Jerry, Russ and Steven Paul, March 13, 2012

The old believe everything;

the middle aged suspect everything;

the young know everything.

~Oscar Wilde

Hello Family and Friends,

Greetings to all of you from San Diego where the trees and flowers of spring are beginning to burst forth with new life. 

Russell and Steven Paul Shepard

Today is the birthday of my brother Russell Shepard and his son Steven Paul Shepard. They are not the only father- son combi- nation in our family who share a birthday on the same day of the year. In January we celebrated the birthdays of my cousin Dane Shepard and his son Nathan who were both born on January 21. Are their any other parent-child same day birthdays in the family?

Russ and Steven live in Anacortes, Washington at the family home on Wildwood Lane. Russ (who turns the big 5-0 today!) has lived in Anacortes ever since his parents Eugene and Maida Gower Shepard moved from San Diego 34 years ago.

Steve turns 22 today and has lived his entire life in Anacortes. His mother Pam Engan Shepard and sister Linda also live in Anacortes. The first picture shows the happy father and son duo. Happy Birthday to Steve and Russ!

Jerry Clark and a Roman "Soldier"

Tomorrow, March 14, is the birthday of my "brother by another mother" Jerry Clark, who lives with his wife Cathrina Helms Clark in Lubbock, Texas. He stays busy with Taylor Publishing in Lubbock, a small business which he has owned for most of his life, and which he runs these days with his daughter Susan Clark Cox.

The second picture shows Jerry in front of the ancient Roman Colosseum mixing it up with a Roman "soldier" while on vacation last summer in Italy.

Jerry: Wow, I can't believe that I will be able to get social security now. I got here way too fast! Cat is healing well [from back surgery] and will start back to work part-time after the 19th. We have been busy going back and forth to Dallas to visit kids and go to Cat's doctor followups. 

My business is still blessed even during this depression. Susan bought a used building for us to move into this summer. It is a great investment and better than paying rent as I did for 30 years. Cat and I have 8 grand-kids to keep up with and more on the way with Susan's next one due in July. Becky is doing great with 3 kids and an active business. Amanda just bought a house in Bedford (suburb of Ft Worth) and is doing well. 

God bless the Shepard's! Hope to see you all soon and if you ever want to come to the dust bowl, please come see us. Remember we live here so you guys don't have too. We will celebrate my birthday all week and as long as I can milk it!

Best wishes to Jerry for a happy birthday, or a happy week if he can swing it! By the way, don't let Jerry mislead you. West Texas can also be a very beautiful place as this link illustrates so well. Thanks to my old college roommate Robert Joe Lee for sharing this link.
- - -

Steve

The Very Act of Remembering, March 10, 2012

We are always adding to the past we remember,

because in the very act of remembering,

we add something new to our past.

~Barbara Mesle

Hello Family and Friends,

I am thinking about my uncle Elmer Shepard whose funeral is today in Henderson, Texas, and about his family who is gathered there to honor him. I have also been thinking recently about Elmer's Ggrandparents, because of some new information I have discovered about their remarkable lives.

An Ill Fated Marriage. Tomorrow is the 152nd anniversary of the wedding of William Shepard and Mary Ellen Sprague, who were married in Indiana in 1860. Theirs was an all too brief, compelling, but ultimately tragic relationship.

These twenty-somethings (she was 20, he was 24) were married on March 11, 1860, in Montgomery County, Indiana, perhaps in the county seat of Crawfordsville, where their marriage record is located today. William's family was actually from Tippecanoe County (to the north) but it was customary for young couples to be married in the bride's county, so they tied the knot in Montgomery County, where her family lived.

A lot of living was packed into their brief 2 year marriage. Here is a quick summary of the events we know about their life together:

• June, 1860: 3 months after their wedding, Census records show William living and working on the farm of the George Baker family near Wabash, Indiana, making good money.
• April, 1861: The Civil War breaks out.
• May, 1861: Mary Shepard becomes pregnant with their first (and only) child.
• September, 1861: William enlists in Company F, 2nd Indiana Cavalry, of the Union Army at Wabash Indiana.
• December, 1861: William leaves home for his military service.
• February 2, 1862: Mary Shepard gives birth to William Elmer Shepard in Wabash.
• Mid-February, 1862: William is injured in battle at Bowling Green, Kentucky, and hospitalized.
• July 21, 1862: William, at 26, dies in a military hospital at Evansville, Indiana, where he is buried today (see first picture of me kneeling at his grave).

Just 2 years, 4 months into their marriage, Mary finds herself a widow with a 5 month old baby boy. The vows and the joys they shared on that second Sunday of March in 1860 must have included some high hopes for a long, happy, productive life together. But those dreams were never realized because of a war that took the life of William and over 600,000 other Americans.

The Rest of the Story.  After receiving word of her husband's death, Mary Ellen packed up little William Elmer and tearfully left Wabash and returned the 100 or so miles to Montgomery County. Like so many other war widows, she returned home for healing and support from family and friends, and to put her life back together. 

After the war ended, Mary Shepard married another William, this time William Ragsdale, an older widower from Ladoga in Mont- gomery County, a man who already had 9 children! With him she bore 3 more children, making a combined family of 13 kids! She went from being a single mother of one little boy, to the Nursery Rhyme mother, who "had so many children she didn't know what to do"!

It was a marriage that took its toll. Not necessarily on her, but on young William Elmer. From all indications she lived with Mr. Ragsdale quite contentedly, and cared for all her, his and their children until they were all raised, and until he died in 1887. Young William Elmer, however, was so out of place in his step-father's home that he ran away as a teenager, never to be reunited with his family.

Mary Ellen Sprague Shepard Ragsdale died in 1919 and is buried today in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis. It is not by accident, nor without great meaning, that her headstone has one descriptor for her: Mother. (see second picture of her grave.)

Tomorrow, on their anniversary, I will be saying a prayer in church for my GGgrandparents William and Mary, in gratitude for their lives, and for their willingness to live with courage and hope in a dark and desperate time.

- - -

Steve

Elmer Shepard (1918-2012), March 8, 2012

Praising what is lost
makes the remembrance dear.

~William Shakespeare

Hello Family and Friends,

I was saddened just 2 days ago when my cousin Dane Shepard let me know that his father Elmer Shepard had died that afternoon. The family had received word from his doctor just the day before that he was suffering from congestive heart failure and that he would not last much longer.

At 93 years old, Elmer was the senior member of our Shepard clan, and had been ever since his older sister Pauline Shepard Russell passed away 12 years ago here in San Diego. For the last few years Elmer had lived near his son Dane, most recently in a Veteran's facility in Norman, Oklahoma.

Elmer began his life in the panhandle of Oklahoma, in Beaver County, in the spring of 1918, as the second child of William and Bura Davis Shepard. When he was 10 years old the family moved to the tiny hamlet of Two Buttes, Colorado, which is where he graduated from High School. In 1940 the entire family moved to San Diego, California, just before the U.S. entered World War II. Elmer served in that war as an Air Force pilot.

While in the service he met Beryl Swinney at San Diego's Naval Hospital (see first picture). They were married in 1946 and settled in San Diego where they were part of the larger San Diego Shepard clan. That clan included William and Bura Shepard, all four of their children (including Elmer) and their spouses, and their brood of 12 grandchildren, which included Dane and Joan, Elmer and Beryl's two children.

I was also among that brood of 12 who were born and raised in San Diego in the 1940's, 50's and 60's. It was during that time that I had lots of contact with my uncle Elmer, certainly more than in the years since then. I remember him as a serious man, who shared his mother's deep devotion to the Church, a man who enjoyed family gatherings, who was willing to take us boys to a Padres game, and who thought very highly of family. (see second picture from 1975, of Elmer -- in the middle -- with his parents and siblings.)

It was in the 1940's, 50's and 60's, on Christmas Eve or July 4th or Thanksgiving, that the whole family would gather occasionally: uncles and aunts with their partners, grandparents, and lots of cousins, with a few friends thrown in for good measure. Those were important times when the whole family bonded over lots of food, board games and hand cranked home made ice cream. My uncle Elmer was very much a part of those gatherings. As a matter of fact, often it was at his and Beryl's home on Osage Trail in the San Diego suburb of Winter Gardens that we gathered.

When I saw my uncle Elmer at the Oklahoma family reunion 3 years ago, it may have been the first time I had seen him since the late 1970s when he and Beryl moved from San Diego and settled in Henderson, Texas. Beryl died 18 years ago, when they lived in Henderson, and is buried in a county cemetery nearby. Appropriately enough, Elmer will join her in that same cemetery when he is laid to rest this weekend. The funeral will be this Saturday at the Crim Funeral Home in Henderson, Texas.

Our hearts go out to Elmer's immediately family, his son Dane (in the 3rd picture, from 2008) who lives in New Castle, Oklahoma with his wife Cindy and their children Nathan and Kaylan, and Elmer's daughter Joan Shepard (also in the 3rd picture) who lives in Dixon, California, and her daughter Havilah Wardle in West Valley City, Utah. 

- - -

Steve

The Unfolding Puzzle of Life, March 3, 2012

We are one big family of people,

trying to make our way through

the unfolding puzzle of life.

~Sara Paddison

Hello Family and Friends,

Happy Birthday Kerri! Today is the birthday of my niece Kerri Shepard Aquiningoc of Weatherford, Texas. The daughter of Jackie Perry and my brother Gary, Kerri was born and raised in San Diego, but over 10 years ago moved to Texas where her daughters Lyndsey and Mandi, her mother Jackie, her sister Kelly and other family also live.

The first picture shows Kerri with Lyndsey hamming it up on the left and Mandi just looking lovely on the right in a picture that was taken a couple of months ago.

Way Back When. My 2nd cousin Jerry Davis wrote me recently to say that Valentine's Day, a few weeks ago, was the anniversary of the birth of his grandmother Vera LeCrone Davis. 

Vera was born in 1893 in Kansas. In Oklahoma, on Christmas Day in 1910 she married John Davis, who was a younger brother of my Great Grandfather James Brooks Davis. John and James Davis were among those family members who migrated from Spencer, Indiana and settled in Beaver County, Oklahoma in the early years of the 20th century. Jerry had recently dug out a wonderful old photo of his grandparents Vera and John, and was kind enough to scan it and send me a copy.

The second picture I am including shows John and Vera LeCrone Davis in the 1920's, sitting proudly in what Jerry says was the first Model T (or Model A?) that they ever owned. He tells me that "the picture was taken on their farm in Beaver County near the town of Sophia. That is a windmill frame in the background that was on the farm."

Speaking of old family photos, I recently received dozens of old family pictures from Eric and Ruthie Russell of Red Rock, Nevada. Eric is the grandson of Bill and Pauline Shepard Russell and received these family pictures from his grandparents, and from his dad Rex Russell, who died just about a year ago. Many of them are real treasures. I look forward to sharing many of them with all of you in this blog in coming weeks and months. Thanks so much to Eric and Ruthie!

The third picture I am including is one of those I recently received and was taken back in the late 1940s, probably in Colorado or Oklahoma. The back of the photo simply says "Rex, Earle, Jerry and Lyndell." My cousin Rex Russell (1936-2011) is the young man on the right. Another one of them might be Lyndell Jenkins. Can any of you identify any of the others?

- - -

Steve

Most of Life Is Who You Live It With, February 27, 2012

Most of life is who you live it with.

~Robert and Barbara Mesle

Hello Family and Friends,

My Cousin Jimmie. Best wishes to my cousin Jimmie Gower and his wife Cheryl Hazard Gower of Ft. Mohave, Arizona who celebrated their 43rd wedding anniversary this past Tuesday on Feb 21. Click here for a picture of them celebrating their anniversary last year.

Cheryl has had some health concerns in the last few months as a result of a growth her doctor discovered last October. Cheryl: "Thank you for your good wishes. For our 43rd anniversary, Jim went golfing for the first time in a couple years and found out that he isn't as limber as he once was. I have to stay home because I'm undergoing precautionary chemotherapy. I don't know what I'd do without my wonderful husband, who has been a saint thru all the aches and nausea. I've lost all my hair, and at the moment look like an owlet that's just getting it's first downy fluff. A real looker!!"

Jim is the second grandchild of Leroy and Nola Shannon Gower and the younger brother of Hershell Gower whose birthday was remembered in my last post. After that post I heard from my aunt Thelma Shepard Boyd (on the other side of the family). She wrote that, with a smile, she remembered babysitting Hershell and Jimmie when they were little. (I will leave it to you to figure out how long ago that was!)

My Other Brother Darrell. Happy Birthday today to my younger brother Darrell Shepard. Darrell and his wife Mary Medina Shepard live in Kirkland, Washington near their kids Christopher, Rachel and Patrick. The excitement in their family these days in the upcoming wedding of their son Patrick and his fiance Nicole Haw. The whole family is traveling to Cancun, Mexico next month for a "destination wedding" to celebrate!

The first picture is an oldie taken in San Diego about 1960 and shows my brother Darrell on the right with me on the left. The second picture was taken last month and shows Darrell on the left with their older son Christopher.

Darrell: We are all doing fine for the most part. January and February in Seattle always wear me down -- the absence of sunlight. It actually creates a type of stress in my body and mind. Like a knot in my stomach. For that reason I for one am looking forward to Mexico -- sunshine, blue skies and warm weather. It can't come soon enough.

The performing business is moving right along. Every gig goes well. I just need more of them. Like any new business it takes time to get the word out. It has been an amazing experience playing songs from the "Great American Songbook" for "The Greatest Generation." At every show, when they hear these songs from the 40's they are transported to another time and place. And it brings them such joy -- a testimony to the power of music. So it really strikes me how music holds the key to our past, to memories that have long been dormant in our minds.

After every show I hear comments like, "Those songs brought back such memories..." and they proceed to tell me their stories of where they were when that particular song was popular. And every story is interesting. Stories they haven't thought of in years. Decades! Yes, I believe music is powerful magic.
- - -
Steve

Smiling (Or Not) As the Years Go By, February 20, 2012

There is nothing in all the earth
that you and I can do for the Dead...
They do not need us,
but forever and forever more
we need them.
~President James Garfield

Hello Family and Friends,

Greetings to all of you, wherever you may be, from San Diego California on this President's Day holiday.

Yesterday was the birthday of my cousin Hershell Gower, the oldest grandchild of Leroy and Nola Shannon Gower.

His parents are the late Hendrix Gower and Starlene Bass Gower. Of my 6 cousins on the Gower side of the family, Hershell is the first born. He came along during the second World War, just about a year after the first of the Gowers moved to San Diego from Oklahoma, a move that took place in 1942.

I have not been in touch with Hersh much in many years, so I was pleased to run into his son Shaun on Facebook recently and get his father's phone number. In a phone conversation with Hersh the other day, he told me that he has lived in Bullhead City, Arizona for about 3 years now. He keeps busy working a few jobs each week and enjoys the warm dry weather of Arizona and the laid back lifestyle with his wife Shelly.

The first picture (above) shows Hershell at 60 years old on the right with his father Hank Gower in the middle and his grand mother Nola Shannon Gower on the left. This picture was taken in 2003 on the occasion of Nola Gower's 100th birthday celebration in Anacortes, Washington. How often does a 60 year old have the opportunity to celebrate with their GRANDmother on her birthday?

The second picture was taken in San Diego in 1951 and shows a young Hershell on the right with his young grandmother Nola Gower. The other two in this picture are also grandchildren of Nola Gower: my brother Gary Shepard is on the left; my sister Linda Shepard is the baby in the middle.

Today, February 20, is the birthday of my uncle Terry Boyd of Gallup, New Mexico. He has been a member of our family ever since he and my aunt Thelma Shepard were married back in 1958. After a number of years living in San Diego, they moved to Gallup, New Mexico where they live today.

Thelma tells me that Terry is dealing with a number of health concerns these days, including diabetes and C.O.P.D., as well as the need for knee replacement surgery. They are going back and forth from Gallup to the V.A. in Albuquerque for his various treatments and doctor's appointments. Terry's daughter Kim Clark tells me that Terry can't walk too well so they don't get out much, but he is feeling a lot better since they got 60 lbs of fluid off of him. In other news from Kim's part of the family, she tells me that her daughter-in-law Desiree is feeling a little better. She is now 5 months pregnant with their twins, who are still doing just fine and growing as they should.

The third picture shows Terry Boyd on the right, with his daughter Kim Clark in the middle, and Kim's father-in-law Gabriel Ortiz on the left. Thanks to Kim for this picture which was taken in April, 2011.

- - -

Steve 

Happy Valentines Day! February 13, 2012

In family life,

love is the oil that eases friction,

the cement that binds closer together,

and the music that brings harmony.

~Eva Burrows

Hello Family and Friends,

Greetings to all of you on the eve of Valentine's Day. Tomorrow will be a day to remind us that love is what families are all about, at least when we are at our best. In the back of our minds we know that families are sometimes less than loving, but we celebrate love nonetheless, if for no other reason than to remind us what we strive to be.

Today is the birthday of my cousin Gloria Harrell Watson of Knoxville, Tennessee. Gloria is the sister of Michael and David Harrell, as well as Paula Tuzzolino, whose birthday we celebrated last week. She is also the granddaughter of Leroy and Nola Shannon Gower. Her mother is Vicki Gower Johnston of Oak Harbor, Washington.

Gloria was born and raised in San Diego, where she graduated from Hoover High School. San Diego is where all my Shepard and Gower cousins were raised back in the 1940s, 50s and 60s. Gloria moved to Tennessee over 30 years ago and has lived there ever since.

The first picture shows Gloria with her grandmother Nola Shannon Gower. Gloria: "Thank you so much for the picture because it means a lot to me! You are correct that it was taken in the early 90's, in Knoxville, Tenn. in the house Bill and I owned. We were on my back patio and the dog's name was Cookie. Grandma, Bill and myself had just come back from having dinner at the Red Lobster. Marge (Grandma's friend) drove her from San Diego to Tennessee and dropped her off for a visit with us. Thank you for such a precious memory."

Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow! The following family photo presentation for Valentine's Day is an updated version from the one I shared with you last year. It includes people of all ages from various parts of our family, all of whom seem to really like each other! (If the following does not play correctly, select this link.)

- - -

Steve

Gower Family Now and Then, February 7, 2012

Family means
nobody gets left behind,
or forgotten.
~from the movie "Lilo and Stitch"

Hello Family and Friends,

Greetings to all of you from Alameda, California where Cindy and I are visiting with our kids Nathan and Chenda and our grandkids Preslea and Logan.

Today is the birthday of my cousin Paula Harrell Tuzzolino, who, with her husband Frank Tuzzolino, lives in Sun Lakes, Arizona. At least they live there at this time of the year. In the warmer months they spend most of their time at their home in Oak Harbor, Washington. Paula's mother is my aunt Vicki Gower Johnston of Oak Harbor. Happy Birthday to Paula!

Paula has one daughter, Heather, who, with her husband Sean Cotton, live in San Antonio, Texas. They are the proud parents of Paula's two granddaughters, Victoria and Alexandria. I mentioned in this blog a few months ago that Alexandria ("Lexi") was born just this past September and is the newest Gower descendant.

Speaking of the descendants of my grandparents Leroy and Nola Shannon Gower, I made a terrific find online while researching my Gower ancestors. I came across the picture of, and information about, the grandparents of Paula's (and my) grandfather Leroy Gower. Also named Leroy Gower (1854-1909), he and his wife-to-be Ellen Taylor (1855-1906) were children during the Civil War, and then married as teenagers in Arkansas in 1872. Leroy was originally from Izard, Arkansas, while Ellen Taylor was originally from Alabama. 

For most of their married lives they lived in the area around Mountain View in Stone County, Arkansas (just south of Izard - but you knew that, right?). Stone County is where they raised their family, including sons George William Gower, who was my great grandpa, and his brother Leroy Monroe "Babe" Gower (yet another Leroy). Stone County is also where most of our Gower ancestors lived for several generations. My grandparents Leroy Ertin Gower and Nola Shannon were born in Mountain View at the turn of the 20th century, but left as young adults in 1925 for Oklahoma, and then moved on to San Diego, California in 1942.

The second picture I am including shows my GGgrandparents Leroy Gower and Ellen Taylor. The source from whom I received this picture claims that "this is the oldest known picture of any Gower in Arkansas." The looks in their eyes, their clothing, the quality of this image, and the setting all suggest a very old photograph. I could find no date for this remarkable photo, but both these folks died in their early 50s in 1906 and 1909, respectively. A good guess as to when it was taken would be sometime in the 1890s, perhaps earlier.

The following is a lineage that includes Leroy and Ellen Gower and continues through Paula Tuzzolino and our youngest Gower descendant Alexandria Cotton.

• Abell Gower (from Gloucester, England, dates and wife unknown), the father of...
• Abell Gower (1640-1689) who married Jane Hatcher (1640-1710), the parents of...
• Abel Gower (1690-1780) who married Mary (unknown maiden name), the parents of...
• John Gower (1721-1800) who married Rosemond Fielding (1699-1759), the parents of...
• Thomas Gower (1741-1815) who married Mary Robertson (1730-1816), the parents of...
• Matthew Gower (1762-1853) who married Susannah (unknown maiden name), the parents of...
• Abel Gower (1800-1870), who married Rachel Rebecca Lay (1800-1860), the parents of...
• Jackson W. Gower (1831-1902), who married Mary Anderson (1832-1912), the parents of...
• Leroy Gower (1854-1909), who married Ellen Taylor (1855-1906), the parents of...
• George Gower (1873-1944), who married Serena Turner (1876-1931), the parents of...
• Leroy Ertin Gower (1899-1974), who married Nola Shannon (1903-2004), the parents of...
• Victoria Gower (b. 1933), who married Jerry Kerr (b. 1930), the parents of...
• Paula Harrell (b. 1951), who married Bruce Robson (b. 1949), the parents of...
• Heather Robson (b. 1976) who married Sean Cotton, the parents of...
• Alexandria Cotton (b. 2011)

This 15 generation lineage is the longest lineage that I can conjure up anywhere in our family tree. 14 of these generations are American born folks, which I find truly remarkable.

- - -

Steve

In The Bleak Midwinter, February 1, 2012

This is my family.

I found it, all on my own.

It's little, and broken,

but still good. 

Yeah, still good.
~from the movie "Lilo and Stitch"

Hello Family and Friends,

Greetings to all of you from San Diego, California on the eve of Ground Hog Day! We have had unseasonably warm weather here, even for us. It may be bleak midwinter in some places, but temperatures near 80 degrees have been our lot in recent days. I know it has been quite a different story for some of you, as the following will attest.

Surgery for Cathrina Clark. Our love and warmest wishes go out to Jerry and Cathrina Clark. Just yesterday Cathrina had back surgery in Lubbock, Texas. Jerry tells me "the surgery went great. Many prayers were answered. She is in pain but in very good shape."

Cindy Shepard. Tomorrow, Feb. 2, is the birthday of Cindy Dillon Shepard, my brother Gary's wife. Cindy and Gary live in Western Washington, near the town of Oak Harbor. They have lived there since 2003 when Gary retired in San Diego and they moved to the great Northwest. After a fairly mild beginning to winter this year, they have recently seen lots of rain and wind and some ice and snow.

This has not been a healthy start to the new year for Cindy. A few weeks ago she was quite ill with Colitis, and was even hospitalized for a short time, requiring time off from her job. She has no sooner recovered and gone back to work, when she took a nasty fall on the ice and broke her arm and sprained her ankle. It was not a simple break, but a very painful one that will incapacitate her for some time. The doctor tells her she will be off work for at least a month, maybe two. In the midst of all that we wish her a speedy recovery and offer her Happy Birthday wishes!

The first picture shows Cindy with her husband Gary in a picture that was taken last summer at the Shepard Family Reunion in Anacortes, Washington. Some of the reunion attendees can be seen in the background, including Jerry, Darrell, Pat, Chris, Nicole, Linda, Logan and Maida.

Flashback 31 years for the second picture. It was taken in San Diego in 1981 at the home of grandma Nola Shannon Gower who is on the far left. In the middle are Gary and Cindy Shepard, with our son Nathan on her lap. That is me on the far right, back in the days of big hair and big glasses.

"Destiny of the Republic." I don't often review books in these blog posts, but I do want to recommend a book that I read recently. Many of us who have Shepard, Davis or Kilpatrick blood also have a connection to the Church of Christ or the Christian Church. One of the most famous people of this religious tradition was our 20th President, James Garfield, who was assassinated early in his presidency, 130 years ago. Garfield was not just a member of what was called the "Restoration Movement", he was an active minister, as well as the President of one of our church colleges, before his call to politics. He was also from Ohio, the home of many of our Davis and Shepard ancestors.

"Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President" (2011) by Candice Millard, tells the story of Garfield's murder, its effect on our nation, and the unique time in history when it occurred. It is an excellent work of non-fiction that is at the same time heartwarming, heartbreaking and eye opening. The author's scholarship is remarkable to go along with her ability to write a work of history that reads like an exciting mystery novel. You don't have to share Garfield's religious affiliation to appreciate this astounding American story. Anyone with a love of family, a heart for America, or even a slight interest in history will find this a memorable read. I heartily recommend it.

- - -

Steve

Other Shepard Kin, January 27, 2012

I don't know who my grandfather was;
I am much more concerned to know
what his grandson will be.
~Abraham Lincoln

Hello Family and Friends,

Today is the 120th anniversary of the birthday of my great aunt Sadie Shepard Pruett who was born January 27, 1892. She was born in Alton, Illinois just like her older brother and only sibling (my grandfather) William Shepard, who was 4 years her senior. She and William were just teens when their parents left Illinois and settled in Beaver County, Oklahoma in the first decade of the 20th century. Interestingly, also like her brother William, she died within days of her 88th birthday. Sadie died in 1980, William in 1976.

The late 19th century was a time when large families were common. A family from that time period with just two children is an interesting anomaly. My grandmother Bura Davis, for example, (born 1896) was one of 7 children. My grandmother Nola Shannon (born 1902) was one of 9 children. And my grandfather Leroy Gower (born 1899) was one of 7 children. It was unusual then for Sadie Shepard to be one of only 2 children, she and her brother William.

Like most of our ancestors, William's parents William Elmer Shepard and Elvira Owens were country folk for whom one more child meant one more worker on the family farm. But every couple is different, with unique physical and emotional needs and limitations.

To be fair, there seems to have been two other siblings of William and Sadie Shepard who died in infancy: a boy they named Elmer and a girl they named Eva. Losing a child can be a devastating experience, but losing two children can make a couple hesitant to have any more.

Sadie later married Levy Pruett and had 3 daughters, Alberta, Gayle and Twila. The first picture I am including shows Sadie at 23 years old with her first two daughters Gayle and Alberta. This lovely picture was taken in June, 1915 when her brother William Shepard and his fiance Bura Davis were married.

The second picture shows my grandfather William Shepard (bottom right) with his wife Bura Davis next to him. At the bottom left is his sister Sadie whose husband Levy Pruett is in the middle of the top row. Also in the picture are two Pruett daughters, Gayle (bottom row) and Twila (upper right), and Gayle's husband Glenn Barker (upper left). As you can see on the far right, this picture was taken in 1946 in Tijuana when the Pruett family came to San Diego to visit the Shepards.

Sad to say, I have not had much contact with the descendants of Sadie Shepard Pruett. 20 years ago when my dad and I visited Oklahoma we visited his aunt Sadie's daughter Alberta Pruett Getz and her husband Pat, but I have not maintained contact with them over the years.

I did have a phone conversation earlier this week with Alberta's son Norman Getz, who still lives near Elmwood in Beaver County, Ok. He mentioned that his parents Alberta and Pat are now gone, and that few members of the Pruett family remain.

Sadie and William Shepard's mother Elvira Owens was from the Owens family of Madison County, Illlinois. I recently connected online with a 3rd cousin, Richard Olen Young II, who is also descended from that same Owens family and lives today in Maine. I look forward to that connection and learning more about family members of today and of long ago.

- - -
Steve