Elizabeth, the third child, and second daughter of Hugh W. Stephenson and his wife, Margaret Stephenson, was born in York County, South Carolina, August 18, 1792. She married William Simpson in Tennessee, moved to Lawrence County, Alabama, in 1819. William Simpson and his family were members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church at Rock Spring, where the parents were buried. There were born to them six daughters and three sons. Mr. Simpson was a worker in iron, an honest blacksmith. He was five feet and ten inches high, fair complexion, blue eyes, and weighed 225 pounds. He was a man of good address, pleasant in his manners, of a fine constitution, and uniformly good health. He died of a very severe attack of bilious fever in 1840. This disease was very prevalent at that time in the Mount Hope country.
Isaac Shelby, the youngest child of William Simpson and his wife, Elizabeth Stephenson, was named in honor of Governor Shelby, of Kentucky. Isaac was educated in the common schools of the Mount Hope country. He was an intelligent boy, fonder of his books than of the farm. He was a young man of fine appearance, was popular among the young people of the country in which he lived. He married Miss Kaie Wade, at Mount Hope, in 1851. Miss Wade was an educated lady of unusual ability. She taught school
