Cousins With the Same Name, October 19, 2018

In real life, unlike in Shakespeare,
the sweetness of the rose
depends upon the name it bears.
Things are not only what they are.
They are, in very important respects,
what they seem to be.
~Hubert Humphrey

Last month I included in my list of famously named ancestors, William Henry Harrison Sheppard, who was named after President Henry Harrison. I have since discovered that there are actually two Sheppard individuals in our family tree with that exact same name. We already have another person -- William Henry Harrison Loyd -- who was named after President Harrison. But now we have two Sheppard ancestors named after that 19th century President.

The first William Henry Harrison Sheppard was born July 5, 1840 and died in the Civil War in 1862. The second William Henry Harrison Sheppard, the son of a cousin of the first one, was born May 16, 1841, just 10 months after the first one. He also served in the Civil War, but survived, and lived into his 90s. He died in 1932, not far from where he was born in Belmont County, Ohio.

President Henry Harrison, 1773-1841

What an unusual occurrence. Two Sheppards with the very same unique name, born less than a year apart, who were cousins of each other. Both these fellows named William Henry Harrison Sheppard were born in Belmont County, Ohio -- probably within about 10 miles of each other. They were descendants of my 5x Great Grandparents John and Mary Hudson Sheppard, who were among the first of our Sheppard ancestors to migrate to the Ohio frontier in 1812.

Why Henry Harrison? What was so special about Henry Harrison that two of our 19th century families would name their sons after him? Henry Harrison was originally from Virginia but spent a good part of his life in Ohio. Our Sheppard ancestors came from Maryland to Belmont County in Eastern Ohio in the first decade of the 1800s when it was still being settled, and when Harrison's career was taking off. 

Here is a short list of Harrison's major accomplishments:

• He was a decorated major General in the US Army.
• He became a state senator in Ohio in 1819. 
• He was elected a US Senator from Ohio in 1825. 
• In 1836 he ran for President as the Whig Party candidate but lost to Martin Van Buren. 
• In 1840 he ran once again against Van Buren but this time was victorious, and became our 9th U.S. President. 

It was obviously a time of great excitement for all Ohioans when Harrison took office March 4, 1841. (In those days the Presidential Inauguration took place in March, not in January.) But in a tragic turn of events Harrison became ill and died of pneumonia on April 4, 1841 after just 31 days in office. He was the first US President to die in office, and remains to this day the President with the shortest tenure.

The FIRST William Henry Harrison Sheppard, the 7th child of John and Elizabeth Sheppard, was born in Belmont County on July 5, 1840, the day after America's 64th birthday. He was named by his family while Harrison was in the throes of the Presidential election campaign. Ohioans were riding this wave of excitement about one of their own possibly being elected to the highest office in the land. What better way to make tangible their hopes and dreams for America's future than to give their son Harrison's name?

Grave of the SECOND William Henry Harrison Sheppard

Hope Cemetery, Hendrysburg, Ohio

The SECOND William Henry Harrison Sheppard, the 9th child of Hudson and Rebecca Sheppard, was also born in Belmont County, but on May 16, 1841 just one month after President Harrison died. He was given President Harrison's name while Ohioans, and the entire nation for that matter, were grieving this terrible loss. What better way to honor their fallen President than to give their son his name? 

These two William Henry Harrison Sheppards had another cousin with the name William Sheppard (with no middle name), who was also born in Belmont County, Ohio. He was born in 1835, just a few years before his other two cousins. This William Sheppard (1835-1862) was the Grandfather of my Grandfather William Shepard (1888-1976). In 1840, when just a child, his parents left Ohio and were among the first Sheppards to settle in Indiana. It was there, when just 21 years old, that he entered the military and fought for the North, as did his cousins, in the Civil War. More about this story here.

I realize that it is hard to keep these three William Sheppard cousins straight. One had no middle name at all, while two were given middle names of a President. All were born within a 6 year period in Belmont County, Ohio, and all of them served in the War, fighting for the Union:

• William (no middle name) Sheppard (1835-1862)
• William Henry Harrison Sheppard (1840-1862)
• William Henry Harrison Sheppard (1841-1932)

The Sheppard Clan of Belmont County. All three of these fellows were part of the influential clan of James Cross Sheppard Sr. (1775-1843) and Hannah Gatchell Sheppard (1781-1839) who helped settle Kirkwood in Belmont County, Ohio. I have written before about how James and Hannah were affluent pillars of their community and were therefore very invested in the political life of Southeastern Ohio, especially in the pre-Civil War years. It is no surprise then that this clan was very supportive of the Ohio politician Henry Harrison who eventually ascended to the Presidency. It makes perfect sense then that two of the families of this Sheppard Clan would name their sons after the revered President Harrison.

So instead of just one William Henry Harrison Sheppard included in the "Pantheon of the Famously Named," there are two. One born in 1840, the other in 1841. But both are deserving and take their rightful place among the others of our family tree who were famously named.
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Steve Shepard

The Last Will and Testament of James Sheppard, Sr., September 12, 2017

Knowledge of our ancestors
shapes us and instills within us
values that give direction
and meaning to our lives.
~D. B. Neuenschwander

Birthday Wishes to Kelly Sauvage. Today is the birthday of my niece Kelly Shepard Sauvage, younger daughter of my brother Gary Shepard. Born and raised in San Diego, she and husband James Sauvage live today in Weatherford, Texas, with their sons Nate and Kyle.

In July, Kelly, Nate and Kyle visited some of their family in Anacortes, Washington. The first picture shows Kelly in the center with her father Gary at the top, her son Kyle on the right, son Nate bottom left, and Kelly's grandmother Maida Shepard on the bottom right. This picture was taken at Maida's home on Wildwood Lane in Anacortes. Best wishes to Kelly for a very happy birthday today!


The Last Will And Testament of James Sheppard, Sr. In the last couple of posts I have been sharing new stories about our Shepard ancestors from Indiana, Ohio, and Maryland. The most impressive and interesting historical family document I have recently encountered is the will of my 4X Great Grandfather James Cross Sheppard Sr. (His Great Grandson William Elmer Shepard (1862-1915) is the one who dropped one of the "p's" from his last name.)

James Sheppard (1775-1843) and his wife Hannah Gatchell (1781-1839) were married in Cecil County, Maryland in 1798. With the first 4 of their 13 children they migrated in 1809 to the frontier community of Kirkwood in Belmont County, Ohio. The timing must have been right for them to settle in Ohio, for over the following 30 years this Sheppard family made a very good life for themselves along the Cumberland Trail on the Eastern Ohio frontier. Historically we know that this was a prosperous time for Americans as our nation expanded westward. 

A Treasure Trove of Information. Much of what we know about the life, the children and the wealth of James and Hannah Sheppard, is contained in James' will, which was written in 1840 and can be found in the County Records of Belmont County, Ohio. A copy of the text of James Sheppard's will is found at the bottom of this post. It is a fascinating document, which not only gives monetary details but also refers to other items and descriptions of historical interest.

James' wife Hannah died in 1839, an event which must have left him pondering his own mortality and the future well being of their 13 children. They ranged in age from 39 years old (Nathan Sheppard) to just 11 years old (George Washington Sheppard). When he wrote his will, James was 65 years old and had recently married for a second time to a woman named Esther Reynolds. 

James lived only 3 more years after writing his will. But at 68 years old he lived far beyond the life expectancy for men in that time. Sadly, two of his youngest sons died the year after he did, Job at 20 years old, and Emanuel at just 17.

In his will, James bequeathed to his heirs cash gifts that totaled $5,150. That may not seem like much today, but in 2017 dollars it would be roughly equivalent to $150,000! And that was just the cash disbursements. It did not include "the home farm," another farm of 153 acres, a 10 acre sawmill, and a few other personal items that were mentioned in the will.

Outstanding Citizens of Belmont County. From these few details we can see that James and Hannah were well off. Whatever the total value of their estate might have been, it was sizeable, probably several hundred thousand dollars (in 1840 dollars!). In those early years of the 19th century, James and Hannah and their 13 children did remarkably well for themselves as outstanding citizens of the Kirkwood Township of Belmont County, Ohio.

There is a Shephard Road located in the South Eastern part of Kirkwood Township today. Could that road have been named after the James and Hannah Sheppard family, who were prominent members of that community 200 years ago?

When thinking about the descendants of James and Hannah over the past two centuries, I doubt if any of them have done any better financially than those Sheppards in the pre-Civil War years in Eastern Ohio. Not in Indiana, where some Shepards settled and did quite well. Not in Illinois, not in Oklahoma, not in Colorado, and maybe not even in San Diego or elsewhere in recent years. This is not to diminish the accomplishments of any of James and Hannah's descendants. It is simply to say that Hannah and James Sheppard Sr. and their large family did remarkably well in building a very good life for themselves on the American frontier. We can consider it an honor to be counted among their descendants.

The picture above shows Salem Cemetery where James and Hannah and several members of their family are buried. It is located in the little town of Hendrysburg, which lies alongside I-70 in Kirkwood Township, Belmont County, in Eastern Ohio.
- - -
Steve Shepard


* * * * * * * * * * *

The Last Will and Testament of James Cross Sheppard, Sr.
Found in Book of Wills Volume G. page 410
1843, St. Clairsville, Belmont County, Ohio.

I, JAMES SHEPPARD, of the County of Belmont in the State of Ohio, do make and publish this my last will and testament in the manner and form following, that is to say;

FIRST, It is my will that my funeral expenses and all my just debts be fully paid.

SECOND, I give, devise and bequeath to my beloved wife ESTHER SHEPPARD, in lieu of her dower, the one-third part of the home farm on which we now reside, so long as she remains my widow, together with all the property she fetched with her at the time of our marriage, and also fifty dollars in money.

THIRD, I give and devise to my eldest son NATHAN SHEPPARD five hundred dollars.

FOURTH, I give and devise to my second son JOHN SHEPPARD one note of hand I hold on him the amount of which is three hundred dollars.

FIFTH, I give and devise to my third son WILLIAM SHEPPARD two notes of hand which I hold on him amounting to six hundred dollars.

SIXTH, I give and devise to my fourth son JAMES SHEPPARD one note of hand I hold on him the amount of which is two hundred and fifty dollars.

SEVENTH, I give and devise to my fifth son SAMUEL SHEPPARD one note of hand which I hold on him calling for two hundred dollars.

EIGHTH, I give and devise to my sixth son ISAAC SHEPPARD one note of hand which I hold on him calling for two hundred dollars.

NINTH, I give and devise to my seventh son AMOS SHEPPARD two notes of hand which I hold on him calling for one hundred and ninety nine dollars and ninety eight cents.

TENTH, I give and devise to my sons JOB and EMANUEL SHEPPARD the farm on which I now reside, it being the southeast quarter of Section twenth-three, Township nine, Range six and to their heirs and assigns forever, the same to be equally divided between them and it is also my will that each of them have four hundred dollars paid to them by my executors.

ELEVENTH, I give and devise to my son GEORGE SHEPPARD the farm I purchased of WILLIAM B. BEALL, situated in Belmont Co., Ohio containing about fifty-three acres, it being a part of the northwest quarter of Section number 15, Township nine, Range six and to his heirs and assigns forever. It is also my will that he shall have eight hundred dollars in money, the money to be put to interest until he shall arrive to the age of twenty-one years.

TWELFTH, I give and devise to my daughter Elizabeth Mumma, in addition to what she has already had of me, the sum of two hundred dollars in money and one double cover lid.

THIRTEENTH, I give and devise to my daughter MARY SHEPPARD, in addition to what she already had of me, the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars in money and one side saddle and double cover lid.

FOURTEENTH, I give and devise to my grandson ISSAC EVANS one hundred dollars, the money to be paid to his guardian by my executor and by him put to interest until my grandson comes to the age of twenty-one years.

FIFTEENTH, I give and devise to my granddaughter SALLY ANN EVANS one hundred dollars, to be paid by my executors to her guardian and by him put to interest until she comes of age.

SIXTEENTH, it is also my will and desire that my executors pay to the guardians of my three youngest sons, JOB, EMANUEL and GEORGE SHEPPARD, the sum of five hundred dollars, to be by them put to interest for the purpose of educating them, should it be wanting. Should it, or any part of it, remain unexpended, when my youngest son comes of age, the balance to be equally divided between all my children, share and share about.

SEVENTEENTH, I give and devise to my niece JULIA ANN SPEAR, the sum of one hundred dollars.

EIGHTEENTH, it is my will that in case my wife should prove to be in a family way at this time and should be delivered of a living child, then in that case the said child to draw an equal share with the rest of my children.

NINETEENTH, my will is that my executors sell that lot of land where my sawmill stands, purchased of ALEXANDER McKEEVER, containing about 10 acres more or less, also all of my personel property not otherwise disposed of in this, my will.

TWENTIETH, It is further my will that whatever may remain that has not been disposed of in this, my will, that it be equally divided between my 10 sons, share and share about.

AND LASTLY, I hereby constitute and appoint DAVID HARRIS and ROBERT A. DALLAS to be the executors for this my last will and testament, revoking and annulling, all former wills by me made, and satisfying and confirming this and no other to be my last will and testament.

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 4th day of May, 1840.

(Signed) JAMES SHEPPARD (SEAL)

* * * * * * * * * *

Shepard Family From East to West, August 10, 2011

My ancestors wandered

lost in the wilderness for 40 years

because even in Biblical times,

men would not stop to ask for directions.

~Elayne Boosler

Hello Family and Friends,

Greetings to all of you from San Diego, California on this week of our family reunion. This Saturday afternoon at the Anacortes Christian Church (12th and M St) in Anacortes, Washington our family will gather from far and near to celebrate our life together. 

Happy Birthday Jeremy. This coming Friday, Aug 12, is the birthday of Jeremy Ortiz, son of Kim Boyd Clark, of Blue Springs, Missouri. Originally from San Diego, Jeremy and Desiree and their children moved earlier this year to Missouri, where Kim and her husband Jeff Clark live.

Kim: "Jeremy is working like crazy. He has a very busy Pizza Hut store and is looking forward to the Chargers coming to town [Kansas City] Oct 31." The first picture shows Jeremy with their 3 children, Ashlyn, Ciara and Damian.

4th Great Grandparents, James Sr., and Hannah. Recently in this blog I shared about the discovery of my 3rd Ggrandparents James and Hannah Shepard. I would now like to introduce the parents of James Shepard, whose names were also James and Hannah. James Shepard Sr. was born in 1775, the year before the birth of our nation, in Hagerstown, Maryland, just 65 miles from Washington, D.C. His wife Hannah Gatchell was born in 1784 in Calvert, Maryland, in the northeast corner of that state, half way between Philadelphia and Baltimore.

James Sr. and his wife Hannah, followed the lead of most early Americans by moving westward. In the early 1800s, they left Maryland and migrated more than 200 miles, through the Cumberland Valley into southwest Pennsylvania and finally down into eastern Ohio where they settled in Belmont County. That's where their children were born, including their son James Jr., from whom we are descended.

In 1839 Hannah Gatchell Shepard, at only 55, died, leaving her husband James and several children. The very next year, James Jr., who had married his own Hannah, was feeling the same pioneering spirit that had driven his parents westward. The younger James and Hannah left Ohio and migrated some 350 miles further west to Tippecanoe County, Indiana, leaving behind his widowed father James Sr., who died in Ohio a few years later in 1843.

From East Coast to West. With the discovery of the senior James Shepard, and his wife Hannah Gatchell, our Shepard family line has now been traced all the way back to the East Coast, and all the way back to the beginning of our nation. Originally from Maryland, they migrated to Eastern Ohio, where their children were born. One of them, James Jr., migrated to Northwest Indiana with his family, which included William Shepard, a young man who gave his life in the Civil War. He left one son, William Elmer Shepard, who moved to Illinois and then with his own family to Beaver County, Oklahoma. That's where his son William Shepard married Bura Davis. After a move to southeast Colorado, where they lived 12 years, they and their four children made the final jump of over 1,000 miles to the West Coast, settling in San Diego in 1940. 

It took 165 years but the Shepards finally made it from Hagers- town, Maryland in 1775 to San Diego, California in 1940 with stops in Ohio (35 years), Northern Indiana (40 years), Illinois (25 years), Oklahoma (23 years), and Colorado (12 years). If you plot out all these stops from Hagerstown to San Diego (see graphic), you get a fairly direct route that bisects our country from Northeast to Southwest, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Our Shepard ancestors were a wandering people as they made their way across the U.S., but they wandered in a remarkably straight line, at least until they reached the Pacific Ocean.

In San Diego nearly the entire clan lived for more than 30 years until the early 1970s. But in the 40 years since then, many members of our family have "bounced back" to New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas. Still others have moved northward to Northern California and Utah. And a large number have moved to Western Washington, in particular Anacortes, Washington where our Shepard Family Reunion will be held this coming Saturday. Only a handful of us Shepard descendants live in San Diego today.

Below is a 9 generation lineage that traces one strain of our Shepard Family from our oldest known ancestor, James Shepard, Sr. of Hagerstown, Maryland, to our youngest family member, Logan Shepard, of Alameda, California (see picture of Logan with his sister Preslea, on granny Cindy's lap).

• James Shepard Sr., (1775-1843) born in Hagerstown, Maryland, who married Hannah Gatchell (1784-1839), the parents of...
• James Shepard Jr., (1818-1887) born in Belmont County, Ohio, who married Hannah (maiden name unknown), the parents of...
• William Shepard (1835-1862)  born in Belmont County, Ohio, who married Mary Sprague (1840-1919), the parents of...
• William Elmer Shepard (1862-1915), born in Wabash, Indiana, who married Elvira Owens (1864-1931), the parents of...
• William Shepard (1888-1976), born in Alton, Illinois, who married Bura Davis (1896-1986), the parents of...
• Eugene William Shepard (1921-2003), born in Logan, Oklahoma, who married Maida Gower (b. 1924), the parents of...
• Steven Dale Shepard, born 1948 in San Diego, who married Cindy Harris (b. 1948), the parents of...
• Nathan William Shepard, born 1977 in San Diego, who married Chenda Sou (b. 1980), the parents of...
• Logan Alexander Shepard, born 2011 in San Francisco, California.

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Steve