SHELBY

The first of this line of Shelby of whom we have any positive knowledge was Evan, who lived in the time of King George the First in or close to Tregaron, County Cardigan, in the principality of Wales. It is not known at present when the Shelbys came to this shire, nor from what place. There were others in that locality who were probably brothers and cousins of this Evan, some of whom were connected with a piece of land called 'Croes-y-Berwyn', lying to the northeast of Tregaron at the base of the Cambrian Mountains just outside the entrance to Berwyn Pass. This may have been the land on which Evan lived.

The entries in the Tregaron parish register made prior to 1709 spell the name "Selby." "This," says Cass K. Shelby, "fits into a tradition among some of the Shelbys living in Wales that the males farther back in the family were not native Britons, but were originally Selbys of England, one or more of whose members some generations back came over the border into Wales." Certain it is that the name is not Cimrian in form, but Yorkshire English, and there are even now but few in that province who bear it.

Two entries in closely written Latin are to be found in the baptismal records of St. Caron's Church in Tregaron:

1719. Oct: Evanus fil Evani Shelby

1728. May: Moses fil Evani Shelby

These items do not mention the mother of the children; but from evidence in America it is known that her name was Catherine and there is also some slight evidence to indicate that her maiden name may have been Davies. Two old letters, found among Governor Shelby's papers, which still exist, one from John Davies, dated London, 1787, to Colonel Evan Shelby of Washington County, Virginia, and the other from John's father, Evan Davies, a surgeon of Swansea, Wales, written 1789 to John Shelby in Virginia, indicate former correspondence between the two families. In Dr. Davies' letter is the expression, "my respective compliments to all the relatives and kinfolks" and also the ending, "your sincere wellwisher and kinsman.” From this some believe that Evan Shelby married a Davies. It could just as easily be that Evan Davies had married a Shelby, or the relationship could have come from a marriage in a former generation.

Evan Shelby, of whom we now know little except of his possessions, was probably born during William and Mary's reign, between 1690 and 1695. He may have been a farmer and a sheep raiser in the old country, as that was a common occupation in this mountainous region. He could write his name, which is more than many of that period could do, and the little we have of his chirography is clear and distinct.

Some seven or eight years after George the Second had succeeded to the throne, Evan Shelby, then perhaps over forty years of age, emigrated

with his family to America, where he hoped to better his fortune. They landed probably at Philadelphia, the principal city of Penn's province, at that time then a little over fifty years old. The "Blunston License Book" of Lancaster County, a two hundred year old document now in the land office in the Capitol at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, shows that Evan Shelby was licensed on July 4, 1735, to take up three hundred acres in the then Indian owned territory west of the Susquehanna River. Here the Shelby's settled on a beautiful spot on the east bank of Conococheague Creek, naming their farm "Black Walnut Point." It is known in the present township of Antrim, Franklin County, five miles north of the Maryland (Mason-Dixon) line. Two years later he was licensed to acquire an additional two hundred acres at Rocky Spring somewhere near the first

tract.

At the end of four years his home having been seized to satisfy a debt owed by him to one Richard Phillips, he removed to Maryland, having secured on June 7, 1839, through Lord Baltimore's land agent at Annapolis, two warrants for twelve hundred acres of land in Prince George's County, in that part which is now Washington County. One tract of this allotment called "Rich Lands," was then owned by Dr. Robert Stuart of Annapolis, but reassigned to Shelby on that date. It lay somewhat to the northwest of the site of Hagerstown. The other, a thousand acre tract, which he named "Maiden's Choice," seems to have been the home plantation. It was a narrow and very irregular shaped strip, beginning at the Pennsylvania line and extending southward along the base of the North Mountain three and a half miles. Evan Shelby's new house was situated at the south end, probably on the road now running from Clear Spring, Maryland, to Mercerburg, Pennsylvania. During the next eleven years he obtained other land warrants and secured patents on them until he was in possession of twenty-five hundred acres. With the exception of rich lands and a fifty acre piece called Hunt's Cabin, all of Evan Shelby's land seems to have lain in various spots between Conococheague Creek and the east side of North Mountain, that is, about ten or twelve miles west of the site of Hagerstown. He disposed of some of his land from time to time by sale and some of it was conveyed as gifts to his sons.

In the Testamentary Proceedings on file at Annapolis it is recorded that his wife, Catherine, and son, Evan Jr., filed a bond July 19, 1750, as administrators of his estate; but, as he had over his personal signature conveyed a piece of land to his son John on May 19, his death must have occurred between those two dates, when he was fifty-five or sixty years of age.

It is not known exactly how many children Evan Shelby had, neither how many were born in Wales, or how many in America. He had at least six sons: Evan, Moses, John, Rees, Thomas, and David, and possibly a seventh, James. Family records and tradition give him three daughters, Mary, Rachel, and Eleanor.