Our Family Grows, March 13, 2019

Lyliana Stockmoe, born March 1, 2019

The Newest Family Member. The newest member of our family was born recently in Washington State. My niece Linda Shepard Stockmoe, and her husband Jamie Stockmoe had a baby girl on the first day of this month. Lyliana Stockmoe was born Friday, March 1 in Anacortes, Washington. She arrived several weeks earlier than expected so she will have to remain in the Neonatal Unit of a hospital in Everett, Washington for several weeks. Congratulations to Linda and Jamie on the birth of their first child.

Lyliana is the first Grandchild of Russell and Pam Shepard, and Great Grandchild #13 for Linda's Grandmother Maida Shepard. Lyliana arrived just in time to celebrate with her Grandfather Russ Shepard and her Uncle Steven Paul Shepard, both of whom live in Anacortes, Washington. Today, March 13, Grandpa Russ turns 57 while Uncle Steven Paul turns 29.

Happy Birthday Jerry! Best wishes to my "brother by another mother" Jerry Clark. Tomorrow, March 14, Jerry will celebrate yet another birthday. Retired and living the good life, Jerry and his wife Cathrina live in Lubbock, Texas.

Jerry Clark with Maida Shepard

at a Shepard Family Reunion

Over the years one of my favorite subjects of family research has been my Great Great Grandfather William Shepard (1835-1862), the Civil War soldier who died in the war at just 27 years old. Because of him I have discovered great information about our Shepard ancestors before his time. The "Gold Star" mother of the soldier William Shepard was Matilda Reynolds Shepard (1814-1876). William was the oldest of the 7 children born to Matilda and husband James Cross Shepard Jr. They were married in Belmont County, Ohio in 1833 and migrated to Indiana just a few years later.

Matilda Reynolds Shepard (1814-1876). I have written in this blog numerous times about the ancestors of the Indiana soldier William Shepard, but never about his mother Matilda Reynolds Shepard. She and her parents, Richard Reynolds and Esther Sidwell, were from Southeastern Pennsylvania, before migrating to Belmont County, Ohio where they became neighbors of the Sheppards. In Pennsylvania the Reynolds were faithful members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Nottingham, Chester County, Pennsylvania.

One of my interests when researching ancestors is religious affiliation. We know that many of our kinfolk were Church of Christ people, especially those from Belmont County, Ohio. But I am becoming more and more aware of the fact that a number of our ancestors were Quakers. Among the Quakers in our family ancestry are the maternal grandparents of the soldier William Shepard, my 4X Great Grandparents, the aforementioned Richard Reynolds (1790-1829) and Esther Sidwell Reynolds (1791-1874).

Richard and Esther were married April 16, 1812 in Chester County, Pennsylvania, but not without the approval of their church fellowship. It was customary in some churches in those days that when a couple wanted to marry they needed their parents and their Church to give official consent.

Here are a couple of entries from the Meeting Records for the Nottingham, Pennsylvania Quakers in 1812, referring to our ancestors Richard and Esther:

First, this entry dated March 6, 1812: "Richard Barnard Reynolds, son of Joseph and Rachel Reynolds, and Esther Sidwell, daughter of Job Sidwell (deceased) and Rebecca Sidwell, expressed in this meeting their intention of taking each other in marriage. A manifest of the surviving parents consent appears. Abraham Sidwell and Eli Thirk are appointed to inquire respecting his clearness from others on that account."

A month later there is this entry dated April 10, 1812: "No obstruction appearing to the proposal of marriage of Richard Reynolds and Esther Sidwell, they are left at liberty to accomplish the same in an orderly manner. Eli Thirk and Abraham Sidwell are appointed to the oversight thereof."

Sewellsville, Ohio grave of
Esther Sidwell Reynolds Sheppard,
my 4X Great Grandmother

These days it is strange to think that one's church would have to give formal approval before a couple could get married. More often than not in this 21st century, churches consider it none of their business whether or not a couple is even married. But in the early 19th century it was common practice among some religious groups like the Quakers to give, or not give, their official approval to a couple's request to be married. As a result of their Church's official deliberations, my 4X Great Grandparents Richard Reynolds and Esther Sidwell were married April 16, 1812.

Another Interesting Historical Fact. Richard and Esther were married for 17 years when Richard died at just 39 years old, leaving Esther a widow with 5 children, ages 5-17 years old. My 3X Great Grandmother Matilda Reynolds was the second of those 5 children, and was just 15 years old when her young father died. In 1829, on what was still the Ohio frontier, the widow Esther Sidwell Reynolds was clearly in a very difficult situation. She had 5 mouths to feed and no husband to support her. So she married for a second time within a matter of months, to James Cross Sheppard Sr., her daughter's father-in-law. What this meant of course, was that Matilda Reynold's mother became her mother-in-law as well. (Try to wrap your head around that!) A little odd perhaps, but a very practical solution to a pressing family dilemma of the sparsely populated community of Kirkwood, Ohio. After all the drama of her early life Esther Sidwell Reynolds Sheppard lived to be 84. Here is the link to her grave in Sewellsville, Kirkwood, Ohio.

I look forward to writing more about this neglected part of our ancestry, the family of Matilda Reynolds Shepard, the mother of Civil War soldier William Shepard.
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Steve Shepard