Because of the lack of information on the McMinn County, Tennessee, branch of the Sheltons in available genealogical tracts over the years much time has been devoted to developing the ancestral history and lineage of the families of James Shelton, a McMinn County pioneer, and his father, Roderick Shelton, of Buncombe County, North Carolina, and the results are written herein. There is included considerable material which is extraneous ancestry, particularly with the other sons of Roderick and his daughters, namely: Martin, David, Armistead, Lewis, John, William, Sarah, Eliza, Nancy and Elizabeth and their descendants. It is here, however, because of its worth to others not of this direct lineage in connecting their lines. It is intended that the data at hand be developed in a lucid manner so that the reader will not be lost in a maze of names and dates.