1. The first William Shell shown on the records in Brunswick is obviously your ancestor. I am not able to give you any real help about an exact birth date for this William Shell but I believe the 1728 date is most compatible with the other records and events with which we are familiar. It is known that he died in South Carolina August 9, 1807.

The first reference to William Shell in Brunswick County is a deed to him from William Brewer recorded in Deed Book 8 at Page 173. The deed is dated July 22, 1765 and conveys 203 acres. You already have some reference to this in your history.

Subsequently, William Shell conveyed 100 acres to John Adams in 1766 by deed in Deed Book 8 at Page 353. The remaining 100 acres were conveyed to William Gunn by deed dated march 10, 1769 and recorded in Deed Book 9 at Page 490. The next deed book reference is in 1772 and is a deed from George Tillman and wife to William Shell recorded in Deed Book 10 at Page 551. This deed is for 460 acres in Brunswick County and was recorded January 25, 1773. Of significance is that this deed recites "William Shell of Bute County, North Carolina". I thus conclude that from 1769 until 1773 William Shell was one of the family members who moved across the line into North Carolina.

There are some other exchanges of property involving William Shell, some of which might be significant if some total analysis could be made but it is difficult from the descriptions to tell exactly where the properties may have been. There is one deed from William Shell, Sr. to William Shell, Jr. dated June 21, 1788 and recorded in Deed Book 14 at Page 359. This is for 215 acres in Brunswick County and is significant in my later thoughts as to the life and career of William Shell. Jr.

The last instrument of record in Brunswick County from William Shell is a power of attorney to his son, Lemmon Shell dated October 29, 1797 and recorded June 25, 1798 in Deed Book 17 at Page 255. You have reference already to this power of attorney in your research. It recites that William "being about to remove to South Carolina" appoints his son, Lemmon Shell of Brunswick County, Virginia. This confirms your information regarding William's move to South Carolina and appears to confirm that the son, Lemmon remained in Brunswick County.

I have searched diligently for any information which would confirm that this William Shell in fact served in the Revolution. There is clear evidence that he qualifies as a Patriot for having furnished supplies to the Revolutionary Army. This is documented by entries in the records at Brunswick and although there is no clear identification as to which William Shell is referred to, circumstances dictate the fact that the person which is shown as furnishing materials was in fact your ancestor.

I can find nothing that would indicate that this William Shell served in the military during the Revolution and I believe that he did not. If our projections of his birth date as being around 1728 are correct, at the time of the beginning of the Revolution he would have been a man 48 years of age with seven children ranging in age from 5 years to 22 years. I believe it is highly unlikely that a person in that circumstance would have entered the military or that he would have been accepted had he wished to enter.

I cannot explain the reference on the tombstone of Harmon Shell with the letters "RS". I am personally acquainted with the superintendent of the Petersburg National Battlefield Center. I spoke with him about Revolutionary War service, but he is primarily an expert on the Civil War. He gave me the name of a friend who is a historian at Yorktown and I telephoned her and talked with her at some length. She indicates that their records show one William Shell serving in the military and one John Shell, but there is no reference to a second william Shell. I questioned her about the"RS" and she indicated that she had no knowledge or experience with this and had not seen it in any other context.

I note from your research that it is mentioned that Barbara Harrell of San Antonio, Texas has indicated that William Shell served in the Continental Army and she had qualified for the DAR under his name. I reviewed the DAR records at length and can find no reference to William Shell. Perhaps we can contact Barbara Harrell and see what the source of her information may be. The other alternative might be to make a direct contact with the DAR office in Washington, D.C.

In summary, the records at Brunswick seem to support all of your research regarding William Shell with the exception that I find no information to support the fact that he may have served in the Revolution.

2. A second William Shell is clearly identifiable by the records as William Shell, Jr., the son of your ancestor William Shell. Your research indicates that he was born September 9, 1759. Your research clearly indicates that he married a lady whose first name was Amy around 1785. He died in 1822 and his wife survived until 1830. The name of the wife is of some significance in differentiating William No. 2 from William No. 3, as I will mention in a moment.

The first reference I find to William Shell, Jr. in the records at Brunswick is as a witness to the will of my ancestor John Shell. You already have a copy of this will and it seems to give us more family information than any other document on record. William Shell, Jr. signed as a witness to that will along with John Shell and Lucy Wright, who are also children of your ancestor, William Shell. I was struck by the fact that William Shell, Jr. signed with a mark which would indicate inability to sign his name. This was unusual in that all of the other family seems to have been well educated. The other significant information regarding William Shell, Jr. appearing from John Shell's will is that William appeared at the Clerk's office in October, 1794 to testify to the will. This indicates that he was still in Brunswick County at that time and I can only speculate that he went to South Carolina with his father in 1797. As I may have mentioned earlier, William Shell, Sr. conveyed to William Shell, Jr. 215 acres June 21, 1788. This deed is recorded in Deed Book 14 at Page 359. On November 21, 1807 William Shell (Jr.) by deed recorded in Deed Book 20 at Page 288 conveyed 277 acres to Samuel Goode. I believe this was in all likelihood the same property conveyed to him by his father. Of significance is a recitation in the deed as follows:

"William Shell, formerly of the County of Brunswick, in the State of Virginia and now residing in the District of Newberry, State of South Carolina."

I found nothing in the records in Brunswick County to add to or take away from any of the information which you previously have regarding William Shell, Jr. Your information indicates that he died in Newberry, South Carolina in 1822.

3. The third William Shell identifiable in Brunswick County is the son of my ancestor, John Shell and I believe clearly he is the William Shell who served in the Revolution.

The first mention of record regarding this William Shell is in his father's will which was executed April 1, 1781. William is identified as John's son and is mentioned first in the will. I am assuming that he is the oldest son, since it was traditional to mention the children in the order of their age. No particular comment was made regarding William such as the ones which were made regarding John's absence from home. I believe that William had already served his tour of duty and returned home at the time his father's will was executed. This belief is based on the bounty records.

The Revolutionary War bounty records which I viewed at the archives at the State Library in Richmond, show that William Shell was awarded bounty for his service in the Continental Army. The bounty award was not made until August 8, 1813 which would have been after the death of your ancestor, William Shell who died in 1807. The award was made upon the certification of one of the Lieutenants who served in the same unit as William. The bounty record indicates that William Shell enlisted in the Continental Army in James Foster's company on the 7th day of December, 1776 for three years which term he faithfully served. I believe it can be fairly stated from John Shell's will that his son William had returned from the war after serving his three year enlistment and that his son John who also served was still away, perhaps actively engaged in the battles which were still being fought. It is my recollection that the surrender at Yorktown occurred in October of 1781.

The other point of record which substantiates this William Shell as the person who served in the military is what I mentioned to you in earlier correspondence. You will note that in the Clerk's certificate allowing William Shell to qualify as executor of John Shell's estate, the word "Warriour" appears after William Shell's name. I believe this is clearly a reference to his service in the Revolution. The Clerk recites that your ancestor, William Shell, the brother of John, had declined to serve as executor. It is likely that he declined because he was already planning to move to South Carolina.

The next item of considerable note is a power of attorney recorded in Brunswick at the November term of 1818. This is a power of attorney from John B. Shell to Thomas M. Nelson who is recited as being the Congressman from that area. This power of attorney is recorded in Deed Book 24 at Page 203. It grants to Congressman Nelson the power to dispose of the bounty warrant in any way he might see fit. It recites that the warrant was "granted by the State of Virginia to my father, William Shell, dec. in consideration of his services for three years as a private of the Virginia Continental Line which said warrant I obtained from my father."

William Shell died in Brunswick County in 1818 and his will is of record in Will Book 9 Page 3. He makes provision for his wife, Sally Shell in the will. This reference helps eliminate William Shell, Jr. as the possible Revolutionary War soldier since his wife was named Amy. There is also of record an agreement dated January 3, 1831 between John B. shell, Nancy Shell and Thomas Carroll and this is recorded in Deed book 29 at Page 117. This agreement recites that each of the parties is entitled to one-third of the estate of William Shell who died in 1818. This clearly establishes John B. Shell as the son of the William Shell who was the son of John Shell. Your ancestor William Shell had a son named John but his name was John Ellis Shell which clearly distinguishes him from John B. Shell.

Based upon the records I am satisifed that the evidence is totally overwhelming that the William Shell who served in the Revolution was in fact the brother of my ancestor John Shell and not your ancestor, William Shell or his son William Shell, Jr. As I indicated earlier, I can find no evidence that your ancestor served in the Revolution from any of the records in Brunswick County or in the archives in the State Library in Richmond.

The foregoing is what I have been able to gather from facts and interpretations from the records which I have been able to review here. I am sending copies of this letter to Nina Young, Elizabeth Taylor, and Ellyn Fill for whatever interests they may have in comparing my findings and conclusions with their own. It is obvious that we are all descended from the same ancestors, the first common ancestors being the parents of John, William and Stephen Shell in the early 1700s.

I would like to suggest the following challenges to all of the researchers involved in tracing their history through John, William or Stephen Shell:

1. Attempt to identify any records which would substantiate any military service by your ancestor, William Shell. As I have indicated to you, I do not believe that he served in the Revolution but the challenge would be to prove that he did or abandon the claim of such service.

2. I note that the records which you have indicate that your William was born in Surry County. I have no source of any record or information to justify this assertion and would like to know the basis of this information.

3. The next step in our family research would certainly be to try to identify the parents of John, William and Stephen Shell and to trace them back to England. I really have no known source from which to develop this information and would be very interested in any suggestions that you or any of the other researchers may have as to how we might identify the earlier generations.

P.S. Since the above was written, I thought that I would try to go ahead and complete whatever I could do here in Virginia. I accordingly made a trip to Surry Courthouse to see what I could find from the records there. I did not find any record of the birth of William Shell in Surry. There is a record of the marriage of Richard Shell to Lucy Barker, June 15, 1794. I assume this to be the son of my ancestor, John Shell, as Richard is mentioned as one of his sons in his will.

I did find in the old register of Albemarle Parish Church which shows the births for Sussex and Surry counties, an entry showing a William Shell was christened December 28, 1768. apparently, the record was not legible and the book which I examined says he was the son of "( )mnan Shell". I am not able to relate this William Shell to any of the other family which we have been able to document. The date of 1768 also does not fit into any of the other information which we have.

The only other information I was able to find which could be of any significance is a record in the Sussex County Courts of a judgement against John Shell. I am not certain of the exact date of the judgment but a court paper was issued June 3, 1756, in an effort to make collection of the judgment. It may well be that this John Shell was the parent of my ancestor, but I have no way at this point of fitting this together.

I telephoned the DAR headquarters in Washington, D.C., and they were quite nice. They indicate that they do indeed have a qualification of William Shell and show him having been born in 1740 and died August 19, 1807, in Newberry, South Carolina. They show his wife as Abigail and list some of the same children you have. That is the only information they could give me by telephone but they did indicate that I could obtain the records and I have written for them. Unfortunately, they say that it will take several months as they are considerably behind in requests. When I have a response from them I will send you copies of whatever I am able to obtain.

In short, I do not believe that any of the additional research I have done since my letter was written changes anything that was in the letter. My present thought is that your ancestor, William Shell, did not serve in the Revolution. I believe that the problem lies in confusion of the records of his nephew, William Shell, with your ancestor. I did ask the lady at DAR if she had any knowledge about the reference to "RS" (as noted on the headstone of his son, Harmon Shell), particularly as to whether they had this reference in any other applications. The lady with whom I was speaking did not have any information about any other similar record or as to what the "RS" might stand for. She suggested I speak to her historian but the historian was not available.

I hope all of this information leads to some further progress in your efforts to clarify the records regarding your ancestor, William Shell.

Page built by Dan Shell on 19 June 2002