Shipleys of Maryland

The Shipleys of Maryland is an organization of the descendents of Adam Shipley, an Englishman who came to Maryland in 1668 and settled in Ann Arundel County. The organization was founded on October 4, 1925. Membership is open to all descendents of Adam Shipley, as well as their spouses. The Shipleys of Maryland publish a newsletter twice a year, hold a family picnic each June, and hold an annual luncheon every October. The organization’s latest genealogical publication on the descendents of Adam Shipley: "The Shipleys of Maryland, 2002" was released amid much fanfare at our October 2002 annual meeting. This 3 volume set consists of over 2,400 pages which both update and expand on the information provided in our 1968 and 1938 editions. The contents of this article found in "The Shipleys of Maryland 2002," Gateway Press, Inc., Baltimore, MD (2002) are used with permission.
The organization’s website is http://www.ShipleysofMaryland.org
The Shipley Name
According to the best authorities, the word Shipley is of Anglo-Saxon origin. It is one of the oldest names of England, is recorded in the Domesday Book and goes back in usage prior to the present form of the English language. The spelling varies: Shipleigh, Shipeley, Shaplie, Sheplie, Shepley, Chipley and others, but in most cases it is Shipley. The two syllables constitute the variants of Sheep Lea, Sheep Meadow or Sheep Isle, a place where sheep are grazed and tended.
The origin of the name shows that the earliest to bear it came from areas of England where sheep were raised, but their descendants have wide interests and diversified occupations. In England there are many places bearing the name Shipley--hills, valleys, villages, abbeys, glens. In Maryland Shipley and Shipley Heights are settlements in Anne Arundel County; in Baltimore City there is a Shipley Street in the southwestern section where an early member of the Clan built an imposing mansion on a hill overlooking the surrounding area. At Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, The Shipley School,founded by descendants of William Shipley, Quaker, is world-famous as a finishing school for young ladies. And throughout the Midwest where Shipleys have migrated, there are several good-sized cemeteries bearing the name.
Shipley Field at the University of Maryland was named for Burton Shipley,a founding member of the Shipleys of Maryland.
There are Shipleys in Maryland whose lines cannot be traced with certainty to Adam 1 who came to Anne Arundel County in 1668, or whose ancestors came later or from other States. These family groups, many of whose members have contributed much to The Shipleys of Maryland, are listed in the 3rd volume of "The Shipleys of Maryland, 2002".
The name Shipley is to be found also in early records of other colonies in
America:
Virginia-- THOMAS SHIPLEY was on the muster rolls as early as 1620. JOHN SHIPLEY came on the "Primrose", July 6, 1636.
Connecticut-- GEORGE SHIPLEY came in 1621, again in 1626 and settled in 1635.
Massachusetts-- JOHN SHAPLEY (SHIPLEY) in 1637 had a grant of land in Salem.
Pennsylvania-- JOHN SHIPLEY was there in 1692. WILLIAM SHIPLEY, Quaker, came to Philadelphia in 1725.
Delaware-- WILLIAM SHIPLEY, Quaker, bought land in 1735 and virtually established the city of Wilmington.
In Maryland, a THOMAS SHIPLEY came in 1660. On the Eastern Shore, JOHN SHIPWAY (SHIPLEY) in 1665 got a patent in Somerset County for land called Deepen, and later had other properties. There is record of a RICHARD SHIPLEY who was transported in 1668; in 1670 he patented Assurance in St. Mary's County, and under the name of Hippie acquired other lands in Southern Maryland.
The English families of these men were more than likely connected with the English ancestry of ADAM 1 and their relationship may well be documented by future historians. The organization’s quest has been confined primarily to the descendants of ADAM SHIPLEIGH (SHIPLEY) who came to Maryland in 1668, and their spouses.
Shipley Motto
"Nee Placida Content Quieted Est."
The motto on the Shipley coat of arms---"(my soul) is not content with quiet idleness"--is taken from the 9th book of Adenoid, by Virgil, published 19 B.C. at Rome.
The Shipleys of Maryland 2002 - Genealogy Book
The Shipleys of Maryland 1938 had been published only a short time when the decision was made to begin the preparation of a second book of genealogical records of the descendants of ADAM SHIPLEY, who came to Maryland from England in 1668. In the intervening years, two members of the original Book Committee, Mrs. S. L. Lester DuLaney (Cora Anderson) and Mrs. Marvin R. Shipley (Claudine Welsh), devoted themselves to tracing incomplete lines in the first volume and to authenticating material which had been indicated as uncertain.
Augmented by many others, notably Dr. E. Roderick Shipley (see ) and Mrs. E. Roderick Shipley, Linwood Parks Shipley, Sr., Mrs. Charles C.G. Sack, Mrs. Norman E. Shipley and Mrs. G. Lee Wehland, they made innumerable contacts to find current data of marriages, births, deaths and other information to add to the records of those whose genealogical statistics are the basis of the book.
New material has been submitted by members of individual families. Records antedating the year 1938 were researched by Larkin Amos Shipley, pioneer scholar of Shipley genealogy, and the original research committee. An earnest effort has been made to ascertain and maintain historical fact and in the interest of clarity, records are given with complete genealogical data whenever possible. In many instances lines undeveloped in the earlier volumes have not been connected with any degree of satisfaction. In other areas research has uncovered an impressive number of families living in nearly all sections of the United States who claim descent from ADAM 1.
Several Shipley family groups are formally organized; several have compiled histories of their families. One nearby group known as the Shipley Historical Society, was established in 1968 at York, Pennsylvania. Some references which contain information relating to the Shipleys include:
The Sellmans by William Marshall Sellman, (the descendants of Ruth Shipley (of Adam3 ,
Richard2, Adam 1) and William Shipley, Jr. 4 (of William, Sr. 3, Robert2, and Adam 1);
The Shipleys of Madison County, Indiana, by Donald L. Wilson; The Shipley-Mitchell-Thompson Family, by Stith Thompson, Indiana University;
Our Family, a history of the Quaker Shipleys of Pennsylvania and Delaware, by Walton E. Shipley, and The Barnes Family (descendants of Keturah (ShipIey)2 and James Barnes), by Robert W. Barnes.
The publication “Shipley of Maryland 2002” contains, in addition to the genealogical records, a summary of the activities of The Shipleys of Maryland from 1925, with pictures of early homesteads built or lived in by members of the family and word pictures of the men and women who have selflessly served the organization and their native state with distinction.
Prior Genealogy Books
Committee for the first book was appointed in 1927. Members were Amos Larkin Shipley, Isaac Newton Shipley (Frederick), Miss Lillian Shipley, Mrs. Marvin R. Shipley and Miss Emma E. Shipley. It was published in 1938 with the Reverend Richard L. Shipley, Dr. Arthur M. Shipley (see ), and Harry L. Caples as Editors. H. Burton Shipley, was Business Manager and the Publication Committee was William Shorb Shipley, Ulysses H. Shipley and Miss Emma E. Shipley.
Dr. E. Roderick Shipley,became president in 1966 and thereafter he and his wife, who had been appointed Genealogist, devoted a great deal of time to the material prepared by Mrs. DuLaney a,nd in checking records. In the Spring of 1969 the records were turned over to Dorothy Shipley Granger, who completed the volume.
Shipley Maryland Homesteads
In 1949 the Shipleys of Maryland commissioned and issued a series of high-fired porcelainware plates with embossed border in fruit design depicting important homesteads of the descendents of Adam Shipley. Eight homes built or lived in by Shipleys are depicted in this order:
* No. 1 "Fairview" Anne Arundel County
* No. 2 "Adam's Garden" Carroll County
* No. 3 Charles Shipley Mansion Baltimore City
* No. 4 "Shipley's Discovery" Howard County
* No. 5 "Fairmount" Anne Arundel County
* No. 6 "Shipley's Adventure" Howard County
* No. 7 "Oakland" Baltimore County
* No. 8 Home of Adam Alexander Shipley Anne Arundel County
FAIRVIEW, located near Harmans, was on an estate patented in 1776 and came into possession of Shipleys in 1795 when Richard Shipley" married Ann Rowles. The original house was made of logs and was still in use when Larkin Rodolphus Shipley , married Isabel Wesley in 1865, and built a four-room addition. Another addition was built in 1886 and the log part torn down. The house has been demolished within the last decade. Former president James Wilson Shipley was born there.
ADAM'S GARDEN, original homestead of Adam Shipley; who willed it to his grandson Robert Shipley, burned to the ground March 1906. It was the birthplace of three presidents of the Clan-Samuel David Shipley, William Shorb Shipley and Dorothy Shipley Granger. The original wing, with tow sloping roof and wide eaves, was of log and stone. When Robert Shipley built a large addition the entire structure was covered with clapboards. Wide porches (two-story in the new wing) were on the entire south side, facing the meadows. Situated near Sykesville, the property adjoins Springfield State Hospital,. It was in the possession of the Robert Shipley family until 1920, when it was sold to the State of Maryland.
CHARLES SHIPLEY MANSION was located on Catherine and Shipley Streets and Franklin C\\'n Road, near Frederick Avenue in Baltimore. It was purchased by Charles Shipley in 1851 and sold to Philip Leydecker in about 1906. The Veterans of Foreign Wars bought it in 1947 and there was a tentative offer to the Shipley family of a room for central headquarters. This did not materialize and in 1967 the house was razed to make way for a housing project. A 3-story house of twenty rooms, it had two-story wrought iron galleries around three sides. The gardens, for which their owner was renowned, ran down to Gwynns Falls.
SHIPLEY'S DISCOVERY-Located in Howard County, between Sykesville and Hood's Mills on property laid out in 1724 and inherited by Robert Shipley2. Date of the house is uncertain. Part of the property was sold in 1742 to Nathan Barnes and in 1744 other acreage was bought by Peter Porter. A large graveyard was reserved on the property in which many were buried. In 1750 Robert's son, Robert:, moved to Virginia and later to Mecklenburg, N.C. This is the branch of the family connected with Abraham Lincoln.
FAIRMOUNT, built by William Shipley prior to his marriage to Sarah Linthicum in 1829, is in three sections, each with a brick chimney. Situated near Linthicum Heights on the highest spot in the vicinity, it was destroyed by fire in 1885. In 1887 another house was built on the same foundations. This property is owned and occupied by Mrs. J. Clinton Roberts, who uses much of the furniture from the original house. The old fire bell hangs outside the side entrance.
SHIPLEY'S ADVENTURE This is a very fine old house in which Benjamin Shipley lived for some time. It is located in Howard County, near Woodbine, on Route 40, on a land grant patented to George Shipley in 1761. Once owned by Mr. and Mrs. Clifford F. Shaw, it is now owned and occupied by Dr. and Mrs. Robert F. Perilla, who have restored the property.
OAKLAND This house, located on Beaver Dam Road near Shawan, is the birthplace of John Franklin Shipley. It was owned later by Vincent T. Shipley and Harry V. Shipley, who sold it in 1914 to Henry Bishop. The name was then changed to "Henry’s Meadows". Now owned and occupied by Mrs. Charles T. Kemp, it has been restored and reconstructed.
HOME OF ADAM ALEXANDER SHIPLEY, situated near Hanover, is on part of the property acquired by Richard and Ann Rowles Shipley. A log cabin is part of the house as it stands today and the family burying ground is in the rear. Adam Alexander Shipley was steward of Ridge Methodist Church and County Commissioner for the 4th District of Anne Arundel County until his death.

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