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I have been working, off and on, to try to prove our family lineage back to Roger Williams. We are also from the Sheldon family line.
The Roger Williams Family Association has a book out titled "Descendants of Roger Williams, Book 1, Waterman Line, Winsor Line. Page 23 lists Abraham Sheldon and Waite Rhodes, married at Providence, 13 July 1730. Their children were: Abraham b. 23 Oct. 1731, Wait, b. 29 Dec. 1736, Caleb, b. 14 May 1741. The book shows this information for Caleb: m. 27 Feb 1763, Rhobe (Rhoda) Knight. dau. of Jonathan Knight, b 9 Feb 1745; d 13 Feb 1824.
According to all of the Sheldon family information I have been able to gather, our family line goes back through Caleb Sheldon to Abraham Sheldon, to Roger Williams. However, this book published by the Roger Williams Family Association goes against the hundreds of years of family history that has been passed down.
I did write to the Roger Williams Family Association questioning them about it and the information they have.
I received a reply. They sent me a copy of a page of "Arnold's Vital Record of RI, 1636-1850.; Volume 2 Cranston Part II." The woman at the RW Family Assoc said in the letter to me: "I've sent you a copy of those pages saying that they were married and that Caleb was the son of Waite Rhodes." They sent me copies of pages 16 and 23.
Page 16 says: I-317 Knight Rhoda, and Caleb Sheldon, Feb. 27, 1763.
Page 23 says: I-317 Sheldon Caleb, of Johnston, and Rhode Knight, of Jonathan, of Cranston, m. by James Harris, Justice, Feb. 27, 1763.
Notice that neither page says anything about who Caleb's parents were. The family association letter said that the book says that Caleb was the son of Waite Rhodes. Unless they neglected to send me something, the pages they sent don't say anything about Waite Rhodes. So we can't be positive that this is the correct Caleb Sheldon.
My thoughts on this subject: If it is our Caleb Sheldon, then Rhoda Knight Sheldon died prior to Caleb's marriage to Chloe Bowen. Or maybe it wasn't our Caleb Sheldon and this Caleb wasn't the son of Waite Rhodes.
Deaths occurred quite a bit back then and second marriages followed those deaths. Dr. Sheldon's first wife died, and Margaret Roberts' first husband died (a Crockett). Then Dr. Sheldon and Margaret married.
My family line goes back through Dr. Giles James Sheldon, first frontier doctor of Houston County, Minnesota. He kept many journals, and one of the Sheldons sent me some family information that proves the lineage back to the Revolutionary War. I did write to the Sheldon Family Association about this question concerning Caleb Sheldon and Rhoda Knight. I also received the response from them that they only show Caleb as being married to Chloe Bowen. I haven't had the time or energy to pursue this further right now, and haven't written back to the Roger Williams Family Association questioning their comment to me in the letter about Waite Rhodes.
Oh, by the way, one of Dr. Sheldon's journals says that Caleb Sheldon married Chloe Bowen at around the age of 35. So if Caleb didn't marry Chloe until 35, he easily could have been married to Rhoda Knight, and after she died he remarried to Chloe Bowen. That would have put their marriage somewhere around 1780 or so. Chloe was a Quaker and followed the Quaker principals her entire life.
I have been wanting to try to find death records for Rhoda Knight Sheldon. And I really would like to find marriage records for Caleb Sheldon and Chloe Bowen. Children were born in Connecticut, so I tried one of the free online Connecticut records databases but they couldn't find any marriage records for Caleb in Connecticut. They could have married in Rhode Island but so far I haven't been able to find it. Perhaps if we find the right Quaker records we might be able to find something.
Anyway, sorry I went on so long. I hope this helps a bit. If someone could help us solve this mystery and prove the marriage of Caleb and Chloe, that would be great. I really want to prove our family line all the way back to Roger Williams of Rhode Island. Oh, Caleb and Chloe are buried in Norway Cemetery, New York. Caleb died Dec. 24, 1832, age 91 years and one month, wife Chloe. Chloe died June 15, 1835, age 81 years, husband Caleb.
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