Excellent The family I became a part of by marriage. Pioneers of My People : The Shelby Family by BethShelby

When I married my husband, Evan Shelby, his people became my people, so although they aren’t literally a part of my DNA, they are very much a part of my children’s DNA, and I feel they should be part of this series. I was 16 when I first encountered the man who would become my husband. We met briefly in my uncle’s café when I served him coffee. We didn’t exchange names, so I forgot about the encounter until a couple of days later, when I received a very long letter from someone named Evan Shelby. It was a shock to me, because I knew an old man by that name, whose son had married into my mother’s Lay family. As it turned out, the young man I met had wanted to get to know me and went back and asked how to get in touch with me. He was unaware he had a distant cousin with the same name living in our town. The Evan who wanted to meet me lived in another county and was passing through when he saw me walk into the restaurant. For those who may not know, I answered the long letter I received, and after two years, our friendship ended in marriage. We had a lot of wonderful years together. Evan died in 2019, but we have four living children. Evan, which mean a young warrier, was a popular name in Wales. The name Evan Shelby has been passed down through the family for many generations. Among the many Evan Shelbys, I guess they lived up to their name because it seems most served in the military in every imaginable war or conflict. There is a Military base in South Mississippi called Camp Shelby named after our first immigrant, Evan's son, Isaac Shelby, who was a military leader and the 1st and 5th governor of the state of Kentucky.  The earliest Shelby I found was an Evan Shelby in Wales in 1594. The head of the first Shelby family to come to this country from Wales in 1730 was named Evan Shelby. It is believed he had a good deal of money. It isn’t clear why the family left Wales, but it is likely they saw America as a land of opportunity. Evan and his wife, Catherine Davies Shelby, first settled in Maryland. Ironically, my line of Davies also are from Wales. Maybe somewhere in the dim past our families were related. The large Shelby family, including 7 sons and 3 daughters, entered this country and was granted land by the king of England, who was George II. However, Evan Shelby believed the land actually belonged to the Indians, and he insisted on paying them a sum which they were satisfied with. The family was able to maintain a good relationship with the tribes. Soon Evan Shelby and his sons owned large plantations in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North Carolina. The sons of Evan and Catherine Davies Shelby played important roles in the American Revolution. One of the sons of Evan, also named Evan was a Brigadier General in that conflict. Others of the sons had ranks of Captains and Colonels. After the war, one son, Isaac Shelby, became the first governor of Kentucky. Our line came from Evan’s son Reese Shelby. Reese Jr.’s son had a son named Evan, born in 1775. He left North Carolina with his wife Penelope and moved to Mississippi. That Evan’s grandson, also named Evan, was the grandfather of my Evan. Evan Eli, my husband’s grandfather died before he was born. Evan didn’t get to know any of his grandparents. There were five girls and four boys in his father's family. His Grandfather ran a country store. Shortly after Evan and I began dating, I got to know Evan's parents. His father's name was Arthur. I found him to be warm, generous and pleasant to be around. When I became a part of the family, I couldn't have wished for better in-laws. I’ll say more about his mother when I write about the Martin side of the family. My husband grew up with three sisters and one brother. He was the third child and oldest son. They lived in a rural area of Mississippi in a community where many of the other Shelby families lived. When Evan’s mother was younger, she had attended something called a normal school and afterward taught for a few years until she became a housewife and mother. In the 1900s, education was designed for men. Very few women were able to continue their education past elementary school. Normal schools started in Paris, but by mid 1800s, they were in the United States. They lasted into the early 1900s. They were usually two-year schools designed to allow women to get more education. The normal schools were a type of teacher’s college where women were trained to teach the younger students. Evan's father farmed and supplemented his income by driving a school bus and doing some truck farming. By the time I met him, he was working with his son-in-law who owned a factory which made church pews. Evan attained some statewide recognition by winning an award in a crop judging competition while still in high school. His mother encouraged him to do something other than farm, so after finishing high school, he enrolled in an engineering course in college. He also worked as a surveyor during summer months and took an engineering correspondence course. The Korea War was underway and he was drafted into the army before completing college. When we met, he had just gotten a job as a draftsman. Throughout our years together, he worked as draftsman and drafting supervisor until he retired. We have often been asked if we are related to Carroll Hall Shelby, the race car driver and auto designer of the Shelby Cobra and other cars. His branch also came from the same Reese Shelby as our branch, but where our line came through Reese Jr., his came through Reese’s son Jonathan. We are distantly related, but we never met the man.

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