Shelly, Mary

Mary Shelly was a member of the Eastern Pequot tribal community at North Stonington, Connecticut.  She married Thomas Nedson and had a number of children, including a daughter, Amanda, and possibly a son, Thomas. 

According to Amanda's obituary in 1889, Mary and her husband were "well-known in Eastern Connecticut as basket and berry peddlers." Her name appears as "Thomas Nedson's wife" on overseer lists in 1830, 1841, and 1846, but it is absent, however, on Isaac Miner's listing of tribal members in September 1857.  She may have died by that time, as her husband was listed as a widower on his death record in 1860.

Brown and Rose, Black Roots, 266, 441.  "Last of the Pequot Race," The New York Times, August 31, 1889. Sources for this biography also come from the Related Digital Heritage Items listed below.