A Plethora of Williamses, June 14, 2017

Life yields only to be conqueror. 

Never accept what can be gained by giving in. 

~William the Conqueror

Mandi and daughter Kambree with cousin Kyle

Happy Birthday Kambree! Kambree Kay Bowman celebrates her 4th birthday today, June 14. Kambree is a 3X Great Grandchild of William and Bura Shepard. She is also a 3X Great Grandchild of Leroy and Nola Gower. Kambree and her mother Mandi Aquiningoc live in Weatherford, Texas.

Best Wishes to Emma and Shannon. Earler this month on June 6 Emma Wilk of Atchison, Kansas celebrated a birthday. She is the daughter of Shannon Wilk and the granddaughter of my late cousin Beverly Russell Wilk (1939-1974). Emma's Great Great Grandparents are William and Bura Shepard, early 20th century ancestors who were the first in our Shepard family to live in California. Best wishes to Emma and her mom Shannon as Emma turns 12!

Emma Wilk and "Pappa" Frank

Kambree and Emma are both descendants of a family line that includes my Grandmother Bura Davis's Grandmother Maggie Williams Spear (1845-1904), of Spencer, Indiana. We have had a plethora of people named William in our family over the years, most recently persons who have William as their first or middle name. 

As far back as I can get information there has never been a time when our family has been without at least one William in our family. My grandson William Quincy Shepard is the youngest of the fellows in our family today with that first name. But there have been others, many others, going all the way back to the pre-Civil War days, and probably long before that.

Maggie Williams Spear

A Plethora of Williamses. My Great Great Grandmother Maggie Williams Spear takes the name William to a whole different level in our family tree by connecting us to the surname Williams. She was born in Spencer, Indiana, the 9th and last child of Sally Richardson Williams (1801-1877) and John Pouty Williams (1806-1898). John Pouty was the 2nd of the 4 children of John Williams and Lydia Warford Williams, prominent citizens of Shelby County, Kentucky, 150 miles Southeast of Spencer, Indiana. 

I have written about our Williams ancestors in Kentucky in this blog several times, including here, and here.

John Pouty Williams had a Grandfather in Kentucky, named William Williams (1745-1801). This William Williams was the first in his family to settle in Kentucky, having migrated from Loudon County, Virginia, west of Washington, D.C. with his wife Elizabeth Averett (or Everett) just before the turn of the 19th century. William and Elizabeth were Quakers, having their marriage of September 6, 1769 recorded in the "Monthly Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935 of Loudon County", a snippet from which is included below.

1769 Wedding Record for William Williams & Elizabeth Everett

John Pouty Williams not only had a grandfather named William Williams, he also had a brother named William Williams (1804-?). John and wife Sally also named the 5th of their 9 children William H. Williams (1834-1904). In the midst of all these William Williamses, at least they had the good sense to add a distinguishing "H" to this William William's name. In an interesting historical twist, it became not so distinguishing when William H. Williams and his wife Sarah named one of their sons William H. Williams (1881-1939).

These are just some of the many, many Williams that are in our family tree. There were (and ARE) numerous other Williams among the clan of these 19th century Williams ancestors of ours, and their descendants. We may even have roots that extend to the famous William the Conqueror (1028-1087), the first Norman King of England. But I am not ready to tackle that research! These Williams I have listed here are confusing enough. They clearly show that "William" has been -- and continues to be -- a favorite name of people in our family.
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Steve Shepard

Independence Day! July 4, 2016

 All we have of freedom,

all we use or know --

This our [parents] bought for us

long and long ago.

~Rudyard Kipling

Happy Independence Day to everyone! I hope the holiday is a fun filled one for you and your family.

Happy Birthday Desiree. Wednesday of this week, July 6, is the birthday of Desiree Ortiz, wife of Jeremy Ortiz who lives in El Cajon, California. Jeremy is one of the Great Grandchildren of William and Bura Davis Shepard.

The first picture is a selfie and shows lovely Desiree with some friends and was taken just two weeks ago.

Birthday Wishes to Nate. Thursday of this week, July 7, is the birthday of Nate Sauvage. He, his brother Kyle and parents James and Kelly live in Weatherford, Texas. He is one of the Great Great Grandchildren of Leroy and Nola Gower, as well as William and Bura Davis Shepard. He is also a grandson of my brother Gary Shepard. 

The second picture was taken just a few months ago and shows Nate in a hoodie with his brother Kyle.

Happy Anniversary.This Thursday is the 2nd Wedding Anniversary of my cousin Joan Shepard and Dee Shannon of Dixon, California. Joan is one of the Grandchildren of William and Bura Davis Shepard. With the last name of Shannon, one would think Dee might be related to Grandmother Nola Shannon Gower, but as yet we have found no direct historical connection. But the search continues, even though Dee has now married into our family. Best wishes to Joan and Dee for a very happy anniversary!

Remembering Elvira Owens Shepard (1863-1931). The first day of this month was the anniversary of the birth of Elvira Owens Shepard. Great Grandmother Elvira was from Madison County, Illinois an area little known to most of us. My guess is that there only a few of the readers of this blog can even locate Madison County, Illinois on a map. Am I right?

But you can rest assured that Madison County figures quite prominently into the history of our family, especially the history of our Shepard and Owens relatives. It is just across the Mississippi River from Saint Louis, Missouri. My Grandfather William Shepard was born in that county, in the small riverside community of Alton. Grandad's mother Elvira was born in the Eastern part of the county, in the small farming town of New Douglas, Illinois.

She was born on the first day of July, 153 years ago, during the darkest days of the American Civil War. That conflict was still in full swing when she was born just 3 days before the Independence day holiday. The war must have put quite a damper on the County's celebration, and her family's celebration of her arrival. She was the 8th child of Madison County native Mary Wheeless (1825-1871) and long time citizen Payton Owens (1826-1872), who were established residents of the area, and owners of at least 160 acres of farm land.

When the young woman Elvira met the young wanderer William Elmer in Madison County in the mid 1880s, it was the coming together of two very diverse individuals. Elvira was from an established, even prominent, family in this part of Western Illinois, while William Elmer was a new comer to the area without a family member anywhere near. He was a fatherless vagabond from Montgomery County, Indiana, his father having died in the Civil War. Feeling unwanted and mistreated, he had abandoned his mother's new family and struck out on his own as a teenager. He landed in Madison County, fell in love with local girl Elvira and his luck suddenly changed forever.

They were married in September, 1886 and made a good life for themselves for the next 20 years in Madison County, where they raised their two children, William, born in 1888, and Sadie Shepard, born in 1892. About 1905, William and Elvira decided to move westward. Saint Louis, just across the river, was after all the "Gateway to the West." The famous Gateway Arch wouldn't be built for another 60 years, but had it stood in their time they may have had a view of it from their front porch. 

Perhaps the wanderer William Elmer was feeling the need to move on once again, or perhaps it was simply the lure of the open west that drew the entire family. For whatever reason they moved to the land of opportunity, some 700 miles away in the panhandle of Oklahoma, where they settled for the rest of William and Elvira's lives. She is buried in Beaver County's Sophia Cemetery, next to William Elmer and her second, late-in-life, husband Cal Williams.

Elvira and William Elmer's move in '05 to Oklahoma turned out to be a good one for them, but the direction of both their lives was determined by their experiences in Madison County, Illinois, where they left many family members when they moved, and where some of their kinfolk live to this day.

The black and white image above was taken in Oklahoma probably in the 1920s (after William Elmer's death), and shows a smiling Elvira (second from left, in her 60s at the time) with several family members. Among the others in this picture are her daughter-in-law Bura Davis Shepard (to the right of Elvira), her son (my grandfather) William Shepard (second from the right in the overalls), and Elvira's second husband Cal Williams (far right in the Stetson). This is quite a period piece, with the photographer shooting through a confining wire fence, and a patch of barren Oklahoma landscape in the foreground. Elvira seems to be the only one smiling, while the appearances, barefootedness and plain dress of the others suggest hard work and common farming folk in difficult times. What we can see of the house indicates a fairly nice home for a farming family in the panhandle in the 1920s. Could it have been the home of Cal Williams, a man of some means, who married the widow Elvira?
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Steve Shepard 

Celebrants Over A Century Apart, June 26, 2015

If you as parents cut corners,

your children will too.

If you lie, they will too.

If parents snicker at racial and gender jokes,

another generation will pass on the poison.

~Marian Wright Edelman

Kyle Christian Sauvage. Today is Kyle Sauvage's 11th Birthday. Kyle, who lives in Weatherford, Texas, is the younger son of James Sauvage and Kelly Shepard Sauvage. He is the grandson of my brother Gary Shepard and Jackie Enderle Perry. He is also one of the Great Great Grandsons of Leroy and Nola Gower, and William and Bura Shepard.

This first picture shows Kyle holding a certificate he received from a basketball camp he attended earlier this month in Weatherford, Texas.

Elvira Owens Shepard (1865-1931). This coming Wednesday, July 1, is the birthday of Elvira Owens Shepard, the Great Great Great Grandmother of the aforementioned Kyle Sauvage. It was exactly 150 years ago, just as the Civil War was concluding, that she was born in the small community of New Douglas in far north east corner of Madison County, Illinois, 40 miles east of Saint Louis, Missouri.

Historical Note One: The day before Elvira Owens was born, the 4 conspirators in the assassination of President Lincoln, including Mary Surratt, were convicted by a military tribunal, and were hung just a few days later in Washington, D.C. Mary Surratt was the first woman ever sentenced to death by the Federal Government.

In the early 1880s, when just a young woman, Elvira met a young Hoosier vagabond who had recently wandered into town, by the name of William Elmer Shepard. His father had died in the war and he had run off from his home in Indiana to find a new life "out west" which turned out to be Madison County, Illinois. When Elvira and William met, it was the attraction of opposites: he was a wanderer, estranged from his family, unconnected to the community of his birth; she was a local girl from a strong, stable family, well connected to her community. They married in 1886 in Madison County and lived there for the next 20 years, bringing two children, William and Sadie, into the world.

About 1905 Elvira and husband William, with their 2 children, moved 700 miles westward, probably at the urging of the restless William Elmer. They settled in Beaver County, Oklahoma where William and Elvira lived for the rest of their lives. She is buried in Beaver County's Sophia Cemetery, alongside her first husband William Elmer Shepard and her late-in-life second husband Cal Williams.

This second picture (click on it for a larger view) shows a rather ragtag family group and was taken in Beaver County, Oklahoma about 1930. Starting from the far left, the second person (white hair, big smile) is Elvira Owens Shepard. (85 years later her GGG Grandson Kyle has a surprisingly similar smile.) To the right of Elvira is her daughter-in-law Bura Davis Shepard, then Bura's parents James Brooks Davis and Caroline Spear Davis. The tall fellow in the center in back is Lawrence Davis. On the far right looking dapper in a big stetson is Cal Williams (Elvira's second husband) and to the left of him (looking much less dapper in overalls) is my grandfather William Shepard (Elvira's son).

Elvira Owens represents the first generations of Americans in the newly re-United States of America of the late 1860s and beyond. Hers was the first generation that struggled to find the meaning of this American life without the evil of slavery. It was a time of reconstruction, with new opportunities, new prosperity, great social change and the ever growing westward movement.

Elvira also represents our connection to the Owenses of Madison County, Illinois. My grandfather William Shepard was born in Madison County and spent the first 16 or 17 years of his life there, the older child of Elvira and William Elmer. Granddad's only extended family was his mother's Owens family and he must have identified strongly with them throughout his early life and teen years. There are still extended Owens family members in Madison County today, as well as numerous Owens family members elsewhere around the U.S., some of whom are readers of this blog. We are fortunate to be related to them.

Historical Note Two: When Elvira died in 1931, there was a controvery over who should inherit her estate, her children or her second husband Cal Williams. The picture above from 1930 shows what appears to be a happy family gathering, but within a year or so of this picture being taken, the family splintered over the inheritance issue. It became very contentious and the matter was not settled until 1937, 6 years after Elvira's death, by the Oklahoma Supreme Court who ruled in favor of her second husband, the dapper Cal Williams. Select this link for a summary of that historic case.

The following is a lineage that includes Elvira Owens and her Great Great Great Grandson, Kyle Sauvage, whose birthdays are this week.

• Edmond Owens Jr., (1795-1864) who married Anna Phelps (1787-1861)
• Peyton Owens (1826-1872) who married Mary Wheeler (1825-1871)
• Elvira Owens (1865-1931) who married William Elmer Shepard (1862-1915)
• William Shepard (1888-1976) who married Bura Davis (1896-1986)
• Eugene Shepard (1921-2003) who married Maida Gower (b. 1924)
• Gary Shepard (b. 1946) who married Cindy Dillon (b. 1954)
• Kelly Shepard (b. 1973) who married James Sauvage (b. 1971)
• Kyle Sauvage (b. 2004)

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Steve Shepard

Happy Father's Day, June 20, 2015

My father gave me the greatest gift

anyone could give another person.

He believed in me.

~Jim Valvano

Tomorrow, June 21, is the anniversary of our son and daughter-in-law, Nathan and Chenda Sou Shepard, who were married on June 21, 2009. On that day 6 years ago Father's Day, their anniversary, and the Summer Solstice all occurred on June 21, a rare occurrance that happens again this year. Nate and Chenda live in San Diego with their 3 children Preslea, Logan and William. Happy Anniversary to Nate and Chenda!

This first picture shows Nate and Chenda at their home on Dicenza Way here in San Diego. 

Tomorrow is also the day we honor all father's in our midst. And we remember those fathers who have gone before us. I want to mention two in particular: my grandfather Leroy Gower and my brother in law Joe Paul Harris. Though they have been gone for many years, these two are remembered warmly by those who knew them as father and grandfather.

Leroy Gower (1899-1974) was a turn of the century baby, born June 25, 1899. Originally from a small farming family, he was born 116 years ago near Mountain View, Arkansas. He and his wife-to-be Nola Shannon were from the same small farming community west of Mountain View and probably knew each other as children. When they married in Arkansas she was a teenager and he was just 22 years old. 

After just a few married years -- and the birth of their first two children -- he and Nola moved westward and settled in Okemah, Oklahoma. After 17 years there they moved on to San Diego where they lived most of the rest of their lives. Leroy (and Nola) had the rich opportunity to live in fairly close proximity to their 3 children and their 12 grandchildren in San Diego as they watched them grow to adulthood. 

The above picture of Leroy was taken in 1973 -- just a year before he died -- on the occasion of an unknown funeral at the Little Chapel of the Roses in Glen Abbey Cemetery in Chula Vista, California. Do any of you know who the funeral was for? It was a service attended by several Gower and Shepard family members. Leroy looks to be holding his great granddaughter Kelly Shepard.

Joe Paul Harris (1950-2009). On this weekend of Father's Day, I am also remembering Joe Paul Harris, my wife Cindy's brother, who was a midcentury baby, born June 23, 1950, 65 years ago this coming Tuesday. He died in the spring of 2009 in Naknek, Alaska where he had lived the last 20 years of his life. He and his wife Jane raised their 3 children in San Diego. This picture of Joe Paul shows him with his father Joe Harris and his first born child, Cadence Harris Martin, in 1975. 

Also On This Weekend.  In celebration of the above mentioned men, and all the fathers in our extended family, I offer the following updated Father's Day presentation with music by Michael Buble, which honors fathers in our family through the years.

  

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Steve Shepard

An All Star and His Mom, June 25, 2011

When one goes back to look

at the house of their childhood,

it has always shrunk.

~Mark Twain

Hello Family and Friends,

Greetings to all of you from warm and sunny San Diego. Cindy and I are leaving later today for a month away from home, so my postings may not be as regular as they have been, especially for the next two weeks when we will be out of the country. But I will be back with news and comments about family past and present.

Happy Birthday Kyle! Tomorrow, June 26, is the 7th birthday of Kyle Christian Sauvage, son of Kelly and James of Weatherford, Texas. Kyle is the grandson of Gary Shepard and the Ggrandson of Maida Gower Shepard of Anacortes, Washington. The first picture, taken this spring, shows All Star Baseball player Kyle. The second picture (below) shows Kyle with his mom Kelly Shepard Sauvage.

Kelly: Kyle is doing great, going to summer school/summer camp every day. He is having a blast. I love hearing about how much fun they had. Kyle made the All Star team in baseball again this year, one of the top picks in the league. He loves to play any position but is an awesome first baseman. His favorite player is Adrian Gonzalez… even though he no longer plays for the Padres. Kyle is still a die-hard Padres and Chargers fan! He played basketball this past winter for the first time... the highlight was hitting two buzzer shots! In the Spring he played Coach Pitch 1 (on the Padres!) hitting a grand slam on his last at bat of the season. He didn't stop smiling for days!  Kyle is a natural athlete and will be great at whatever sport he chooses. My family says he gets that from them. I say he gets it from me! 

August Family Reunion. The time for our August 13 Shepard Family Reunion is drawing closer all the time. Gary and Cindy Shepard, who are graciously providing for the food, need to know the number of people attending. So if you have not already done so, please notify me, or one of the Anacortes family members if you plan to attend. We look forward to a wonderful gathering with friends and family from far and near. As in previous years we will have a photo table at the reunion where you are encouraged to bring old or new family pictures to share.

Louise Gower, 1909-2011. I just received word that my mother's aunt, Louise Pennington Gower, died earlier this month at the age of 101 in Oklahoma City. The sister-in-law of my grandfather Leroy Gower, aunt Louise was a remarkable woman who reached the century mark in 2009 with great energy and love of life. She was the last living member of that generation within the Gower family. Our best wishes go out to her daughter Jimmie Lou Scherf and her entire family in this time of loss.

Can You Help Locate Old Family Photos? I'd like to remind all the readers of this blog once again that I am searching for original pictures (or good copies) of old family photos. In particular, a recent history of the Davis family contains an old picture of Jane Buskirk Davis. Do any of you readers of this blog know where the original of that picture resides? I would be glad to work with the owner of that photo, or any other old family photos, to get good quality digital copies made. This would be a wonderful way to assure that generations to come will have access to pictures of family members from long ago. Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

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Steve

Shepard Family Reunion,

August 13, 2011