Readers Comments and Queries


I hope you have found this ramble through Shelley history informative and interesting and would invite any comments or queries you may have.

Please email me if you have your own Shelley family history to relate, if you have genealogical inquiries that can be pursued here, or if there are any particular Shelley stories that you would like to pass on. We will post them all here.


Colin Shelley

nottshell@btinternet.com


Comments and Queries



28 August, 2008.  Christopher Columbus Shelley

What a surprise to see my great grandfather, Christopher Columbus Shelley, as part of your Shelley gatherings! 

I would like to make a couple corrections, if I may.  First off, this was not from an obit - but word for word from my submission to our local UDC chapter about my great grandfather under whose name I was admitted into the UDC in Richmond.  It was written back in 2006 or so, a long way from his death in 1915. My mother (d. 8/2000) was one of the two granddaughters raised by him and 'Mama,' his wife Susan Yates. Many of those words in the piece were almost direct quotes from her.  I can almost hear her telling the stories once again.  He was quite a man who was loved by so many. 

Secondly, if you present it again, please remove the 'William' from the William Malachi as his father. That was my error.  I had taken it from a genealogy source (my late cousin) who added the 'William' thinking that was what it was.  Upon further research, it has been determined that there was no 'William' in his name after all. 

Regards,  Dinah Kahler  Canon City, CO (mizlucy.mc@gmail.com)


13 July, 2008.  Shelleys in Sussex (West Firle) 

I have been researching my family history for just under a year and came across your website whilst researching the Shelley branch of my Grigson family tree.

My great x 3 grandfather was Charles Shelley, born c.1813 in West Firle.  His father was John Shelley and mother was I believe Ruth Mepham.  He married Elizabeth Reed who died in West Firle in 1880.   Charles then moved to Lewes where he died in 1889. I have no other details but I am working on it!  Do we have a connection here? Obviously there must a have been quite a few Shelleys in West Firle so maybe it is just coincidence.   I found your site extremely interesting and I am somewhat envious as I would love to be able to create something similar, but I am a novice at that sort of thing. 

Thanks
Vivienne Grigson  (viviennegrigson@hotmail.com)


10 June 2008.  Robert Shelly in Newfoundland  

Hi, my name is Sarah Shelley.  I recently visited your website and it was quite interesting.  However, I am having some trouble with my family tree.  I am trying to find information on Robert Shelly (later Shelley). From what I know he is my fifth great grandfather 

I know that he came from Hampshire, England.  I know he had three sons, one possibly two daughters, and a wife Mary.  They were all born here in Newfoundland.   He was the first settler in Aspen Cove (my hometown), in Newfoundland.  He originally came to settle at Barr'd Islands, Fogo. 

I am assuming that he came to Newfoundland between 1825 and 1836, but that's just my guess.   I am finding this so difficult because I can't find out his date of birth or record of his death.  If you can help me on this or give me some advice, it would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks in advance, 

Sarah Shelley (sallyjane83@hotmail.com)

29 April, 2008.  Shelley Lines in Sussex

After discovering your own website and seeing the details of your early Shelley connections, I can tell you I have some info on children that you have not included. 

Charles & Sarah’s son Thomas married Ann Pierce at Jevington on 20 Nov 1822.   Daughter Ann is a slight uncertainty and I would welcome your thoughts on the info I have pieced together as I believe she is my mother-in-law’s ancestor.  This means my husband has Shelley on both sides of his family. 

In 1791, John Stephens had married Mary Shelley at West Firle.  Although I haven't yet searched for a death of Mary, I believe that John Stephens may have later married his wife's niece Ann at Ashurst, Kent (near East Grinstead) on 24 Oct 1820.  I imagine, if true, this may have caused friction in the family and be the reason they married just across the county border.  I do know that my mother-in-law definitely descends from a John and Ann Stephens. 

Sandra Shelley (sand.shell@btinternet.com) 


27 February, 2008. Shelleys from Staffordhsire 

I stumbled across your website after googling Shelley and Staffordshire, and had a good read - well done!

I'm researching my husband's Shelley family.  They originated from Staffordshire in the late 1700s.  With certainty, the furthest I've traced back to is Robert Shelley (b 1781) a coal dealer/merchant who was based in Stone, Staffordshire.  He was possibly christened in Rolleston, and the son of Joseph and Mary Shelley. Robert married Sarah Pyatt/Pyot and had six sons.  The second eldest, also named Robert (b 1816) was a joiner/carpenter, and married Ann Turner.  Their son, William (b 1851 in Stone), also a joiner, moved to Cheshire and married Emma Crawford. 

One of William and Emma's sons, Alfred Crawford Shelley (b 1878 in Cheshire), a cabinet maker, emigrated to South Africa in 1902 and married Ada Elizabeth Millington.  One of their son's children (both named Frank Raymond Shelley) emigrated to New Zealand in 1993.  I married the son of Frank Raymond (jnr) and have three young children.  So as you can see, the Shelley family has spread even further down under than Australia. 

Best wishes 
Rachel Shelley (rachel.shelley@gmail.com)


29 January, 2008. Maureen Shelley from Australia 

What a delightful website. I am the Maureen Shelley who is the Convenor of the Australian Classification Review Board. I am also a Councillor and former Deputy Mayor of Ku-ring-gai Council and am a journalist with The Daily Telegraph in Sydney, a News Corporation paper. 

My family is descended from Albert Edward Shelley who migrated to Australia with his first wife in 1912, they settled in Western Australia. He had one daughter from his first marriage and then married a war widow in 1918 (she had two children) and they had four more children. Whilst I have retained my birth name and my children have it as their third given name, it may well be that the name from this branch of the Shelley’s will die out within a generation. My uncles had daughters, and whilst I have two brothers only one of them has children and his only son does not have children as yet and is in his mid-thirties. Another cousin, Ron Shelley, also settled in Perth and he has two daughters. 

We keep in touch with the English Shelleys who were descended from Thomas Shelley and Lucy Frances Preston. This includes the Muirs in British Columbia. The astonishing thing is how alike the family members all look when they are fifth cousins – or something equally distant. 

Maureen Shelley (mshelley@optusnet.com.au)


4 December, 2007.   Charles M. Shelley from Alabama and Descendants  


My great grandfather was Charles M. Shelley from Alabama.  My grandfather was James Etter Shelley who also served in the military, married Ms. Christine Roosevelt (Theodore Roosevelt's cousin).  My father was William B. Shelley, also a military man and latter in life a parole officer.  I hold a Ph.D. and am the Dean of the Graduate School at Eastern New Mexico University and have published dozens of scholarly articles on archaeology and higher education

Phillip Shelley, Ph.D., RPA (phillip.shelley@enmu.edu)
Dean, Graduate School Eastern New Mexico University

23 June, 2007.  Shelley's Crossing on the GWR


What a fascinating website.  You should possibly add my father and late grandfather.


Father: Robin Arthur Shelley. Working in engineering until mid 50’s when he trained and became a vicar in the Church of England, working in the two parishes of Thurlaston and Enderby. Now remarried after Margaret’s death in 1999, he lives an active life in Hull.

Grandfather: Leslie Shelley.  Worked all his life on the Railways based in Wiltshire and later in Bodmin, Cornwall.  Famous in the Great Western Railways during and after the war, he died in the mid 70’s.  There is a railway crossing near Kennet and Avon canal named after him as Shelley’s Crossing, because the inter-city trains used to stop and pick him up for work every day!

Chris Shelley (chris.shelley@csi-i.com)