Jonathan Shelver (1820)

Post date: 29-Jan-2009 18:51:30

Although there were no recorded Sheldons among the 1820 settlers to South Africa, some documents from that time do give the impression that a John Sheldon or Jonathan Sheldon, wheelwright, might have been among Scanlen's Party to Grahamstown.

However, this man was in fact Jonathan Shelver (see "1820 Settlers", South Africa, Rootsweb.com). Jonathan died circa 1863 according to the records in the Cape Town Archives.

Examples of Shelver becoming Sheldon are:

Transcription of Daniel Baruk's "letters on emigration" which lists a "Jonathan SHELDON,Wheelwright,28"

Colin Turing Campbell's 1897 book British South Africa; a history of the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, from its conquest 1795 to the settlement of Albany by the British emigration of 1819-- ; with notices of some of the British settlers of 1820 lists a "Sheldon, John, 36" as a member of Scanlen's Party.

T. Sheffield's 1884 book The Story of the Settlement: Grahamstown As It Was, Grahamstown As It Is lists a "Sheldon, Jno., 36" as a member of Scanlen's Party. (Source: Ancestry24.co.za)

Harold Edward Hockly's 1957 book The Story of the British Settlers of 1820 in South Africa mentions a Sheldon