William Simmons & Mella (Shafer?) Simmons, Taney, MO
Some time ago a posting was placed on familysearch.org of a couple, William Simmons (abt 1824 - ?)and wife Mella (abt 1828 - ?)in Taney County Missouri. It listed four children, William R, David S, Sarah, and Perlina.
I believe these were my great-great-grandparents, and would appreciate any information available on them and their ancestry.
My belief is based solely on circumstantial evidence, but it seems to be pretty good evidence.
• William and Mella had a son David S. Simmons. My great-grandfather was David Shafer Simmons.
• David S. Simmons was born in 1854, and David Shafer Simmons had completed medical school, had a daughter, lost a wife, and was married for the second time in 1888.
• I believe Mella’s maiden name may have been Shafer. Mella isn’t a very common name and the familysearch posting shows her as having been born about 1828. There was a Mella Shafer born in New York to a family of Dutch descent between March 27, 1824, and November 23, 1828.
• That Mella had a brother named David Shafer.
• That Mella’s mother was Hannah Roosa and there are references to close ties between the Roosa family and the Dutch Simons/Simmons family in that area.
• My grandmother reported that her paternal grandparents were of Dutch descent and wore wooden shoes when they visited David Shafer Simmons about 1905-07.
• David Shafer Simmons lived and practiced medicine in Arkansas about forty miles south of where William and Mella Simmons lived as adults in Taney County, Missouri.
• David Shafer Simmons had a brother “Will” and one of the offspring listed on familysearch is William R. Simmons. (He also had a brother “Charley” who does not appear on the familysearch list.)
• David Shafer Simmons gave the name Mella to his only daughter by his first wife.
Any advice will be appreciated.