Hello From Scotland! September 29, 2015

I am a Scot.

I do not need your approval.

Great things are in my immediate future.

Watch me do exactly what you said I could not.

~ Old Scottish saying

Greetings today from Edinburgh, Scotland where Cindy and I are continuing on vacation. The first picture was taken yesterday and shows Cindy and me in St George's Square here in Edinburgh. In the background is a statue of a Lion, which is a symbol of the country of Scotland, dating back to the time of Richard I, the Lion Heart.

Many of you know about the importance of Ireland in our family history, being the ancestral home of many of those in our family tree. But did you know that many of our Irish immigrant ancestors had parents or grandparents who were from Scotland?

Among our Scots-Irish ancestors is immigrant Thomas Shannon (1686-1737). His American descendant Dexal Shannon was the one who wrote the book "Shannon" which is the closest thing to a definitive history of that part of our family that we have. Thomas Shannon's grandfather John Shannon was originally from Scotland, born here in 1601. 

In another part of our family tree is Jane Alexander McNitt (1665-1691), who immigrated from Ireland to what is now America in 1678 as a wide-eyed 13 year old girl. Her grandfather Robert Alexander (1610-1704) was born in Stirling, Scotland, just 35 miles up the road from where we are today in Edinburgh.


These are only two of those in our family tree who trace their roots to Scotland, this interesting country where Cindy and I are visiting for the first time. 

Happy Birthday, Alexandria! Today, September 29, is the birthday of Alexandria Cotten, of San Antonio, Texas, one of the direct descendants of the aforementioned Scots Irish ancestors Thomas Shannon and Jane Alexander McNitt. Lexi is the younger daughter of Heather and Sean Cotten, and another one of the GG Grandchildren of Leroy and Nola Shannon Gower.

This second picture shows Lexi with her mother Heather Robson Cotten. Lexi's grandmother is my cousin Paula Tuzzolino and her Great Grandmother is Vicki Gower Johnston of Oak Harbor, Washington.

Happy Birthday Cathrina! Today we celebrate another Texas birthday. It is the birthday of Cathrina Helms Clark. She and husband Jerry Clark live today in Lubbock, Texas. On the right is a picture of Jerry and Cathrina with their dog while hiking in the mountains this past summer.

Happy Birthday Kellan! Happy Birthday this Thursday, October 1, to Kellan Christopher Shepard who will celebrate his first birthday! Best wishes to Kellan and his parents Rachel Shepard and Brian Miller, and his Grandparents Darrell and Mary Shepard, all of whom live in Bothell, Washington. 

This final picture, taken at our family reunion back in August, shows Kellan with mom and dad, Rachel and Brian. Kellan's Great Grandmother is my mom Maida Shepard of Anacortes, Washington.
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Steve Shepard

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! March 17, 2015

Always remember to forget

The things that made you sad.

But never forget to remember

The things that made you glad.

~old Irish blessing

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! The first picture I am including was posted earlier today on Facebook by Rachel Shepard, the mother of this little fellow with the very Irish name of Kellan Shepard. He is one of the very youngest descendants of the Irish immigrants mentioned below.

My grandmother Nola Shannon Gower (1903-2004) was the most Irish person I have ever known in our family. There are numerous persons in her family tree -- probably more than she ever knew about -- who were Irish immigrants who came to America long before she was ever born. Even though she was very Irish and proud of that fact, I do not remember her ever being particularly interested in Saint Patrick's Day. As a country girl from small town Arkansas in the early 20th century, her people were hard working, pious Baptists, who never got very excited about things.

Saint Patrick himself was Catholic, and the celebrations of his day are often given to excessive drinking, two things not highly valued in the lives of most of our Arkansas ancestors.

Even so, today is a day to celebrate our Irish heritage. Numerous ancestors of ours took great risks by sailing across the Atlantic and journeying to America with high hopes for a better life. They are folks like Thomas and Eigness Shannon who came from Londonderry about 1700, and James Alexander and family who came from Raphoe in northern Ireland in the late 1600s; and folks like John and Lucy Maxwell also from northern Ireland in the mid 1600s; and Robert and Mary Alexander who came from Scotland also in the 17th century.

And then there was William Henry Pickens (1670-1735) originally from La Rochelle, France, who crossed over to Ireland and married an Irishwoman named Margaret Pike. Then, from the town of Limerick in central Ireland, with several children in tow, William and Margaret sailed to America and settled in Bucks County, Pennsylvania near Philadelphia. The second picture has appeared in this blog before, and shows a descendant of these Pickenses, Samuel Pickens Shannon with his wife Finetta Dearien Shannon, parents of my grandmother Nola Shanon Gower.

Happy 16th Birthday this Thursday to Kaylan Shepard of Newcastle, Oklahoma. Kaylan is the youngest of the 21 great grandchildren of William and Bura Davis Shepard, and their last descendant born in the 20th century. 

Kaylan: "I am enjoying my sophomore year of high school by playing volleyball and bowling. I also love the art class I'm taking! Thank you so much for thinking of me! Hope you and your family are doing well! Thanks again, and have a blessed day."

Best wishes to Kaylan and to her family! This picture shows Kaylan (on the left) with a friend of hers, taken last month.
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Steve Shepard

Terry Boyd (1937-2013), March 26, 2013

If one could only teach the English how to talk,

and the Irish how to listen,

society here would be quite civilized.

~Oscar Wilde 

Hello Family and Friends,

Terry Boyd (1937-2013). First of all, I received word just last night that my uncle Terry Boyd passed away yesterday. He and wife Thelma Shepard Boyd had moved to Blue Springs, Missouri from Gallup, New Mexico just last summer. Our prayers and best wishes are with his wife Thelma, his children Kim and Darren and their whole family.

Happy 3rd Birthday today to our granddaughter Preslea Maida Shepard of Alameda, California. Preslea is the first of the 3 children of Nathan and Chenda Shepard, and the youngest Great granddaughter of Maida Gower Shepard of Anacortes, Washington, and Paula Harris of San Diego. 

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Click on the link above to see a photo presentation that celebrates Preslea's three years. If you have trouble with the link above, select this external link.

Happy First Anniversary this Thursday, March 28, to Pat and Nicole Shepard, of Bothell, Washington. They were married exactly a year ago in Cozumel, Mexico. Best wishes to the two of them for many happy years together. Pat and Nicole are expecting a baby girl this summer, their first child and the first grandchild of my brother Darrell and his wife Mary.

More Scots-Irish Immigrants. In my last post I mentioned John and Elizabeth McKnitt who came to Maryland in the 1650s from Raphoe, Ireland. In 1678 another group of Scots-Irish landed in this new world, an extended family with the last name Alexander, who also came from Raphoe, in the north of Ireland. This group included James and Mary (Maxwell) Alexander (see image of James Alexander) and their teenage daughter Jane Alexander.

There is some indication that James Alexander was a Presbyterian minister in the old country and may have been part of the religiously inspired immigration of Scots-Irish to our shores. This would have made James and Mary and family similar to the families of Thomas and Alexander Campbell, among the founders of the Stone-Campbell Movement in America (Churches of Christ/Disciples of Christ) that many of us are affiliated with today.

A few years after arriving in the new world, James and Mary's young daughter Jane Alexander (1665-1691) met and eventually married John McKnitt (Jr.) who was born in the new world to immigrant parents John and Elizabeth Wallace McKnitt. (Remember them? They were featured in my previous blog post).

The young couple John and Jane (Alexander) McKnitt (later their name became McKnight) also made their home in Somerset County, Maryland. Life was very difficult for those early colonial settlers, as is illustrated in the death of Jane McKnitt/McKnight before her 30th birthday. She is buried in Manokin Presbyterian Church Cemetery (see her burial  information here)

Widower John Jr., after the death of his young wife in 1691, and then his parents in 1708, evidently made his way a bit northward, for he is buried in Newark, Delaware and his grave can be visited at the Head of Christiana Church Cemetery. (See picture of the cemetery.)

This then is a fourth set of immigrants in our family tree who came to our shores from Ireland -- the Spears, the Grays, the McKnitts and now the Alexanders. A few more sets of Irish immigrants remain to be shared. Unfortunately the Irish information about all these ancestors of ours is scant, but at least this brief overview of them gives us an idea of how deep and pervasive our Irish roots are.
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Steve Shepard

Spring Celebrations/Remembrances, March 19, 2013

There are two kinds of Irish families:

the hitting kind and kidding kind.

If you are fortunate

you are from the kidding kind.

P.J O'Rourke

Hello Family and Friends,

Happy Birthday today to Kaylan Shepard of Newcastle, Oklahoma. Kaylan is the daughter of Dane and Cindy Shepard and is the youngest of the 21 Ggrandchildren of Will and Bura Shepard. I received the following recently from her father Dane.

"Cindy and I are grateful for the blessings of the new year and being able to celebrate Kaylan's fourteenth birthday. We have enjoyed each stage of development that our kids have gone through and the revealing of their personality, character, and talents given them. Kaylan continues to be involved in the arts, both visual and performing. She is taking an art class and plays clarinet in the advanced home school band in Oklahoma City. She remains active in bowling and has a good chance of doing well in the sport according to her coach.  Kaylan is helpful, always says "thank you," and is fun to be around.

"I regretted to hear of the passing of Becky Davis. She was so positive, spiritual, kind, and serving. I'm glad Kaylan had the opportunity of meeting her. She will be well remembered for a life well spent in spite of dealing with physical issues and limitations. Thanks again for keeping us informed and connected.   ... Dane"

Speaking of Becky Davis, her brother Bud sent me a link to a wonderful tribute to Becky by her nephew Brent Taylor. It is called Becky Ran Home Today. 

Happy Birthday to my brother Gary Shepard this coming Saturday, March 23. Gary and his wife Cindy live in Oak Harbor. He is the oldest child of Maida Gower Shepard and her husband Eugene Shepard, who passed away 10 years ago this summer. Gary is the third grandchild of both Leroy and Nola Gower and Will and Bura Shepard.

The second picture, taken last summer, shows my brother Gary on the right with our younger brother Russell on the left.  

More Irish Ancestors. The next in our gallery of Irish immigrants is a couple by the name of John and Elizabeth (Wallace) McKnitt who came to America in the mid 1600s. This was nearly a century before the other Irish immigrants I mentioned in previous posts.

John (1630-1708) and Elizabeth (1632-1708) -- like our other Irish ancestors -- also came from the north of Ireland, but these two came from the small town of Raphoe, in County Donegal. John and Elizabeth were originally from Glasgow, Scotland, but had moved to Ireland as a young couple before making the big move to America in the 1650s.   

They settled in Somerset County, Maryland, not far from where they landed, and evidently lived the rest of their lives there. As with many immigrants from Europe, the McKnitts changed the spelling of their name. Over a couple of generations McKnitt gradually became McKnight, although in the process it had over a dozen variations (everything from McKnitt to MacNitt to MacNaught, etc.)

John and Elizabeth's graves are today in Manokin Presby- terian Church Cemetery in Princess Anne, Somerset County, Maryland. (See picture of the Church and adjoining cemetery.) 

To give you an indication of how long ago they came across "the pond", their GREAT grandson Robert McKnight (1732-1818) served in the American Revolutionary War. Robert McKnight's grandson was David Reid Shannon, who served in the American Civil War and was the grandfather of my grandmother Nola Shannon Gower.

Here then are the generations from immigrants John and Elizabeth McKnitt to the present:

• John McKnitt (1630-1708) - wife Elizabeth Wallace (1632-1708)
• John McKnitt (1660 - 1714) - wife Jane Alexander (1665-1691)
• John McKnitt (1687 - 1733) - wife Catrine (1720- )
• Robert McKnight (1732-1818) - wife Catherine (1748-1805)
• Jane McKnight (1759-1830) - husband David Shannon (1756-1823)
• David McKnight Shannon (1790-1860) - wife Ann Pickens (1785-1867)
• David Reid Shannon (1821-1864) - wife Peggy Ann Gray (1829-1899)
• Samuel Pickens Shannon (1858-1930) - wife Finetta Dearien (1861-1960)
• Nola Shannon Gower (1903-2004) - husband Leroy Gower (1899-1974)
• Maida Gower Shepard (b. 1924) - husband Eugene Shepard (1921-2003)
• Steve Shepard (b. 1948) - wife Cindy Harris (b. 1948)

This Summer: Shepard/Davis/Gower Family Reunion - Saturday, August 10, 2013, Anacortes, Washington.
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Steve Shepard