Individual Details

1870 Census. Talladega, AL, Hh 17
Wm. P. Shelly, age 69, brick mason, b. TN
Margaret, 67, b. TN
Henry E., 28, brick mason, b. AL
Cornelia, 20, b. AL [wife of Henry who had married in March of 1870]
Mary C. Haden, 32, b. TN
Haden children: Henry H. 10, b. LA. Etta Green, 8, b. LA. William, 4, b. AL
Minerva Shelly, age 21, b. AL

William and two of his immediate family members died in 1874. His wife died May 20, William died October 10th; their daughter Mary had died April 6th. the family letter does not state the cause of death, nor where they were buried [although the letter does refer to a family lot in the cemetery at Talladega - probably Oak Hill Cemetery]. It does note that when Margaret died, it was 5 days before their Golden wedding anniversary - from that we can conclude that they married 25 May 1824.

William's sister was Abigail Woodward and it was a reunion of her descendants that prompted the writing of the family letter. Henry Shelley said he did not know the order or the birth dates of Abigail's siblings, but named them as: Nathan, Mary "Polly", Samuel, Jacob, Jere, Jonathan, John, William [Henry's father], Charles, Jane, and Margaret. He said some could have died in infancy that he never knew of. Nathan & Jere died in Tennessee; Samuel in SC; Jacob in LA; Charles in FL; Mary in TX; and Jane, Margaret, William and Jonathan all died in Alabama. He didn't know where his Uncle John had died.

Mary Jane, a daughter of Charles, was raised by Henry's father, as a daughter. She never married and died in Alabama in 1886, at age about 56.

Aunt Mary or Polly's name was Petty when she died. She was married three or four times. Aunt Jane Rubel had a son presently living in Boston.

Uncle Jacob had three children living in Austin: Sarah [his brother Nathan's wife], and William and Robert. Another son, Oscar, lived somewhere in Texas. A daughter, Margaret Scott, lived in Talladega, AL. A son James was living in Tennessee.

Even though Henry told us a great deal about the family, he did not explain Minerva Shelley, who was living with William P. Shelley's family in 1870. She was age 21, born in Alabama circa 1849, and listed after all the members of the family. Some have placed her as another daughter, but had she been, she would have been listed in the letter. She wasn't a granddaughter as none of the sons were married that early; possibly a niece or grand niece.

Birth	23 Oct 1801	Tennessee
Marriage	25 May 1824	Tennessee - Margaret F. Etter
Death	10 Oct 1874	Talladega County, Alabama

Spouse	Margaret F. Etter (1803 - 1874)
Child	Nathan George Shelley (1825 - 1898)
Child	Elizabeth M. Shelley (1827 - 1827)
Child	Sarah Jane Shelley (1829 - )
Child	Col. James Etter Shelley (1831 - 1864)
Child	Charles Miller Shelley (1833 - 1907)
Child	Mary Cunningham Shelley (1836 - 1874)
Child	William E. Shelley (1838 - 1853)
Child	Henry E. Shelley (1841 - )
Child	Harriet M. Shelley (1843 - )
Child	Margaret F. Shelley (1846 - 1855)
Child	Martha H. Shelley (1846 - 1855)