William C. Shelton
William C. Shelton's schoolhouse was located beside Greenfield Church and he was for a time the Clerk of the Church.
The roots of the Greenfield Church go back to the old Stinking River Meeting House. On September 12, 1769, the Church of England ordered a new church built "at Thomas Mustein's (usually spelled Mustain) at the old muster place between Abram (or Abraham) Shelton's and Stinking River."
Abraham Shelton owned a square mile (640 acres) of land at Chalk Level, Virginia, on both sides of Hickey's Road (now State Road 685).1 The old church was most likely located in the area of Brown's Tavern on the road that is now State Road 685 (Chalk Level Road), between the present State Road 40 and Stinking River.
At some early date during the turbulent times when the Americans were breaking their ties with England, the Stinking River Meeting House became known as the Stinking River Baptist Church. Records of the church survive back to April 27, 1816, when they were still meeting in the old Stinking River building. Records mainly concern members being received into fellowship and dismissed for improper conduct. Disputes and misconduct were judged and the offender was either forgiven or denied fellowship.
It is interesting to note that slaves were taken into the fellowship. On August 23, 1817, it was noted that John Coles' slave Nicholass "has taken in preaching." A. Mustain, L. Dove, C. Shelton reported they had been informed that Nicholass "had taken a privilege to great, he may preach in the Bounds of the Church." Unfortunately, on January 26, 1822, Coles' Nicholas was found guilty of crimes; and on March 23, the case against him was dismissed "within consequence of his death."
On January 24, 1818, Griffith Dickenson, Thomas Mourning, Cole Shelton, John Douglas, and John Brown were ordered to represent the church in making application to Henry Motley for land to erect a Meeting House. By May 2, 1818, the Stinking River Baptists had their deed for the land of the present church. Henry Motley, together with William I. Lewis gave two and one third (2 1/3 ) acres of land "whereas it is intended to erect by voluntary contribution in the old field near the tanyard of H. Motley a House for Devine Worship." There were deed restrictions which stated the land was "for this particular use and purpose in trust that the present Stinking River Baptist Church is to have exclusive priviledge of Devine Worship in the building which may be thereon erected on the day and times of their stated and regular meeting for Devine Worship, and at other times the building and ground aforesaid to be free for the use of every or any other religious sect or demonination whatsoever for the purpose of Devine Worship."
This deed stated that the new property lines began at a black gum on a small branch and to a pine in the old field near the tanyard. The tanyard or tannery was called Markham's Tan Yard in some early deeds. James Whitehead and his son-in-law William Markham operated the tannery as a partnership for a time. Whitehead bought the property, which was then 126 acres, from Joel Shelton on February 14, 1808. The property where the church and tannery were located was in and out of Shelton ownership for more than one hundred years after Hugh Innes sold part of his land grant to Benjamin Shelton in 1772.
By January 16, 1863, the tan yard property had been reduced to 4 3/4 acres. On that day, William C. Shelton paid $2,000 when he purchased from Henry Faris the property, "including the buildings near Greenfield Meeting House in County of Pittsylvania containing four & three fourth acres more or less including the Tanyard & all the fixtures and tools appertaining thereto."
This high price was likely the result of the high demand for leather during the War Between the States. Those who purchased property with their Confederate money were more fortunate than those who had stacks of the worthless currency after the War had ended in 1865. After the Civil War, when the property of the deceased William C. Shelton was sold at auction in May of 1869, his tanyard and fixtures only brought $900. William's father-in-law, William Reese, and a Mr. Parker bought the tan yard.
In November of 1994, I visited the site of the tanyard. John Bailey, who then owned the property, took me to the old spring not very far from Greenfield Baptist Church. Along the spring branch, the old wooden sills for buildings and the depressions where the vats once processed the leather can still be seen.
1 The old Lynchburg-Danville Stage Road followed Hickey's Road from Chatham to just north of Chalk Level and then continued north by Brown's Tavern and across Stinking River to Lynchburg, Virginia. Hickey's Road turned east and led to the James River, where ships from England brought supplies. The road was called Hickey's Road across Pittsylvania County since it led to Hickey's Store. The store was located near the present town of Henry, northwest of Martinsville, Virginia.
William C. Shelton
My Neighborhood at GeoCities. This site is 1992.
Pittsylvania County
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