Elender "Sade" Shelton was the 5th known child of James Buford "Buffer Jim" Shelton & Agnes "Aggie" Gosnell - Shelton, she was born around 1852-3 in what was then Yancy County NC and later became Madison County, probably in the area known as Shelton Laurel, the branch of the Laurel River which was named for her father's family who settled there in the early 1830's. On the 1870 census, Sade was living with an older married sister Sarah Shelton - Rice in Meadowfork community of Madison & listed as a "housekeeper"; she was 18.
Sade married Jesse R Gillespie, son of Jesse Henry Gillespie & Judith Tilman Askew - Gillespie, on 14 September 1871 in Madison County, NC and had one known son Josiah Tipton Bailey Gillespie about 1872-4. The relationship didn't last, in 1878 Sade had a daughter she named Agnes Porthna Lavada Jane Shelton by a man named Rogers who was working in the area. (I was told by cousin Dewey Foster that Mr. Rogers was not a local man & didn't stay, he left the county & married someone else, and years after Lavada was married, a tall handsome man rode through the area on a big white horse & dropped by to see his daughter Vade, he introduced himself to her for the 1st time.) Lavada married Campbell Rinehart using the name Gillespie about 1896, but in later years she changed her surname to Shelton on several children's birth records, still later she gave the name Rogers on another child's birth; I suspect the change reflects Lavada's changing knowledge of what her mother's legal status was when she was born and who her father was as it evolved.
Sade's 1st son Josiah Gillespie was living with his aunt Clearsy Morrow in 1880 but Sade was not listed in the county under the name Shelton or Gillespie, nor was her son's father nor her daughter Lavada Jane. (There is an "Ellen Levster" living nearby as a housekeeper of her age with no children, I wondered if this might be her but I have not found a marriage to a Levster.) (I am told by a Gillespie descendant that her husband Jesse Gillespie moved to eastern Tennessee and died there in the early 1900's but I have found no record of this. Sade's father is also said to have moved to eastern TN in Sevier Co and died there in the early 1900's before death certificates, no record of his death has been found.)
About 1882, Sade had a son she named Doggett, he later went by her last husband's name Lindsey; I do not know who his father was or where Sade was when he was born but he was later registered as born in Madison County the son of Reuben Lindsey and by then was going by the name James William Lindsey, supposedly because he didn't like that people would make fun of his given name Doggett (which is common in the area, there is a Doggett Mountain nearby).
On 19 March 1885, Sade had a son she named Robert S, he is on the 1900 census with his mother and brothers. He was later said to have been the son of Reuben Lindsey and went by Larkin Lindsey, Reuben's father's name.
In Madison County, NC on 7 November 1885, Sade married under her maiden name Elender Shelton to the widower Reuben A Lindsey born 1843-44 in Cowee TWP, Macon County, NC; Reuben was tall and black haired with a thick handlebar mustache and had been in Madison County for at least four years, he was called a "singing teacher", he had a deep, strong bass voice which was common in the Lindsey family & taught "lining" music classes to illiterate people who could not read music (he would sing out a line of music, then the congregation would repeat it); I am told by cousin Dewey Foster that he also sketched horses very well.) Reuben had first been married to his Macon County neighbor Sarah Beasley. According to their granddaughter Sally Lindsey - Russell as told to Richard Gosnell, her mother Sarah Beasley - Lindsey had died suddenly in 1882 at the headwaters of Hannah's Spring of Meadowfork Creek of what was possibly a heat stroke, she had been working in a hot field & felt sick, bathed off in the cold waters of the spring but didn't improve, went home and was found dead in bed a short time later; her burial place is probably near Hannah's Spring but is unknown & probably unmarked. Reuben & Sarah had seven children alive when Sarah died, none of whom lived with Reuben after their mother died because he told them he didn't want them, they went back to Macon County for a while but Reuben stayed in Madison County and later his children returned and most settled in Madison County as well and married local people too.
After marriage, Sade & Reuben lived in Madison County, NC with her three youngest surviving sons: James William "Doggett" Lindsey, Robert Larkin Rubin Lindsey & George Coleman Greenberry Lindsey. They are all listed together for the only time on the 1900 census in Meadowfork. According to the 1900 census, tjhey may have had one other child to die by then.
On the 1910 census in Spring Creek, Madison County, NC, Sade was living with her 2 youngest sons Larkin & Greenberry, she was listed as having had a total of 7 children, of whom 5 were still living (this is different from what the censustaker wrote in 1900 when she was living with Reuben, he said she had had only four children of which three were still alive; I am inclined to believe the 1910 censustaker for the total number of children because Sade is more likely to have given this information herself because her husband was not there, and I know she had had at least two children before she married Reuben who were both still alive and therefore there were at least 5 living children in 1900, but this would also mean she had several more as yet unknown children). Sade evidently did not raise any of her children except the last three with Reuben Lindsey.
I do not know where Reuben was in 1910, Reuben was not listed in Madison County or elsewhere that I can find, but I am told he could've been visiting relatives in Spartanburg County, SC; Reuben had at least 4 children from his first marriage to Sarah living there and the mountain families frequently traveled back & forth between the two areas on trains, working in the textile mills in the Piedmont for money & returning to attend yearly church Association meetings, family events, etc. (The economy in the mountains was stagnating and many people were leaving the area to work in the mills to the south.)
Sade's marriage to Reuben was not peaceful, she was known to her family as a volatile, aggressive woman, she once hit her husband Reuben in the head with a piece of firewood while arguing with him in front of other people and she possibly tried to stab him with a knife as I was told by Reuben's great-grandson J. Richard Gosnell. Sade was prone to using violence in arguments, Richard's grandfather Jim Lindsey once had to get between Sade & his wife during an argument as told by his grandmother Althea. Both a son & grandson of Sade were also recorded as being violent, and her father "Buffer Jim" was said to have had a noted reputation for picking fights with men; his nickname was said to have come from his liking to butt men with his head. In one story, he started to ram a man with his head & missed, hitting the side of a barn instead.
According to granddaughter Lura Rhinehart - Plemmons as told to Richard Gosnell, Sade's last husband Reuben Lindsey died in June 1911 in Madison County, NC, by then Reuben was living at a place locally known as the "Winding Stairs" house, named for the long set of steep, zigzagging wood stairs leading up from the Hot Springs Road to the house on top of the hill; his burial place is in Meadowfork Baptist Church but is unmarked. Lura told Richard she stayed up all night with his body before the burial, as was the custom.
(Some rumors say Reuben moved to Puerto Rico & died there, but former Madison County Sheriff & cousin Dewey Foster told me the rumor was definitely false. However, Reuben's son Larkin told the WWI draft officer in 1918 that his father was not a native-born citizen, this is definitely not true because all the evidence points to Reuben being born in Cowee TWP, Macon County, NC to US-born parents and Larkin would've known this, he was named for his father's father who moved to Cowee in the 1830's from SC and lived the rest of his life there & was buried at Cowee Baptist Church there; I suspect son Larkin may be where the false rumor started.)
After her last husband Reuben died, Sade was living with her daughter Lavada Jane Rinehart in 1920. Four years later Sade evidently was in Beaverdam in Haywood County where 2 or 3 of her sons lived when she also died and was buried there. She has no carved stone with names & dates, but she does have a large rough dark natural stone marking her grave. Elender's 2 sons Doggett & Coleman Lindsey are also buried in Beaverdam cemetery, along with several grandchildren.
Her son Larkin Lindsey is probably buried at New Prospect Baptist in the New Prospect community of northern Spartanburg County, SC as per his death certificate where he was working in 1934 as a hired hand picking cotton at the time, he was shot by a Negro neighbor who later testified in court that Larkin was drunk, abusing & dragging his wife by the hair of her head threatening to kill her, when he tried to intervene, Larkin threatened to kill him too. The black man was sentenced to 10 yrs in prison for manslaughter. Larkin has no known monument & his wife and children did not stay in the area after they testified at trial on his killer's behalf, his widow and two young daughters moved to Asheville. (Sheriff Dewey Foster told Richard Gosnell that Larkin's wife was said to be non-white, which is not in the news report or census's.)
Elender's being unable to raise her earlier children leads to speculation as to why she was an unfit mother; son Josiah "Joe" Gillespie was raised by his aunt Clearsy Morrow, he moved out of the area & lived in Greenville, SC for many years working in the spinning mills & died in 1956 in Greenwood, SC & is buried there; Lavada Jane's upbringing was such that she did not know what her mother's name/her surname was when she was born, or who her biological father was until he introduced himself years later, so where she grew up & with whom is unknown. I wonder what happened to the other surviving/possible children and how many other unknown children Elender "Sade" Shelton had before she married Reuben Lindsey.
Elender may have gotten a divorce from her first husband in Tennessee where her husband supposedly lived when he died (and where divorce was legal), but the records would be in individual county courts, not listed as divorce records and not yet online, so I'm told by the state. I have found no other record of Elender marrying but twice, once in 1871 to Jesse Gillespie and once in 1885 to Reuben Lindsey, both marriages are in Madison Co, NC.
--Jeni
Sade married Jesse R Gillespie, son of Jesse Henry Gillespie & Judith Tilman Askew - Gillespie, on 14 September 1871 in Madison County, NC and had one known son Josiah Tipton Bailey Gillespie about 1872-4. The relationship didn't last, in 1878 Sade had a daughter she named Agnes Porthna Lavada Jane Shelton by a man named Rogers who was working in the area. (I was told by cousin Dewey Foster that Mr. Rogers was not a local man & didn't stay, he left the county & married someone else, and years after Lavada was married, a tall handsome man rode through the area on a big white horse & dropped by to see his daughter Vade, he introduced himself to her for the 1st time.) Lavada married Campbell Rinehart using the name Gillespie about 1896, but in later years she changed her surname to Shelton on several children's birth records, still later she gave the name Rogers on another child's birth; I suspect the change reflects Lavada's changing knowledge of what her mother's legal status was when she was born and who her father was as it evolved.
Sade's 1st son Josiah Gillespie was living with his aunt Clearsy Morrow in 1880 but Sade was not listed in the county under the name Shelton or Gillespie, nor was her son's father nor her daughter Lavada Jane. (There is an "Ellen Levster" living nearby as a housekeeper of her age with no children, I wondered if this might be her but I have not found a marriage to a Levster.) (I am told by a Gillespie descendant that her husband Jesse Gillespie moved to eastern Tennessee and died there in the early 1900's but I have found no record of this. Sade's father is also said to have moved to eastern TN in Sevier Co and died there in the early 1900's before death certificates, no record of his death has been found.)
About 1882, Sade had a son she named Doggett, he later went by her last husband's name Lindsey; I do not know who his father was or where Sade was when he was born but he was later registered as born in Madison County the son of Reuben Lindsey and by then was going by the name James William Lindsey, supposedly because he didn't like that people would make fun of his given name Doggett (which is common in the area, there is a Doggett Mountain nearby).
On 19 March 1885, Sade had a son she named Robert S, he is on the 1900 census with his mother and brothers. He was later said to have been the son of Reuben Lindsey and went by Larkin Lindsey, Reuben's father's name.
In Madison County, NC on 7 November 1885, Sade married under her maiden name Elender Shelton to the widower Reuben A Lindsey born 1843-44 in Cowee TWP, Macon County, NC; Reuben was tall and black haired with a thick handlebar mustache and had been in Madison County for at least four years, he was called a "singing teacher", he had a deep, strong bass voice which was common in the Lindsey family & taught "lining" music classes to illiterate people who could not read music (he would sing out a line of music, then the congregation would repeat it); I am told by cousin Dewey Foster that he also sketched horses very well.) Reuben had first been married to his Macon County neighbor Sarah Beasley. According to their granddaughter Sally Lindsey - Russell as told to Richard Gosnell, her mother Sarah Beasley - Lindsey had died suddenly in 1882 at the headwaters of Hannah's Spring of Meadowfork Creek of what was possibly a heat stroke, she had been working in a hot field & felt sick, bathed off in the cold waters of the spring but didn't improve, went home and was found dead in bed a short time later; her burial place is probably near Hannah's Spring but is unknown & probably unmarked. Reuben & Sarah had seven children alive when Sarah died, none of whom lived with Reuben after their mother died because he told them he didn't want them, they went back to Macon County for a while but Reuben stayed in Madison County and later his children returned and most settled in Madison County as well and married local people too.
After marriage, Sade & Reuben lived in Madison County, NC with her three youngest surviving sons: James William "Doggett" Lindsey, Robert Larkin Rubin Lindsey & George Coleman Greenberry Lindsey. They are all listed together for the only time on the 1900 census in Meadowfork. According to the 1900 census, tjhey may have had one other child to die by then.
On the 1910 census in Spring Creek, Madison County, NC, Sade was living with her 2 youngest sons Larkin & Greenberry, she was listed as having had a total of 7 children, of whom 5 were still living (this is different from what the censustaker wrote in 1900 when she was living with Reuben, he said she had had only four children of which three were still alive; I am inclined to believe the 1910 censustaker for the total number of children because Sade is more likely to have given this information herself because her husband was not there, and I know she had had at least two children before she married Reuben who were both still alive and therefore there were at least 5 living children in 1900, but this would also mean she had several more as yet unknown children). Sade evidently did not raise any of her children except the last three with Reuben Lindsey.
I do not know where Reuben was in 1910, Reuben was not listed in Madison County or elsewhere that I can find, but I am told he could've been visiting relatives in Spartanburg County, SC; Reuben had at least 4 children from his first marriage to Sarah living there and the mountain families frequently traveled back & forth between the two areas on trains, working in the textile mills in the Piedmont for money & returning to attend yearly church Association meetings, family events, etc. (The economy in the mountains was stagnating and many people were leaving the area to work in the mills to the south.)
Sade's marriage to Reuben was not peaceful, she was known to her family as a volatile, aggressive woman, she once hit her husband Reuben in the head with a piece of firewood while arguing with him in front of other people and she possibly tried to stab him with a knife as I was told by Reuben's great-grandson J. Richard Gosnell. Sade was prone to using violence in arguments, Richard's grandfather Jim Lindsey once had to get between Sade & his wife during an argument as told by his grandmother Althea. Both a son & grandson of Sade were also recorded as being violent, and her father "Buffer Jim" was said to have had a noted reputation for picking fights with men; his nickname was said to have come from his liking to butt men with his head. In one story, he started to ram a man with his head & missed, hitting the side of a barn instead.
According to granddaughter Lura Rhinehart - Plemmons as told to Richard Gosnell, Sade's last husband Reuben Lindsey died in June 1911 in Madison County, NC, by then Reuben was living at a place locally known as the "Winding Stairs" house, named for the long set of steep, zigzagging wood stairs leading up from the Hot Springs Road to the house on top of the hill; his burial place is in Meadowfork Baptist Church but is unmarked. Lura told Richard she stayed up all night with his body before the burial, as was the custom.
(Some rumors say Reuben moved to Puerto Rico & died there, but former Madison County Sheriff & cousin Dewey Foster told me the rumor was definitely false. However, Reuben's son Larkin told the WWI draft officer in 1918 that his father was not a native-born citizen, this is definitely not true because all the evidence points to Reuben being born in Cowee TWP, Macon County, NC to US-born parents and Larkin would've known this, he was named for his father's father who moved to Cowee in the 1830's from SC and lived the rest of his life there & was buried at Cowee Baptist Church there; I suspect son Larkin may be where the false rumor started.)
After her last husband Reuben died, Sade was living with her daughter Lavada Jane Rinehart in 1920. Four years later Sade evidently was in Beaverdam in Haywood County where 2 or 3 of her sons lived when she also died and was buried there. She has no carved stone with names & dates, but she does have a large rough dark natural stone marking her grave. Elender's 2 sons Doggett & Coleman Lindsey are also buried in Beaverdam cemetery, along with several grandchildren.
Her son Larkin Lindsey is probably buried at New Prospect Baptist in the New Prospect community of northern Spartanburg County, SC as per his death certificate where he was working in 1934 as a hired hand picking cotton at the time, he was shot by a Negro neighbor who later testified in court that Larkin was drunk, abusing & dragging his wife by the hair of her head threatening to kill her, when he tried to intervene, Larkin threatened to kill him too. The black man was sentenced to 10 yrs in prison for manslaughter. Larkin has no known monument & his wife and children did not stay in the area after they testified at trial on his killer's behalf, his widow and two young daughters moved to Asheville. (Sheriff Dewey Foster told Richard Gosnell that Larkin's wife was said to be non-white, which is not in the news report or census's.)
Elender's being unable to raise her earlier children leads to speculation as to why she was an unfit mother; son Josiah "Joe" Gillespie was raised by his aunt Clearsy Morrow, he moved out of the area & lived in Greenville, SC for many years working in the spinning mills & died in 1956 in Greenwood, SC & is buried there; Lavada Jane's upbringing was such that she did not know what her mother's name/her surname was when she was born, or who her biological father was until he introduced himself years later, so where she grew up & with whom is unknown. I wonder what happened to the other surviving/possible children and how many other unknown children Elender "Sade" Shelton had before she married Reuben Lindsey.
Elender may have gotten a divorce from her first husband in Tennessee where her husband supposedly lived when he died (and where divorce was legal), but the records would be in individual county courts, not listed as divorce records and not yet online, so I'm told by the state. I have found no other record of Elender marrying but twice, once in 1871 to Jesse Gillespie and once in 1885 to Reuben Lindsey, both marriages are in Madison Co, NC.
--Jeni
Elender "Sade" Shelton was the 5th known child of James Buford "Buffer Jim" Shelton & Agnes "Aggie" Gosnell - Shelton, she was born around 1852-3 in what was then Yancy County NC and later became Madison County, probably in the area known as Shelton Laurel, the branch of the Laurel River which was named for her father's family who settled there in the early 1830's. On the 1870 census, Sade was living with an older married sister Sarah Shelton - Rice in Meadowfork community of Madison & listed as a "housekeeper"; she was 18.
Sade married Jesse R Gillespie, son of Jesse Henry Gillespie & Judith Tilman Askew - Gillespie, on 14 September 1871 in Madison County, NC and had one known son Josiah Tipton Bailey Gillespie about 1872-4. The relationship didn't last, in 1878 Sade had a daughter she named Agnes Porthna Lavada Jane Shelton by a man named Rogers who was working in the area. (I was told by cousin Dewey Foster that Mr. Rogers was not a local man & didn't stay, he left the county & married someone else, and years after Lavada was married, a tall handsome man rode through the area on a big white horse & dropped by to see his daughter Vade, he introduced himself to her for the 1st time.) Lavada married Campbell Rinehart using the name Gillespie about 1896, but in later years she changed her surname to Shelton on several children's birth records, still later she gave the name Rogers on another child's birth; I suspect the change reflects Lavada's changing knowledge of what her mother's legal status was when she was born and who her father was as it evolved.
Sade's 1st son Josiah Gillespie was living with his aunt Clearsy Morrow in 1880 but Sade was not listed in the county under the name Shelton or Gillespie, nor was her son's father nor her daughter Lavada Jane. (There is an "Ellen Levster" living nearby as a housekeeper of her age with no children, I wondered if this might be her but I have not found a marriage to a Levster.) (I am told by a Gillespie descendant that her husband Jesse Gillespie moved to eastern Tennessee and died there in the early 1900's but I have found no record of this. Sade's father is also said to have moved to eastern TN in Sevier Co and died there in the early 1900's before death certificates, no record of his death has been found.)
About 1882, Sade had a son she named Doggett, he later went by her last husband's name Lindsey; I do not know who his father was or where Sade was when he was born but he was later registered as born in Madison County the son of Reuben Lindsey and by then was going by the name James William Lindsey, supposedly because he didn't like that people would make fun of his given name Doggett (which is common in the area, there is a Doggett Mountain nearby).
On 19 March 1885, Sade had a son she named Robert S, he is on the 1900 census with his mother and brothers. He was later said to have been the son of Reuben Lindsey and went by Larkin Lindsey, Reuben's father's name.
In Madison County, NC on 7 November 1885, Sade married under her maiden name Elender Shelton to the widower Reuben A Lindsey born 1843-44 in Cowee TWP, Macon County, NC; Reuben was tall and black haired with a thick handlebar mustache and had been in Madison County for at least four years, he was called a "singing teacher", he had a deep, strong bass voice which was common in the Lindsey family & taught "lining" music classes to illiterate people who could not read music (he would sing out a line of music, then the congregation would repeat it); I am told by cousin Dewey Foster that he also sketched horses very well.) Reuben had first been married to his Macon County neighbor Sarah Beasley. According to their granddaughter Sally Lindsey - Russell as told to Richard Gosnell, her mother Sarah Beasley - Lindsey had died suddenly in 1882 at the headwaters of Hannah's Spring of Meadowfork Creek of what was possibly a heat stroke, she had been working in a hot field & felt sick, bathed off in the cold waters of the spring but didn't improve, went home and was found dead in bed a short time later; her burial place is probably near Hannah's Spring but is unknown & probably unmarked. Reuben & Sarah had seven children alive when Sarah died, none of whom lived with Reuben after their mother died because he told them he didn't want them, they went back to Macon County for a while but Reuben stayed in Madison County and later his children returned and most settled in Madison County as well and married local people too.
After marriage, Sade & Reuben lived in Madison County, NC with her three youngest surviving sons: James William "Doggett" Lindsey, Robert Larkin Rubin Lindsey & George Coleman Greenberry Lindsey. They are all listed together for the only time on the 1900 census in Meadowfork. According to the 1900 census, tjhey may have had one other child to die by then.
On the 1910 census in Spring Creek, Madison County, NC, Sade was living with her 2 youngest sons Larkin & Greenberry, she was listed as having had a total of 7 children, of whom 5 were still living (this is different from what the censustaker wrote in 1900 when she was living with Reuben, he said she had had only four children of which three were still alive; I am inclined to believe the 1910 censustaker for the total number of children because Sade is more likely to have given this information herself because her husband was not there, and I know she had had at least two children before she married Reuben who were both still alive and therefore there were at least 5 living children in 1900, but this would also mean she had several more as yet unknown children). Sade evidently did not raise any of her children except the last three with Reuben Lindsey.
I do not know where Reuben was in 1910, Reuben was not listed in Madison County or elsewhere that I can find, but I am told he could've been visiting relatives in Spartanburg County, SC; Reuben had at least 4 children from his first marriage to Sarah living there and the mountain families frequently traveled back & forth between the two areas on trains, working in the textile mills in the Piedmont for money & returning to attend yearly church Association meetings, family events, etc. (The economy in the mountains was stagnating and many people were leaving the area to work in the mills to the south.)
Sade's marriage to Reuben was not peaceful, she was known to her family as a volatile, aggressive woman, she once hit her husband Reuben in the head with a piece of firewood while arguing with him in front of other people and she possibly tried to stab him with a knife as I was told by Reuben's great-grandson J. Richard Gosnell. Sade was prone to using violence in arguments, Richard's grandfather Jim Lindsey once had to get between Sade & his wife during an argument as told by his grandmother Althea. Both a son & grandson of Sade were also recorded as being violent, and her father "Buffer Jim" was said to have had a noted reputation for picking fights with men; his nickname was said to have come from his liking to butt men with his head. In one story, he started to ram a man with his head & missed, hitting the side of a barn instead.
According to granddaughter Lura Rhinehart - Plemmons as told to Richard Gosnell, Sade's last husband Reuben Lindsey died in June 1911 in Madison County, NC, by then Reuben was living at a place locally known as the "Winding Stairs" house, named for the long set of steep, zigzagging wood stairs leading up from the Hot Springs Road to the house on top of the hill; his burial place is in Meadowfork Baptist Church but is unmarked. Lura told Richard she stayed up all night with his body before the burial, as was the custom.
(Some rumors say Reuben moved to Puerto Rico & died there, but former Madison County Sheriff & cousin Dewey Foster told me the rumor was definitely false. However, Reuben's son Larkin told the WWI draft officer in 1918 that his father was not a native-born citizen, this is definitely not true because all the evidence points to Reuben being born in Cowee TWP, Macon County, NC to US-born parents and Larkin would've known this, he was named for his father's father who moved to Cowee in the 1830's from SC and lived the rest of his life there & was buried at Cowee Baptist Church there; I suspect son Larkin may be where the false rumor started.)
After her last husband Reuben died, Sade was living with her daughter Lavada Jane Rinehart in 1920. Four years later Sade evidently was in Beaverdam in Haywood County where 2 or 3 of her sons lived when she also died and was buried there. She has no carved stone with names & dates, but she does have a large rough dark natural stone marking her grave. Elender's 2 sons Doggett & Coleman Lindsey are also buried in Beaverdam cemetery, along with several grandchildren.
Her son Larkin Lindsey is probably buried at New Prospect Baptist in the New Prospect community of northern Spartanburg County, SC as per his death certificate where he was working in 1934 as a hired hand picking cotton at the time, he was shot by a Negro neighbor who later testified in court that Larkin was drunk, abusing & dragging his wife by the hair of her head threatening to kill her, when he tried to intervene, Larkin threatened to kill him too. The black man was sentenced to 10 yrs in prison for manslaughter. Larkin has no known monument & his wife and children did not stay in the area after they testified at trial on his killer's behalf, his widow and two young daughters moved to Asheville. (Sheriff Dewey Foster told Richard Gosnell that Larkin's wife was said to be non-white, which is not in the news report or census's.)
Elender's being unable to raise her earlier children leads to speculation as to why she was an unfit mother; son Josiah "Joe" Gillespie was raised by his aunt Clearsy Morrow, he moved out of the area & lived in Greenville, SC for many years working in the spinning mills & died in 1956 in Greenwood, SC & is buried there; Lavada Jane's upbringing was such that she did not know what her mother's name/her surname was when she was born, or who her biological father was until he introduced himself years later, so where she grew up & with whom is unknown. I wonder what happened to the other surviving/possible children and how many other unknown children Elender "Sade" Shelton had before she married Reuben Lindsey.
Elender may have gotten a divorce from her first husband in Tennessee where her husband supposedly lived when he died (and where divorce was legal), but the records would be in individual county courts, not listed as divorce records and not yet online, so I'm told by the state. I have found no other record of Elender marrying but twice, once in 1871 to Jesse Gillespie and once in 1885 to Reuben Lindsey, both marriages are in Madison Co, NC.
--Jeni
Sade married Jesse R Gillespie, son of Jesse Henry Gillespie & Judith Tilman Askew - Gillespie, on 14 September 1871 in Madison County, NC and had one known son Josiah Tipton Bailey Gillespie about 1872-4. The relationship didn't last, in 1878 Sade had a daughter she named Agnes Porthna Lavada Jane Shelton by a man named Rogers who was working in the area. (I was told by cousin Dewey Foster that Mr. Rogers was not a local man & didn't stay, he left the county & married someone else, and years after Lavada was married, a tall handsome man rode through the area on a big white horse & dropped by to see his daughter Vade, he introduced himself to her for the 1st time.) Lavada married Campbell Rinehart using the name Gillespie about 1896, but in later years she changed her surname to Shelton on several children's birth records, still later she gave the name Rogers on another child's birth; I suspect the change reflects Lavada's changing knowledge of what her mother's legal status was when she was born and who her father was as it evolved.
Sade's 1st son Josiah Gillespie was living with his aunt Clearsy Morrow in 1880 but Sade was not listed in the county under the name Shelton or Gillespie, nor was her son's father nor her daughter Lavada Jane. (There is an "Ellen Levster" living nearby as a housekeeper of her age with no children, I wondered if this might be her but I have not found a marriage to a Levster.) (I am told by a Gillespie descendant that her husband Jesse Gillespie moved to eastern Tennessee and died there in the early 1900's but I have found no record of this. Sade's father is also said to have moved to eastern TN in Sevier Co and died there in the early 1900's before death certificates, no record of his death has been found.)
About 1882, Sade had a son she named Doggett, he later went by her last husband's name Lindsey; I do not know who his father was or where Sade was when he was born but he was later registered as born in Madison County the son of Reuben Lindsey and by then was going by the name James William Lindsey, supposedly because he didn't like that people would make fun of his given name Doggett (which is common in the area, there is a Doggett Mountain nearby).
On 19 March 1885, Sade had a son she named Robert S, he is on the 1900 census with his mother and brothers. He was later said to have been the son of Reuben Lindsey and went by Larkin Lindsey, Reuben's father's name.
In Madison County, NC on 7 November 1885, Sade married under her maiden name Elender Shelton to the widower Reuben A Lindsey born 1843-44 in Cowee TWP, Macon County, NC; Reuben was tall and black haired with a thick handlebar mustache and had been in Madison County for at least four years, he was called a "singing teacher", he had a deep, strong bass voice which was common in the Lindsey family & taught "lining" music classes to illiterate people who could not read music (he would sing out a line of music, then the congregation would repeat it); I am told by cousin Dewey Foster that he also sketched horses very well.) Reuben had first been married to his Macon County neighbor Sarah Beasley. According to their granddaughter Sally Lindsey - Russell as told to Richard Gosnell, her mother Sarah Beasley - Lindsey had died suddenly in 1882 at the headwaters of Hannah's Spring of Meadowfork Creek of what was possibly a heat stroke, she had been working in a hot field & felt sick, bathed off in the cold waters of the spring but didn't improve, went home and was found dead in bed a short time later; her burial place is probably near Hannah's Spring but is unknown & probably unmarked. Reuben & Sarah had seven children alive when Sarah died, none of whom lived with Reuben after their mother died because he told them he didn't want them, they went back to Macon County for a while but Reuben stayed in Madison County and later his children returned and most settled in Madison County as well and married local people too.
After marriage, Sade & Reuben lived in Madison County, NC with her three youngest surviving sons: James William "Doggett" Lindsey, Robert Larkin Rubin Lindsey & George Coleman Greenberry Lindsey. They are all listed together for the only time on the 1900 census in Meadowfork. According to the 1900 census, tjhey may have had one other child to die by then.
On the 1910 census in Spring Creek, Madison County, NC, Sade was living with her 2 youngest sons Larkin & Greenberry, she was listed as having had a total of 7 children, of whom 5 were still living (this is different from what the censustaker wrote in 1900 when she was living with Reuben, he said she had had only four children of which three were still alive; I am inclined to believe the 1910 censustaker for the total number of children because Sade is more likely to have given this information herself because her husband was not there, and I know she had had at least two children before she married Reuben who were both still alive and therefore there were at least 5 living children in 1900, but this would also mean she had several more as yet unknown children). Sade evidently did not raise any of her children except the last three with Reuben Lindsey.
I do not know where Reuben was in 1910, Reuben was not listed in Madison County or elsewhere that I can find, but I am told he could've been visiting relatives in Spartanburg County, SC; Reuben had at least 4 children from his first marriage to Sarah living there and the mountain families frequently traveled back & forth between the two areas on trains, working in the textile mills in the Piedmont for money & returning to attend yearly church Association meetings, family events, etc. (The economy in the mountains was stagnating and many people were leaving the area to work in the mills to the south.)
Sade's marriage to Reuben was not peaceful, she was known to her family as a volatile, aggressive woman, she once hit her husband Reuben in the head with a piece of firewood while arguing with him in front of other people and she possibly tried to stab him with a knife as I was told by Reuben's great-grandson J. Richard Gosnell. Sade was prone to using violence in arguments, Richard's grandfather Jim Lindsey once had to get between Sade & his wife during an argument as told by his grandmother Althea. Both a son & grandson of Sade were also recorded as being violent, and her father "Buffer Jim" was said to have had a noted reputation for picking fights with men; his nickname was said to have come from his liking to butt men with his head. In one story, he started to ram a man with his head & missed, hitting the side of a barn instead.
According to granddaughter Lura Rhinehart - Plemmons as told to Richard Gosnell, Sade's last husband Reuben Lindsey died in June 1911 in Madison County, NC, by then Reuben was living at a place locally known as the "Winding Stairs" house, named for the long set of steep, zigzagging wood stairs leading up from the Hot Springs Road to the house on top of the hill; his burial place is in Meadowfork Baptist Church but is unmarked. Lura told Richard she stayed up all night with his body before the burial, as was the custom.
(Some rumors say Reuben moved to Puerto Rico & died there, but former Madison County Sheriff & cousin Dewey Foster told me the rumor was definitely false. However, Reuben's son Larkin told the WWI draft officer in 1918 that his father was not a native-born citizen, this is definitely not true because all the evidence points to Reuben being born in Cowee TWP, Macon County, NC to US-born parents and Larkin would've known this, he was named for his father's father who moved to Cowee in the 1830's from SC and lived the rest of his life there & was buried at Cowee Baptist Church there; I suspect son Larkin may be where the false rumor started.)
After her last husband Reuben died, Sade was living with her daughter Lavada Jane Rinehart in 1920. Four years later Sade evidently was in Beaverdam in Haywood County where 2 or 3 of her sons lived when she also died and was buried there. She has no carved stone with names & dates, but she does have a large rough dark natural stone marking her grave. Elender's 2 sons Doggett & Coleman Lindsey are also buried in Beaverdam cemetery, along with several grandchildren.
Her son Larkin Lindsey is probably buried at New Prospect Baptist in the New Prospect community of northern Spartanburg County, SC as per his death certificate where he was working in 1934 as a hired hand picking cotton at the time, he was shot by a Negro neighbor who later testified in court that Larkin was drunk, abusing & dragging his wife by the hair of her head threatening to kill her, when he tried to intervene, Larkin threatened to kill him too. The black man was sentenced to 10 yrs in prison for manslaughter. Larkin has no known monument & his wife and children did not stay in the area after they testified at trial on his killer's behalf, his widow and two young daughters moved to Asheville. (Sheriff Dewey Foster told Richard Gosnell that Larkin's wife was said to be non-white, which is not in the news report or census's.)
Elender's being unable to raise her earlier children leads to speculation as to why she was an unfit mother; son Josiah "Joe" Gillespie was raised by his aunt Clearsy Morrow, he moved out of the area & lived in Greenville, SC for many years working in the spinning mills & died in 1956 in Greenwood, SC & is buried there; Lavada Jane's upbringing was such that she did not know what her mother's name/her surname was when she was born, or who her biological father was until he introduced himself years later, so where she grew up & with whom is unknown. I wonder what happened to the other surviving/possible children and how many other unknown children Elender "Sade" Shelton had before she married Reuben Lindsey.
Elender may have gotten a divorce from her first husband in Tennessee where her husband supposedly lived when he died (and where divorce was legal), but the records would be in individual county courts, not listed as divorce records and not yet online, so I'm told by the state. I have found no other record of Elender marrying but twice, once in 1871 to Jesse Gillespie and once in 1885 to Reuben Lindsey, both marriages are in Madison Co, NC.
--Jeni
Gravesite Details
Buried with large natural stone as headstone
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