Mary Pollard m. Ralph Shelton (b. 25 Sept. 1698, King William County, Virg., d. 1743, King William County, Virg. - Child: Elizabeth Shelton (b. 16 Aug. 1724, King William County, Virg., m.(3 Nov. 1749) Joseph Whitlock), Mary Shelton (b. 1 Aug. 1726, King William County, Virg., m. Henry Gosney; child: Mary Gosney, Benjamin Gosney), Richard Shelton (b. 14 Aug. 1728, King William County, Virg., m.(20 Aug. 1746) Mary Wright, dgt. of Mary (Hawkins) & Francis Wright, d. 5 Jan. 1821, King William County, Virg.; child: Jane Shelton, Joshua Shelton, Ralph Shelton, Elizabeth Shelton, Richard Shelton, John Shelton, Mary Shelton, Isaac Shelton, Sarah Shelton, Nancy Ann Shelton, Charlotte Shelton, William Shelton), Jane Shelton (b. 22 May 1730, King William County, Virg.), William Shelton (b. 3 Nov. 1732, King William County, Virg.), John Shelton (b. 25 Apr. 1734, King William County, Virg.)1270

It is not known why Ralph Shelton took his mother’s surname instead of his father’s. It has been suggested that it might have been because of a family inheritance in England. It has also been suggested that Ralph was a bastard son of Sarah Shelton. In counterpoint, however, it has been argued that Richard Gissage, who was a wealthy London merchant before his immigration to Virginia, is unlikely to have married a woman with a bastard child.

It is to be noted that there were two Ralph Sheltons in early Virginia. One was Ralph Shelton of Essex-Middlesex Co (Middlesex and Essex Counties are adjacent along the Western shore of Chesapeake Bay) and the other is Ralph Shelton of King and Queen Co (West of Middlesex and Essex Counties; it was subdivided in 1702 and King William Co was carved out). The two Ralphs lived on opposide sides of the Dragon Swamp and were about 15 years apart in age. The Essex-Middlesex Co Ralph Shelton was imported in 1702 and married in 1707; he is presumed to have been born about 1685. He was the ancestor of the Sarah Shelton who married Patrick Henry. The King William Co Ralph Shelton was born, according to Ellis Family records, on 25 Sept 1698 in King and Queen Co, a son of Sarah Shelton who married Richard C. Gissage, merchant from London, who settled at Acquinton, St. Peters Parish, New Kent County.1266 See also an article entitled “The Two Ralph Sheltons.”1267

“The History of Pittsylvania County, Virginia,” by Maud Carter Clement, has confused the two Ralphs.1268 Ms. Clement discusses Crispen Shelton and says he “was the son of Ralph Shelton and his wife Mary Pollard. She wrote that “Ralph Shelton was the son of Sarah Shelton and Richard Gassage of New Kent, and for some reaon retained his mother’s name. Tradition says that Sarah Shelton and Richard Shelton were the emigrant chidren of a ship’s captain who drowned in the english Channel in 1691.” Crispen Shelton was actually the son of the Middlesex Co Ralph and his wife Mary, whose surname has been guessed to have been Crispen. Unfortunately, appearance of an incorrect interpretation in a book means that more people take it as fact, and the incorrect attribution of Ralph Shelton (the King William Co one) and Mary Pollard as the parents of Crispen Shelton has gone viral; a check of Ancestry.com public family trees on 30 Sep 2011 showed no fewer than 247 trees that contain this incorrect family relationship.

Another web site asserts that Mary Pollard married Ralph Shelton in 1706 and that Ralph Shelton was the son of Peter Shelton and Susannah Jackson.1269 No sources are given.