Mary Jane (Brandon) Shelton

​​(Printed in THE MILLER COUNTY AUTOGRAM-SENTINEL in the column, 'WINDOW TO THE PAST', Jan. 24, 2013)

​​​​MARY JANE BRANDON was born in Alabama 26 February 1851, a daughter of Calvin Brandon and Edith C. Arthur. Her parents came to central Missouri and settled in western Maries County during the 1860s. There were three other children of the Brandons including Pinkney, John, and a girl called Tiny/Tina. I did not find very much information on the Brandon family. I believe that John Brandon and his wife, Malinda (Rowden), lived in eastern Miller County and reared 8 children in the Big Richwoods. Pinkney later moved to Webb City, in southwest Missouri, and was living there when Mary Jane died in 1934.
​
Mary Jane married George Washington Shelton Jr. in Maries County on Jan. 5, 1870, the marriage performed by S. D. Burks, a Baptist minister. George was born 27 Jan 1849 in Miller County , a son of George Washington Shelton Sr. (1810-1860) and his second wife, Celia Burks (1825-1898). The Sheltons came to Missouri from McMinn County , Tennessee in the 1840s and homesteaded land in Richwoods Township near the Maries County boundary line.
​
NOTE: The Shelton family was part of my ancestry and I have conducted some research in McMinn County, TN in the past of the Shelton , Lawson, and Rowden families.

In the 1900 census of Richwoods Township, Miller County, George and Mary Jane were living near Iberia and some of their neighbors were the families of Dake, Shelton , Jones, Kellison, Shepherd, and Mayfield. According to the 1900 census they had lost 2 children, probably as infants. Seven of nine children were still living……The children of Mary Jane and George included:
​
1. Doward Belmont Shelton 1878-1952 m. Mattie Jane Pendleton 1892
2. William Herbert Shelton 1874-1922 m. Rosa Rook 1908
3. Mary Ollie Shelton 1876-1894 m. Robert Butler Thompson 1893
4. Edmond I. Shelton 1878-1952 m. Flora Dake 1902
5. Edith Lue Shelton 1881-1964 m. James Monroe Whitaker
6. George Wash. Shelton III 1883-1905 m. Cora Rowden
7. Sarah Eliza Shelton 1886-1929 m. James M. Skaggs 1909
8. Allen Taylor Shelton 1889-1984 m. Montie D. Humphrey 1910
9. Walter Shelton no record found
10. infant died young
11. infant died young

Mary Jane Brandon-Shelton died March 7, 1934 at the age of 83 years. She was in Granite City, Illinois when she died but was brought back for burial at Brays Union Cemetery by directors of Adams and Casey Funeral Home of Iberia. Her services were held at the Brays Union Church, conducted by Elder H. H. Dieselkamp. George Wash. Shelton preceded her in death three years earlier. He died at the age of 82 years on May 1, 1931 and was buried at Brays Union Cemetery also.