Thursday, March 4, 2010

Location of Frances Shiflett's Property

What Lynn is pointing to as "F. Shiflett" is debatable, but I can see what she's thinking. On the 1885 map (below), look north of Mill Creek, right on Swift Run at Swift Run Gap. You'll see what appears to be a J. Shiflett or an F. Shiflett (imagine the F. as an 'old English' style F, like the one shown in the menu bar of this blog tool's editor). It's just her guess, but it could be worth considering. Even if it isn't an F (I don't see any other 'old English' font styles on the map), it could very well be a J...and that J could stand for John Shifflet (though by 1885, we believe he had already changed his name to Allen).  However, it wouldn't surprise me at all to learn that they labeled the household after the 35-year-old male rather than his 60 year-old mother.

Your discovery, that Solomon Shiflett is Stephen Shiflett's son, is great news.  This lends credence (in my mind) that Stephen is likely the Father (or possibly the Grandfather) of Frances.





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From: Stephen Shaw
To: Russ Shaw
Sent: Thu, March 4, 2010 1:12:10 PM

Russ,

Yes I got the invite and saw the deeds, thanks for typing those in. Very interesting! I was curious about the 1887 reference you mentioned as well. I'm not seeing the "F. Shiflett" on the 1885 map though? If she was closer to the Maidens, that would put her closer to Asa Baugher on the map as well, up near Mill Creek where it seemed like she was when I looked at the 1870 census. I saw a reference to Smith Roach in the 1901 deed. There is an S. Roach up Mill Creek from Asa Baugher as well. I looked up Solomon Shiflett and he was a son of Stephen Shiflett, born about 1818. Funny enough, he had a son named Andrew Jackson Shiflett! Coincidence?

Stephen
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1 comment:

  1. RShawMarch 5, 2010 at 12:19 PM

    Not that this helps much, but the "branch" mentioned in the deeds would obviously flow into a nearby stream. The stream would have to be either Swift Run, Mill Creek or Comfort Creek. Roads run along all three creeks in the 1885 map, so this aligns with the mention of a road in the northeast corner of her property.

    Since Asa Baugher is shown on the 1885 map living on Mill Creek, I tend to think that's probably where she was. The fact that an S. Roach (very possibly the Smith Roach mentioned in the 1901 deed) also lives at the end of the road that follows Mill Creek also lends credence to this idea.

    Part of the problem with this theory, however, is that there is no S. Shiflett in this area (but there is one on Swift Run Creek). There's also no Powell listed on Mill Creek (but there is one on Comfort Creek).

    The deeds mention "on a mountain in Shiflett's field". According to the sketched plats, that's the northwest corner of her land. Solomon Shiflett's land was the northeast corner of her land (was he the same Shiflett referred to as Solomon Shiflett?). Powell's land was at the southern tip. In 1913, when John Allen sold the land, there was a Smith, Roach and Armentrout adjoining the land.

    By any chance...you think there might be any other maps from the early 1900's that identifies where individuals lived?

    I think...if we really want the answer...we'd have to spend a good amount of time in the Clerk's office researching land records. I think I'd start with Solomon Shiflett, since he's the only one we have a full name for, and since we know that his land abuts Frances' "near a road".

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