Regarding the parents and birth date of Thomas Jackson Shelley:

He was the son of Hiram Shelley and Mary Jane Goddard. He was not yet born and therefore not included in their 1880 U. S. Census in Piney, Texas County, Missouri.

In the 1900 U. S. Census in Morris Township, Texas County, Missouri, Thomas Shelley and his wife Rosie are listed just above his parents and siblings. His age is listed as 18 and his birthdate is listed as June 1881. Rosie's age is listed as 17 and her birthdate is listed as Dec. 1882. The census is dated 15 June 1900. Thomas and Rosie were married in 1899 in Arkansas.

Thomas' WWI Draft Registration card dated Sept. 12, 1918, has his DOB listed as June 20, 1884.
His description from this card is Medium Height, Medium Build, Blue eyes, Blond hair.

Census records between 1910 and 1940, where he continued to live in Morris Township, support his year of birth as 1881 or 1882. In the 1950 U.S. Census where he was living with his son Kenneth in California, his age was listed as 70.

The California Death Index lists him as Thomas Jefferson Shelley with a birth year of 1879. This is apparently erroneous information perhaps supplied by a member of his family. This is often the case where no birth certificate is available.

On some of his obituaries his middle name is incorrect and his age is misstated as 78 at the time of his death. The obituary attached to this memorial published in a Missouri newspaper lists his correct middle name and his age at death as 76.

Whether born in 1881 or 1882, I believe that the date on his tombstone should be honored and reflected on his memorial. Terry

Thomas Jackson Shelley, for many years a resident of the Mountain Grove and Bendavis communities, died Tuesday, January 14, 1958, in a hospital at Rialto, California, where he had made his home for the past 12 years. He was 78 years old and a member of the Assembly of God Church in Rialto.

Funeral services were held Jan. 20 in the Murr Church with the Rev. Homer Sutton officiating. Burial was in Murr cemetery.

Survivors include four daughters, Mrs. Ernest Travis, of Rialto, Calif.; Mrs. Bell Ford, Pendleton, Ore.; Mrs. Johnny McCall of Bendavis, and Mrs. Elmer Good of Mountain Grove, and four sons, Kenneth C. Shelley of Rialto; Raymond of Fontana, Calif.; Abraham and Walter of Bendavis, also two brothers, Charles Shelley of Nevada, Mo., Cide Shelley of Bendavis, and one sister in Iowa.

--Houston Herald, 1/3/1958 p. 4