Rachel Shelby was born on October 10, 1721, in County, Cardigan, Cardiganshire, in the principality of Wales, a daughter of Evan and Catherine Shelby. Some seven or eight years after George the Second had succeeded to the English Throne, Evan Shelby, then perhaps over forty years of age, emigrated with his family, where he hoped to better his fortune. They lived first on Indian owned territory west of the Susquehanna River, in Pennsylvania. On June 7, 1839, through Lord Baltimore's land agent, an allotment of lands was assigned to Evan Shelby. This property, named "Maiden's Choise" was a narrow and irregular shaped strip, beginning at the Pennsylvania line and extending southward along the base of the North Mountain three and a half miles. [1]
Rachel was still living on her family's Maiden Choice plantation in 1747, when she married John McFarland, a seafaring man. They had one son, John Jr. in 1748. When John McFarland, Sr. died, Rachel married Captain Grimes, by whom she had two daughters, who accidentally burned to death. Rachel and her son, John McFarland, Jr. were members of the Forks of Cheat Baptist Church. In 1756, Rachel married her third husband, Philip Pindell, a son of Thomas Pindell, Jr. and his wife, Jane. They lived on a 130 acre farm called the "Resurvey of Mill's Folly," near Licking Creek, a mile southwest of North Mountain. It was here that two of their four children were born. In 1763, Philip purchased a property in Frederick county, Maryland called "Fountainhead." Philip and Rachel became early settlers in Frederick county, purchasing two other properties in Maryland: "Pindlell's Enlargement," in Anne Arundel county, in 1769, and "Mill's Folly" in Frederick county, in 1772. Philip also acquired land in Little Cover, across the line in Pennsylvania. [2]
Philip and his son, Jacob, served in the Revolutionary War. In May, 1778, Philip was commissioned a Captain of a company, in Colonel Lemuel Varrett's Battalion. [3] Rachel remained in Maryland during the War and in 1779, after Philip's discharge, he sold his Mill's Folly tract and they moved about 100 miles westward to Monongalia county, Virginia (which became part of West Virginia at the onset of the American Civil War.) Philip is honored for his service by the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, as Ancestor #A089115. Application for membership in the Society have been made by the descendants of their son, Jacob Pindell, who married Hannah Chipps, and of their daughter, Rachel Pindell married John Coombs, who inherited land from Captain Pindell. Note: DAR records are under the spelling of the Surname as "Pindall." As such, the DAR assigns a single standard surname that covers variant spellings of similar surnames.
Philip died on their Virginia farm on "Flaggy Meadow" in the present Grant District, about seven miles from the site of Morgantown. He was buried in Wiseman Graveyard, near Lawesville, Monongalia county. In his Will, he gave his son Jacob his properties on Buffalo Creek, David's Run, and Drunkard's Mill Run and Rachel all the household property and the rents of the Burchfield's Run plantation for her support. Captain Pindell gave his rifle to his grandson, and namesake, Philip Coombs. He also gave his watch to his step-son, John McFarland. Rachel died sometime before 1819, in Virginia, having lived a long life of 88 years.
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Categories: Maiden's Choice Land Grant