since Sarah’s home was near the river. This would certainly have been much easier – perhaps just as romantic. Likely Sarah enjoyed this as she loved the river and spent much time on it in the ensuing years boating and fishing.
Following James and Sarah came Buck Lawson and his wife, said to be James’ sister, possibly Elicy. James (8) wed Buck’s sister Betsy. The McMinn County census of 1830 lists Buck as William Lawson, age between 40 and 50. His wife is shown as between 30 and 40. This would conform to one of the females in Roderick’s household in the Buncombe County census: Of 1800 as one of the females under 10; of 1810 as the one between 10 and 16; and of 1820 as the one between 16 and 26. The McMinn census of 1830 shows also a son 5 to 10 in the Lawson household. That of 1850 shows Buck in the household of James (8), but not Buck’s wife, she likely having died… This writer remembers from his youth an elderly gentleman who lived in Calhoun named Lawson (Jim, I believe) who was akin to our family and about the age of our father, Sam Shelton, born 1854, possibly the son of the lad above who by the census of 1830 was between 5 and 10 years old. James and Betsy’s daughter Naomi, who supposedly lived with the Buck Lawsons after Betsy’s death, married John Harrison Robertson, born January 21, 1801, (cemetery marker shows this as November 12), a gentleman of good repute and some renown, having been the first county court clerk of Bradley County, Tennessee, when in about 1835 the county was formed from Indian land. His progeny are listed page 54 of this book, likely descended from Henry Robertson, born about 1720, of Amelia County, Virginia, shown pages 281 and 233.
On first arriving at their homesite on the Hiwassee River, James and Sarah built a home, a long cabin. Then they built a frame dwelling which was completed in 1820. It was a two-story and stood the ravages of time for one and a quarter centuries, having then been torn down by the Tennessee Valley Authority in clearing for the Chickamauga Lake basin. It had been the first frame house to be built in the area. According to Tennessee history the first settlement in McMinn County was near Calhoun in 1819. So it is not unlikely that James and Sarah’s was the first. Through the years James (8) acquired land both sides of the river by purchase and by grant, and at hand are two documents attesting to this fact, one signed by James K. Polk, the other Newton Cannon, each as governor.
James and Sarah prospered. They acquired much land and many slaves. Their twelve children were 4 sons and 8 daughters.
Children Of James and Sarah Hooper Shelton
Nancy Shelton, born 1817
Cornelia Shelton, born May 25, 1819
William C. Shelton, born September 4, 1820
Andrew Hooper Shelton, born March 25, 1822
Caroline Shelton, born September 22, 1825
Elicy Shelton, born May 27, 1827 (Some write this Elizie)
John Ellsworth Shelton, born September 4, 1829
Jane Shelton, born December 25, 1830
Louis Shelton, born October 20, 1832
Ursula Shelton, born February 15, 1834
Elizabeth Shelton, born June 30, 1836
Catherine Shelton, born July 20, 1842
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Posted 23 Sep 2010 by willownsrn
n a letter written some years ago a William H. Thomas from Athens, Tennessee, an old man, wrote that among those who came to the area along the river were families named Shelton, Robinson (likely Robertson too), Sharp and Graves. With James and Sarah there is an interesting tale of a romantic exploring trip down the river to the mouth of the Hiwassee on a flatboat. They had loaded all their household goods and set out to homestead in the newly opened territory. They may have come down the Nolichicky River which flows across Greene County passing near the town of Chucky, then into the French Broad and Tennessee down to the mouth of the Hiwassee. From there James (8) would have had to pole his craft upstream for some 12 miles to the site in McMinn County 6 miles below Calhoun. Here across from the Cherokee Indian Nation in Bradley County, they established the permanent homestead. In pondering this one wonders if in fact they didn’t make the trip down the Hiwassee from Ducktown since Sarah’s home was near the river. This would certainly have been much easier – perhaps just as romantic. Likely Sarah enjoyed this as she loved the river and spent much time on it in the ensuing years boating and fishing.
Following James and Sarah came Buck Lawson and his wife, said to be James’ sister, possibly Elicy. James (8) wed Buck’s sister Betsy. The McMinn County census of 1830 lists Buck as William Lawson, age between 40 and 50. His wife is shown as between 30 and 40. This would conform to one of the females in Roderick’s household in the Buncombe County census: Of 1800 as one of the females under 10; of 1810 as the one between 10 and 16; and of 1820 as the one between 16 and 26. The McMinn census of 1830 shows also a son 5 to 10 in the Lawson household. That of 1850 shows Buck in the household of James (8), but not Buck’s wife, she likely having died… This writer remembers from his youth an elderly gentleman who lived in Calhoun named Lawson (Jim, I believe) who was akin to our family and about the age of our father, Sam Shelton, born 1854, possibly the son of the lad above who by the census of 1830 was between 5 and 10 years old. James and Betsy’s daughter Naomi, who supposedly lived with the Buck Lawsons after Betsy’s death, married John Harrison Robertson, born January 21, 1801, (cemetery marker shows this as November 12), a gentleman of good repute and some renown, having been the first county court clerk of Bradley County, Tennessee, when in about 1835 the county was formed from Indian land. His progeny are listed page 54 of this book, likely descended from Henry Robertson, born about 1720, of Amelia County, Virginia, shown pages 281 and 233.
On first arriving at their homesite on the Hiwassee River, James and Sarah built a home, a long cabin. Then they built a frame dwelling which was completed in 1820. It was a two-story and stood the ravages of time for one and a quarter centuries, having then been torn down by the Tennessee Valley Authority in clearing for the Chickamauga Lake basin. It had been the first frame house to be built in the area. According to Tennessee history the first settlement in McMinn County was near Calhoun in 1819. So it is not unlikely that James and Sarah’s was the first. Through the years James (8) acquired land both sides of the river by purchase and by grant, and at hand are two documents attesting to this fact, one signed by James K. Polk, the other Newton Cannon, each as governor.
James and Sarah prospered. They acquired much land and many slaves. Their twelve children were 4 sons and 8 daughters.
Children Of James and Sarah Hooper Shelton
Nancy Shelton, born 1817
Cornelia Shelton, born May 25, 1819
William C. Shelton, born September 4, 1820
Andrew Hooper Shelton, born March 25, 1822
Caroline Shelton, born September 22, 1825
Elicy Shelton, born May 27, 1827 (Some write this Elizie)
John Ellsworth Shelton, born September 4, 1829
Jane Shelton, born December 25, 1830
Louis Shelton, born October 20, 1832
Ursula Shelton, born February 15, 1834
Elizabeth Shelton, born June 30, 1836
Catherine Shelton, born July 20, 1842
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