Shelley Family, Freemen of Sudbury
Alan is proudly descended from seventeenth century freemen of Sudbury who were master weavers. Clement Shelley a senior citizen in the 1630s fought for the Sudbury freemen’s rights and was a spokesman for the weavers. A formal listing of Sudbury freemen in 1703 confirms Thomas Shelley (born in 1639, a direct ancestor) as “son of Richard Shelley”. This indicates that Richard was a freeman before him. Philip Shelley (ancestor) son of Thomas and other apprentices of Thomas are also mentioned in…