Shep's Place Family Tree

"The 1850 census shows Thomas ‎(80 years)‎, Martha ‎(75 years)‎ and unmarried Clarinda ‎(50)‎ living together. Thomas died the next year. His will, written in 1849, left his property, including two slaves, to his wife Martha during her lifetime; thereafter it was to be divided into sixths, five of these given to his children Clarinda, John Wood, Joseph, Sarah, and Mary Ann. The sixth was allotted to the heirs of his deceased daughter Elizabeth."

When and where Martha died is unclear. Some say that she moved to Randolph County with children after Joseph's death and is buried there. It is more likely that she died in Botetourt Co. She must have died soon after her husband, because the property that was hers for her lifetime began to be liquidated in 1852.