This page represents the solution of a long standing mystery for our branch of the family. From my earliest memories of asking genealogical questions at the annual Mothers Day Hickman Reunion at Sardis Baptist Church in Pigeon Creek, there were no answers for Shells beyond my great great grandparents George Daniel Shell & Elizabeth Riles, parents of Edward Marvin Shell, who'd married Iona Demaris Hickman.
While attending Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama, I was glad to discover that the third floor of the twelve story library was devoted to history and genealogy. Scanning the censuses on microfilm, I eventually discovered George Daniel listed as a child in the household of a "T.B. Shell." Further investigation by my father into other records revealed "T.B." was Thomas Barnes Shell. We found that he'd moved from Fayette County, Georgia, where land records showed his association with Charles C. Shell, a son of Daniel Shell & Lucinda Griffin and grandson of the Reverend Stephen Shell & Jane Ellis of Newberry County, South Carolina. This was a line of research with which we were familiar, but with which we had no documentation of a connection. In fact, we also knew of other Shells in Butler County (Georgiana, Brushy Creek area), Alabama and of their descendance from William Shell, father of Rev. Stephen Shell, but had no memory or documentation of connection with them.
Charles C. Shell is identified as Daniel Shell's son in his will of 1874, but the will doesn't mention Thomas Barnes Shell or any of the other children. He had married Martha Adaline Parker by 1844 and would have been 31 years old by the first census of 1850, so he's not shown in his fathers house then. Even if Daniel Shell's will had mentioned surviving children besides Charles, Thomas Barnes wouldn't have been among them. He'd died in 1865 the day after returning home to Butler County, Alabama, where they'd moved in 1856. Therefore, we were left with the circumstantial probability that Thomas Barnes was the brother of Charles C. Shell and the son of Daniel Shell and Lucinda Griffin, but had no confirming documentation. Considering the number of Shell families in Fayette and Coweta Counties, Georgia at the time (all descended from the Newberry County, South Carolina Shells), we entertained the possibility that he could have been a nephew/cousin to the Daniel & Lucinda Griffin Shell family.
You can imagine my excitement on receiving an email of the web page at http://www.rootsweb.com/~gafayett/biography/shellfamrec.htm which showed a "Family Record" such as may be maintained in a family Bible. The scan was submitted by Nora McLean Benson, Daniel & Lucinda Shell's great great great granddaughter. Linda Blum-Barton posted it on the Fayette County, Georgia GenWeb site she maintains and Betty Doherty emailed it to me. The scan is of a loose leaf, written in one hand, and by one pen, as if it were all done in one sitting. Bible records, maintained as events happen, tend to be in different hands unless there's a "designated recorder." Even then, subtle (or not) changes in penmanship creep in as the designated hand ages. Furthermore, the writing implement is often obviously different for individual entries. This "Family Record" appears to be a transcription of such family Bible information, as if distributed to or recorded by a child who did not inherit the family Bible. Whatever its origin, it clearly shows Thomas Barnes Shell as the second son of Daniel Shell and Lucinda Griffin, giving his complete birthdate, which we never had. In addition, it gives complete names and birthdates of all their children, which we never had, and even lists a child of whom we never knew, who died at age 1.
According to Nora McLean Benson, this records page was given to her by her grandfather, Thomas Bryan McLean, who received it from his mother, Martha Marion Westbrook McLean, who received it from her mother, Frances Lucinda Shell Westbrook, daughter of Daniel & Lucinda Griffin Shell. It was enclosed in the family Bible of Moses Marion & Frances Lucinda Shell Westbrook and apparently handed down with it. Nora suggests, based on her comparison of what is presumed to be his handwriting on other articles, that this page could have been authored by Daniel Shell himself!
Betty Doherty, thanks for alerting me to the very document representing one of the most important "missing links" in our family! Linda Blum-Barton, thanks for your ongoing labors to maintain a web site where such important information can be shared, and especially for posting this "Family Record." And thank you, thank you, thank you to Nora McLean Benson for contributing the scan. My father predicted long ago that we were most likely to find information about the Daniel and Lucinda Griffin Shell family among the descendants of Moses and Frances Lucinda Shell Westbrook. You were the one to prove him right! What wonderful tools we have for genealogy these days, and what wonderful people to take the time to assist others in the solution of their mysteries!