Ellen Shand: Hardy Scotswoman

1830-1905

Drumblade Parish church, photo from Joyce Shand, 5th cousin

      Ellen Shand was born April 18, 1830, in Boghead, parish of Drumblade, County of Aberdeen, Scotland, the daughter of David Shand and Jane Robertson. She was the 4th of 5 children and her siblings were William (1825?), Margaret (1825), Robert (1827) and David (1832).  Her father worked as a farmer, probably growing different kinds of oats, potatoes and turnips. In addition, he may have had some Aberdeenshire or highland cattle, and a few chickens. It appears that brother Robert died young, at least he was not living with his family in the 1841 Scotland census, when he would have been 14 years of age. The only sibling we know anything about is Margaret, who married Alexander Maitland, and had a daughter Jane (Jennie) Maitland. We also know that Margaret (and William, if truly her brother) were the result of antenuptial fornication, as the Presbyterian church would describe it!

      The earliest Shand that we know about is Alexander Shand, 6-great-grandfather, who was baptized in 1688 in the parish of Rhynie in Aberdeenshire.

      The family moved to Edinburgh in the late 1840's, where Margaret worked as a lady in waiting. About 1850, the Shands emigrated, possibly entering through Newfoundland or Quebec. The emigrating family included David and Jane, Margaret and Jennie, and Ellen. In 1852, Ellen married Josiah Williams in Dodgeville, Wisconsin. Two years later, Margaret married second husband Robert Kinnear, and David and Jane purchased about 80 acres directly from the government. Margaret had 2 children with Robert, but died giving birth to the second child. At that time, Jennie came to live with David and Jane. I have transcriptions of letters that Jane wrote to Jennie in the 1870's, commenting on family goings-on, the crops and offering sympathy when Jennie's daughter died! The letters are filled with religious references. Most of the Shand family attended a Primitive Methodist church.

      Ellen raised her family in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, including sustaining 4 young children during Josiah's Civil War service and imprisonment. Her father David died in 1866, shortly after Josiah's return. Later, the Williams family lived in Allerton, Iowa, and Kansas. In 1881, Ellen's mother Jane died, and in 1886, her husband Josiah died. In this same time period, daughter Nellie died.

       After Josiah died, Ellen applied for a pension as the widow of Josiah Williams and received $12 per month for the rest of her life. She moved with her daughter Maggie to Fremont, Nebraska for a few years, and in 1889 to Meadow Grove, Nebraska, where Jennie Maitland lived with her family. She bought 2 acres of land in Meadow Grove immediately adjacent to her daughter, Margaret (Williams) Sheets. At age 72, she purchased a 160-acre farm and began purchasing sheeting, siding, shingles, etc. for building a home! She died on January 26, 1905, age 74, in Meadow Grove, at the home of her daughter Maggie. The story in the family is that she died as a result of falling from a barn!