My Genealogy Hound

Judge William A. Shelton, one of the pioneers of Putnam County, was born in Clinton County, Ky., April 15, 1831, and October 25, 1845, accompanied his parents to Putnam County, Mo., locating within the present limits of Lincoln Township for two years, and then moving to Liberty Township, where they remained until about 1854, when they returned to Lincoln Township. Our subject made his home with his parents until 1855, and then came to Unionville, and in 1830 received the appointment of deputy clerk of the circuit and county courts, serving until January, 1860. He then began the discharge of his duties as circuit clerk, which he held till January, 1867. In February, 1862, he enlisted in the State Militia, serving as captain of the First Cavalry, in Company D. In September, 1862, it being necessary for him to retire from active service in the field, to his office as clerk, he resigned, and was then appointed colonel of the Forty-fifth Enrolled Militia, which was organized in Putnam County. In the fall of 1866 he was elected to the State Senate, and served four years. He studied law with S. A. John from 1856 until the commencement of the war, and was admitted to the bar in 1866, and practiced from 1870 until he was elected to the office of probate judge, to fill an unexpired term of two years, and was then re-elected to the same office in 1884 and 1886, filling the office in a highly efficient and faithful manner. In 1859 he was united in marriage to Nancy F. Brasfield, a native of Madison County, Ky., by whom five sons have been born: Alonzo, died in August, 1861; Hugh Adolphus, died in October, 1864; Ora A,, William A. and Claude A. The Judge is a member of the order of F. & A. M. and I. O. O. F. His paternal grandfather, Ezekiel, was a native of North Carolina, and of English parentage. His parents were large slave holders, and Ezekiel became attached to a slave named Tom, and begged his father not to sell Tom to a Georgia slave trader, to whom he was making sale, and in his plea said if Tom was sold he would leave home; but his request was not granted, and when Tom was sold, he ran away from home at the age of sixteen, coming to Clinton County, Ky., where he was married to Margaret Davis, a lady of Scotch-Irish descent, his relatives whom he left not hearing from him in forty years. Both died in Clinton County. The father of William A., Ezekiel, was born in Clinton County, Ky., April 8, 1808, and was reared and married there to Elizabeth Mason, a native of Kentucky. Their deaths occurred in Lincoln Township, Putnam County, in 1866 and 1864. Mr. Shelton was the second of thirteen children-ten sons and three daughters - all of whom lived to maturity. Seven of his brothers served in the Union cause during the late war, five dying while in the service. The three daughters are living, and four of the sons, including William.