Leroy and Nola Gower's Anniversary, September 27, 2011

In time of test,

family is best.

~Burmese proverb

Hello Family and Friends,

It was 90 years ago today that my grandparents Leroy and Nola Shannon Gower were married in Mountain View, Arkansas. I mentioned in my last post that I do not ever remember them celebrating a wedding anniversary. I do know, however, that they had a special celebration on their 50th anniversary.

It took place on September 27, 1971. A number of pictures were taken that day as the family gathered to honor them at the home of Eugene and Maida Gower Shepard on Armstrong Street in San Diego. The first picture is one of the pictures from that celebration. It shows a smiling Leroy and Nola with their anniversary cake in front of them. 

The second picture (below) is also from that day in 1971 and shows Leroy and Nola on the right with their daughter Maida and her husband Eugene in the middle. In front of Eugene is their youngest son Russ; in front of Maida is Leroy and Nola's Ggranddaughter Kerri. On the left is Kerri's parents, my brother Gary with his first wife Jackie.

Of the 40 descendants of Leroy and Nola, 21 have been born since 1971. Their youngest Ggrandchild at the time, Tim Gower, missed being born on their anniversary by just 11 days.

Their anniversary September 27th was one of the first happy moments in our family's life after the tragic death just 2 months earlier of their oldest granddaughter, my 20 year old sister Linda. My other sister, 12 year old Barbara, was seriously injured in the same accident, requiring a lengthy recovery. It was a very stressful time for the whole family. 

Just a few weeks before their anniversary, Cindy and I had moved from San Diego to Berkeley, California. I had just begun seminary, and Cindy had just begun her career with Wells Fargo Bank, which was why we were unable to attend their celebration. It was one of their last anniversary celebrations; Leroy died in December, 1974. I will always be grateful for these two who were such an important part of our family.

Happy Birthday to Cathrina! Thursday, September 29, is the birthday of Cathrina Helms Clark, wife of Jerry Clark of Lubbock, Texas. The third picture shows Jerry and Cathrina in a picture taken this summer at the Italian ruins of Ostia Antica. Happy Birthday Cathrina!

- - -
Steve

Remembering A 90th Anniversary, September 22, 2011

The more you celebrate your life.

the more there is in life to celebrate.

~Oprah Winfrey

Hello Family and Friends,

This coming Tuesday, September 27, marks the 90th anniversary of the wedding of my late grandparents Leroy and Nola Shannon Gower. It is an occasion to remember and to honor these two whose lives had a great impact on those of us who are descendants of theirs.

Leroy and Nola were both born in Mountain View, Arkansas at the turn of the 20th century - Leroy in 1899, and Nola in 1902. They were raised there in farming families of very modest means and then married in 1921, perhaps in the Baptist Church to which their families belonged. The first picture shows Leroy and Nola in a picture that may have been taken on their wedding day.

Mountain View was where they bore their first two children, Hendrix and Maida. Maida remembers her folks saying that in 1925, on her first birthday, the four of them left Mountain View and began their 300 mile journey by wagon from Northern Arkansas to Okemah in Eastern Oklahoma.

Oklahoma was where their third child Victoria (nee Melva) was born and where they lived for 17 years. In 1942 they followed the lead of many other Okies and moved to California. They settled in San Diego where Leroy and Hendrix found work with the Railway Express. San Diego is where Leroy and Nola spent almost all the rest of their lives, in their home on Lynne Street. San Diego is also where they are laid to rest in Greenwood Cemetery. The final few years of Nola's life (she lived to 102!) were spent in Western Washington where her daughters Maida Shepard and Vicki Johnston still live today.

Their 3 children gave them 12 grand children: Hershell and Jimmie by Hendrix; Gary, me, Linda, Darrell, Barbara and Russ by Maida; and Paula, Gloria, Michael and David by Vicki. Their descendants today also include 14 Ggrandchildren and 11 GGgrandchildren. Of their 40 descendants, born in the last 90 years, just one of their children, Hendrix, and one of their grandchildren, Linda, have passed away. The rest are scattered around the U.S., mainly in Western Washington and California, but also Arizona and Tennessee.

I honestly never remember my grandparents ever celebrating a wedding anniversary. They were of very humble and modest beginnings and were not given to celebrations like anniversaries. I was only 26 years old when my grandfather Leroy passed away in 1974 (30 years before Nola). So I did not have many occasions to be around them when their anniversaries occurred. I do know that their 50th anniversary in 1971 was a special occasion, at a very memorable time in our family's history. In my next post I will share some specifics of that event. 

The second picture from 1962 was taken at the Gower home on Lynne Street in San Diego and shows Leroy and Nola Gower on the left. Maida and Eugene Shepard are on the right with their children Russell, Darrell and Barbara. On the left in front is Starlene Bass Gower, wife of Hendrix Gower.

Cheryl Gower. I mentioned two weeks ago that Cheryl Gower, wife of Jimmie Gower of Fort Mojave, Arizona, had surgery. She wrote me recently to say that she is now home and recovering very well. Continuing best wishes to her!

Headstone Replacement. We continue to receive donations in hopes of replacing the headstones for Alexander Davis (1819-66) and his daughter Elizabeth (1844-67), in Spencer, Indiana. Select this link for all the details. Please contact me by email or contact Jerry Davis if you are able to contribute. Thanks so much.

- - -

Steve

"Seizing the Treasure", September 16, 2011

Take time to remember,

for the heart holds many treasures,

golden moments that will always be a part of us.

(from Seizing the Treasure)

Hello Family and Friends,

I have written before in this blog about the long time family connection between the Shepard, Davis and Kilpatrick families. Two of my great aunts, Winona Davis and Myra Davis, married Kilpatrick brothers in Oklahoma back in 1918 and 1924, and began a serious intertwining of our families. It continued when members of those families moved and settled a few years later in Two Buttes, Colorado, and then when some of them even later moved to the West Coast and maintained ties. Over the years the connections between the Kilpatricks, Davises and Shepards have been as convoluted as they have been warm and memorable!

Marjorie Vaughn-Eldred, a reader of this blog who lives in Buckley, Washington, is a member of the Kilpatrick family with whom our family has been in cahoots for several generations now. Marjorie's mother was Marion Kilpatrick, a sister of Bill and Barney Kilpatick, the two fellows who long ago married the Davis girls, who were sisters of my grandmother Bura Davis Shepard. In other words Marjorie is a first cousin of a first cousin of my father Eugene Shepard. See what I mean by convoluted?

A New History Book. Just this year, Marjorie published a family history titled Seizing the Treasure: Nuggets of Vaughn-Kilpatrick Story. This very personal book is a 350 page collection of family stories that take place over the last 100 years. It tells the stories of Marjorie, her parents and grandparents, as well as her siblings, her children and other family. It covers the Kilpatrick family and their moves from Beaver County, Oklahoma to Two Buttes, Colorado, to California, Oregon and Washington. If those moves sound familiar, it's because some of the Shepards and Davises made very similar moves at various times in the 20th century.

Marjorie's book is one more work that will take its place alongside other writings that chronicle the life of our larger family. The strength of her book is the family recollections that recount stories while not being quite so concerned with exact dates and other details. Her work is "an anthology of family tales [that] joins several genres: non-fiction, creative non-fiction, essay, letters, and a bit of poetry." It is a valuable piece of our family history that is worth reading, and for which we can be grateful. 

Marjorie told me just yesterday: "People can email me at cemeingv@q.com and request a book or go to Amazon.com and buy a copy there for $16.95. If they buy two copies (buddy system) they can save the postage. The book plus mailing expense is about $20 if they order one copy from me."

Remembering Edwin Kilpatrick. Reading Marjorie's stories prompted me to remember a first cousin of Marjorie, Edwin Kilpatrick, who is mentioned in her book. Edwin was one of the great influences in my life and illustrates the important relationships between our families over the years. 

Many of you remember that Edwin was the minister of my family's church, the Linda Vista Church of Christ, in San Diego in the 1960s. He took a special interest in our church youth group and led us on many wonderful adventures, not the least of which were trips to Yosemite, including my first excursion to the top of Half Dome. (See second picture of Edwin on a youth backpack in Little Yosemite Valley.) He was one of the key factors in my decision to go into the ministry, which resulted in 40 years of full time ministry. He also married Cindy and me 44 years ago, and was a dear friend of ours until his untimely death from cancer just 11 years later. It was my honor to preside at his funeral service in 1979 in Roseville, California.

The third picture, from 1972, shows Edwin Kilpatrick, his wife Ruby and 4 of their children in the right half of the picture. In the left half of the picture are my parents Eugene and Maida Shepard with my sister Barbara and my brother Russ. My wife Cindy is on the far left. (Click on the picture for a larger view.)

Thanks to Marjorie for her new book, and for this reminder of the strong and lasting relationship our families have shared.

Taking My Turn, September 9, 2011

Family...
remains the measure of our stability
because it measures our sense of loyalty.
~Haniel Long

Hello Family and Friends,

Taking My Turn. Today I take my turn in doing something that there is no avoiding, something that everyone of us must do, something that no person in this life can escape. Ever. Today I get to celebrate yet another birthday. I will do it for the 63rd time.

I guess it is only fair. I have reminded many of you, innumerable times in the posts of this blog, that the years of your life are slipping away. And if that wasn't enough, I included pictures to prove the point. The reminders have come whether you liked them or not -- and I suspect in some cases it was "not". But I have had to be fair. The Shepard's Crook does not discriminate. I would hope that my constant birthday reminders are a measure of my stability and my sense of loyalty to our family (see the Haniel Long quote above).

So today, 9-9-11, I take my turn. I suppose someone else should be giving this unflattering reminder that I am a year older and what a wonderful thing it is. (Yeah, right.) But did any of you step forward and volunteer? Of course not. So it is my duty. Happy Birthday to me.


On the upside, I am genuinely grateful to be around to celebrate yet another birthday. And I sincerely appreciate the well wishes that many of you have expressed in phone calls and emails and Facebook posts. I appreciate them all.

Having a birthday is yet another opportunity for me to boast shamelessly of the wonderful family Cindy and I are blessed to be a part of, including our son Nathan, his wife Chenda, and their two children, Preslea and Logan. The first picture above, taken by Cindy last week in Alameda, California, shows me and the youngest member of our family, our grandson Logan.

Happy Birthday Kelly! Monday is the birthday of my niece Kelly Shepard Sauvage. She lives with husband James and sons Nate and Kyle in Weatherford, Texas. Kelly was born and raised in San Diego, and has remained a California girl at heart even though she has lived in the lone star state for over 10 years now. The second picture I am including shows Kelly with their two sons. Best wishes for a very happy birthday to Kelly this coming Monday!

Update on Davis Headstone Replacement. Jerry Davis and I have received word from several of you that you would be willing to help with the replacement of the headstone in Spencer, Indiana for ancestors Alexander Davis and his daughter Elizabeth, which I detailed in my last post. Thanks so much! If there are others who would like to help, please contact me by email or contact Jerry Davis with your interest. The cost will be $958 and I am pleased to report that we are well on our way toward reaching that goal. But we do need more help, so please give it some thought.

Cousin Cheryl Gower. I received word earlier this week from Cheryl Gower, the wife of my cousin Jimmie Gower of Ft Mojave, Arizona. Cheryl said that she will be in a Las Vegas hospital today having some serious surgery and would appreciate our thoughts and prayers.
- - -
Steve

New Headstone for Old Davises, September 3, 2011

Family...
All other pacts of love or fear
derive from it and are modeled upon it. 

~Haniel Long

Hello Family and Friends,

Greetings today from Alameda, California on this weekend of Labor Day.

In my last post I mentioned Alexander and Jane Davis, Ohio immigrants who were among our earliest Davis ancestors to settle in Indiana. I do not have a picture of Alexander and Jane, but I am including a picture that shows their son Charles Edward Davis (with the cane, second from right). Taken in the 1920s this picture also shows Alexander and Jane's Davis grandsons Zaley, Benjamin, Morton, James Brooks and, on the far right, John.

Alexander and Jane were among the very first members of the New Union Church of Christ, outside Spencer, Indiana. Alexander and their daughter Elizabeth Davis Carter are buried in the New Union Cemetery, next to where the old New Union Church once stood.

Old and Broken Headstones. If you visit the New Union Cemetery today, you can see the graves of Alexander and Elizabeth Davis -- if you know where to look. Theirs are among the oldest, most weathered headstones in the entire grave yard. When Cindy and I visited the cemetery in July we needed the help of local family member Ruth Fortner to locate them. The two broken headstones are flat, not upright like most of the others around them, and are so old that they are very difficult to read.

Jerry Davis of Grand Prairie, Texas, is a direct descendant of Alexander Davis -- as am I, and many of you. (At least 35 of you who are reading this are also direct descendants.) Jerry wrote me recently with an idea about Alexander Davis and his daughter Elizabeth. He is suggesting we replace both of their broken, nearly unreadable headstones, with a new one.

He has found out that it will cost $958 to obtain a new quality headstone that will honor the memory of these two and be a fitting tribute to them in this cemetery that holds so much history of our family. Jerry has said that he will make a substantial contribution himself toward the cost of this headstone. Cindy and I have agreed to do the same. Are there others among you who can contribute to this cause?

The Rest of the Story. By way of explanation I should mention that Jane Buskirk Davis, Alexander's wife and Elizabeth's mother, is not buried in Indiana. She was among our Davis kinfolk who left Indiana in the 1880s and migrated to Oklahoma. Jane, at 70 years old, with their youngest son William Alexander Davis, "ran for land" in the Cherokee Strip in 1893, staking a claim and settling in what eventually became Helena, in Alfalfa County, Oklahoma.

Jane died just two years later in 1895. Land had been donated for a cemetery but it had not yet been plotted. Even so, they allowed Jane's burial, and she became the first person buried in Good Hope Cemetery just south of Helena. Today she lays to rest there beside her son William Alexander and his wife Mary. (See the second picture of Jane's headstone.)

Jane's headstone in Oklahoma is in very good shape, as you can see from the picture. Back in Indiana, however, her husband's headstone and that of her daughter, are in very poor condition (see my last post for a picture of their headstones).

Can You Help? If you are able to contribute to the effort to buy a new headstone for Alexander Davis and his daughter Elizabeth Davis Carter in Spencer, Indiana, please contact me by email or contact Jerry Davis. We are hoping to get contributions from several of our family for $50 or $100 or whatever you can give. Please let us know if you can help, or if you have any questions. It's the least we can do for these wonderful ancestors to whom we owe so much.

---

Steve

Some Remarkable Ancestors, August 29, 2011

So much of what is best in us

is bound up in our love of family.

~Haniel Long

Hello Family and Friends,

Greetings to all of you from San Diego as these dog days of summer creep along.

Happy 21st Birthday TODAY to Lyndsey Aquiningoc of Weatherford, Texas. She is the daughter of Kerri Shepard Aquiningoc, also of Weatherford, the granddaughter of Gary Shepard of Oak Harbor, Washington, and the oldest Ggrandchild of Maida Shepard. (See picture of Lyndsey with sister Mandi on the left, and the baby of a friend on the right.)

Lyndsey started a new job a few weeks ago as a dental assistant at a pediatric dental office in Weatherford. She loves to spend time with her sister Mandi, and her friends, and enjoys being a working girl and being single. I hear that she has big plans for her 21st Birthday party and that it should be a fun time.

Alexander and Jane Davis: A Remarkable Family Story. Lyndsey is also one of the GGGGG Grandchildren of Alexander and Jane Davis. Here is the family line from Lyndsey to them:

Lyndsey Aquiningoc / Kerri Shepard Aquiningoc / Gary Shepard / Eugene Shepard / Bura Davis Shepard / James Brooks Davis / Charles Davis / Alexander and Jane Buskirk Davis.

Alexander and Jane were among the very first of our Davis relatives to settle in Indiana, nearly 2 centuries ago. They were both born in Ohio -- Alexander in 1819 in Belmont County, and Jane in 1823 in Monroe County (just to the south), which is where they were married sometime in the 1840s. Census Records show them still living in Ohio in 1850, but shortly thereafter they trekked almost 400 miles west and settled outside Spencer, Indiana.

A Proud Church Heritage. According to the church records of the New Union Church of Christ outside Spencer, Indiana, Alexander and Jane were among the earliest members of that congregation, which began in the 1850s, as part of the "Stone-Campbell tradition" (aka the Restoration Movement). The New Union Church existed until 1957 when the last remaining members disbanded and joined other churches. Many of them became members of the Spencer Church of Christ, the congregation that today holds the church records for the old New Union Church. I have copies of those church records which show Alexander and Jane Davis on the first official roll of the Church, dated April 3, 1866. Those of us with their church affiliation today can proudly trace our church heritage back 5, 6, even 7 generations!

One of the children of Alexander and Jane Buskirk Davis was Charles Edward Davis (the father of James Brooks Davis). The second child of Alexander and Jane was Elizabeth Davis, who was born back in Ohio in 1844 and made the family trek to Indiana as a 6 year old girl. In 1863 the teenager Elizabeth married a local Spencer boy by the name of Calvin Carter. She and Calvin had two children, but when they were still babies, Elizabeth died at just 23 years old.

Father and Daughter, Side By Side. Her untimely death in 1867 came just one year after the death of her father Alexander. This explains why mother Jane chose to lay daughter Elizabeth to rest next to Alexander. One can only imagine the grief and hardship of the wife and mother Jane burying her 47 year old husband one year and then her 23 year old daughter the next year. At the time, Jane was herself the mother of 8 other children, one of whom was an infant (William Alexander) born earlier that same year!

Alexander and Elizabeth -- father and daughter -- still reside in the New Union Cemetery today, side by side. Theirs are among the oldest headstones in the entire grave yard at the corner of Rattlesnake Rd and Shepard Patrick Rd, right next to where the old church once stood. (See above picture) A visit to their burial site is an occasion to feel the weight of our family history and the inspiration of our ancestral memories.

More To Come. I will share more about Alexander and Jane Davis and their daughter Elizabeth in my next blog entry. I will also share an interesting proposal regarding the possible replacement of their broken, weathered headstones. For now, as we extend our birthday wishes to Lyndsey, we honor the lives of these hearty ancestors, whose difficulties seem almost unimaginable, but whose strength and resilience we have to admire.

- - -

Steve

Joys and Concerns Here and There, August 22, 2011

No other success

can compensate 

for failure in the home.

~suggested quote

at a tattoo parlor

Hello Family and Friends,

Greetings to all of you on this fine August day in Southern California. The following are some joys and a concern regarding people in our family around the country.

Happy 25th Anniversary to Russ and Pam. Tomorrow, August 23, is the 25th anniversary of my brother Russ and his wife Pam Engan Shepard of Anacortes, Washington.

I remember well that warm and pleasant Saturday afternoon in Anacortes 25 years ago when the families of Russ and Pam gathered in the front yard of the Shepard home on Wildwood Lane for the wedding ceremony. (see first picture) It was the last family event that our Grandmother Bura Davis Shepard attended before her death in October that year.

Happy 18th birthday to Linda Shepard! Russ and Pam are the proud parents of two children, Steven and Linda. (see second picture) Steve reached the milestone age of 21 earlier this year, and Linda reached her own milestone when she turned 18 just last Tuesday (August 16). Linda and friends enjoyed a tattoo trip to Seattle to celebrate the day. (How the rites of passage change!) Happy Birthday, Linda!

Happy Birthday Amanda. This coming Thursday, August 25, is the birthday of Amanda Ortiz who lives in Blue Springs, Missouri. She is the daughter of Kim Boyd Clark, also of Blue Springs, and the granddaughter of Terry and Thelma Shepard Boyd of Gallup, New Mexico.

Amanda: "My birthday is approaching quickly! Mom, Jeff and the family are taking me for a steak dinner. It should be a good day! 

"I am enjoying what I have left of my twenty's. :(  I am having a blast with my nieces and nephew here in Missouri. I have missed them so much living so far away from them since I moved away in 2006. I may live in the Midwest now but I am still a San Diego girl at heart :)  

"I am currently living in Blue Springs, MO and am coming up on 3 years working with Allstate's Flood division and look forward to many more years with them. I am currently in school and will be obtaining my business degree in Human Resources in October. I am looking forward to the next year of my life and hoping to experience new and exciting things. Thanks for the birthday wishes!"

Update on Elmer Shepard. As you probably know, my uncle Elmer Shepard, who lives in Mustang, Oklahoma, is the senior member of our Shepard clan at 93 years old. His son Dane Shepard wrote me recently with an update on how his dad is doing.

In the last few weeks, Dad had a couple of days where his blood pressure dropped so low he was unresponsive. They have adjusted his medication and he seems stable now. He is weaker and is unable to get out anymore. He spends more time in bed and it is easier now to use a wheel chair instead of his walker to get him from his room to wherever he needs to go. I usually try to take him some Braums ice cream which he enjoys. I am now not immune to his short fuse and aggression. He likes to eat but there is very little else he enjoys. He doesn't like TV and is unable to sit for any period of time especially to read. He still hangs on and is aware of his surroundings and who people are yet seems to remain mentally uncomfortable most of the time. He stills receives hospice care and observation. Obviously, my reports on Dad will continue to go downhill as he slowly weakens. It will be such a blessing when the Lord takes him home. He's not the Elmer we once knew.

Our prayers and best wishes are with Elmer; and with Dane as he continues to care for and watch over his father.

- - -

Steve

Family Reunions, August 17, 2011

What the next generation will value most

is not what we owned,

but the evidence of who we were

and the tales of how we loved.

~Ellen Goodman

Hello Family and Friends,

Greetings from San Diego on this week after our family reunion. Cindy and I are home and catching up after a trip to Washington State for the recent family get together.

Last Saturday in Anacortes, Washington 22 of us gathered to enjoy each others company and celebrate the life we share as members of one family. The first picture shows those who attended. Click on the picture for a larger view. Select this link for more pictures from the Anacortes reunion and the reunion referred to below.

We renewed relationships, introduced some new family members, heard family stories, looked at pictures and family books, shared a great meal (thanks to Gary and Cindy!), and enjoyed the afternoon on a beautiful day in Western Washington. We were young (3 mos.) and old (86); we traveled from far and near; we were engaged and married and friended; but despite all the diversity, we enjoyed that unique and remarkable bond we share as family. 

We awarded handmade glass artwork (made specially for this event by Steven Paul Shepard) to three persons: the one who had traveled the farthest (Jerry Clark, Lubbock Texas), the newest member of the family (Barbara's new husband John Mackey), and the youngest family member (3 month old Logan Shepard).

The second picture shows Great Grandmother Maida Shepard with her two newest Great Grandchildren Logan and Preslea Shepard.

Most of us were descendants (or their spouses) of Will and Bura Davis Shepard. But we were also joined by Bud Davis, a first cousin of my dad Eugene Shepard. Bud lives not far from Anacortes in Graham, Washington and is the son of the late Jess and Mildred Davis, whose family still lives in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

Also last Saturday, a kind of  "extension" of our family reunion was held in Kansas City, Missouri. Kim Boyd Clark, her husband Jeff, and several of their family, along with Shannon and Emma Wilk of Atchison, Kansas also gathered to renew their bond as descendants of Will and Bura Davis Shepard. 

In the third picture, from left to right, are Ashlyn Ortiz, Shannon and Emma Wilk, Ciara Ortiz, Jeff and Kim Boyd Clark, and Amanda, Desiree and Damian Ortiz. (Click on the picture for a larger view.)

- - -

Steve

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.

- - - 

Steve

Finding Family Up Fish Creek Road, August 4, 2011

Whether we recognize it or not,

we are connected with our past.

~S.W. Kimball

Hello Family and Friends,

As Cindy and I made our way up Fish Creek Road outside Spencer, Indiana a few weeks ago, I was concerned that the Spear Cemetery would elude us once again. Twice before I had attempted to find it, without success.

Two years ago Cindy and I had looked but failed to locate it. 20 years before that I had made my first genealogical trek to Spencer with my dad, and we had made a serious effort to find it, but were unsuccessful. All we had found on that hot muggy July day in 1989 was a field of thick weeds about 3 feet high. "Were the headstones completely overgrown?" I had wondered.

Spear Cemetery

This time I had actually "googled" Spear Cemetery and found it online! (See it yourself here.) And we had a car with a GPS system. So I was cautiously confident as we headed west out of town on Hwy 46 and then drove north on Fish Creek Road. After leaving the pavement on Lennox Road, we drove on gravel about a mile and crossed Fish Creek. We then came to the same intersection where Dad and I had been stymied. Everything was the same: hot and muggy, overgrown weeds, not a headstone in sight. 

This time we decided to look around. We crept south on the crunching gravel about a hundred yards and then took a right turn, which swung up a hill and back northward. On the right was a wall of tall trees and thick bushes. About 30 yards up this grade I noticed a kind of tunnel cut into the bushes, barely big enough for a car to drive into. No sign. No road. No indication that anything of interest might lay inside, besides maybe a back woodsman chewing tobacco, sitting on a porch with a shotgun! 

James and Callie Spear Davis, 1896

As we drove inside the tunnel an opening appeared. Then we saw a modest barbed wire fence, beyond which was a clearing, maybe half an acre in size. The trees overhead shaded the entire sanctuary, which was dotted with a few dozen graves, most of them carrying the name Spear. This was it. The Spear Family Cemetery. 

This was the burial ground of the kinfolk of my great Grandmother Caroline "Callie" Spear Davis (1865-1951). Though she and husband James Brooks Davis were born and married in this community, they are buried in Beaver County, Oklahoma where they migrated with their children in 1913. But in this Indiana cemetery, on a hot day last month, we found a number of Callie's relatives, whose names are in our family tree. It was a rewarding find, a sacred place, hallowed ground. With fading memories of lives and loves that still provide the foundation for the family we are in 2011.

Select this link to see several of the graves we visited at the Spear Family Cemetery. You'll see a photo presentation that actually includes pictures we took at 6 different Indiana cemeteries last month, each of which was a unique visit. None, however, was more satisfying to discover than the one off Fish Creek Road outside Spencer, Indiana.

James and Kelly Shepard Sauvage

Happy Anniversary Kelly and James! One of Callie Spear's GGgranddaughters is Kelly Shepard Sauvage, of Weatherford, Texas. Tomorrow she and husband James celebrate 11 years of marriage. Congratulations!

Kelly: It’s been crazy at work as I’m trying to close out the budget for this year and get ready for next year. Yes, our 11th anniversary is coming up on Friday. We don’t have big plans; probably just dinner out with the four of us. We are both busy with work and our boys. Not many changes around here. We are all doing really well though, just trying not to melt. We are working on 30+ consecutive days of at least 100 degrees! Thanks for remembering us.

It's getting closer: Shepard Family Reunion, Aug 13, Anacortes, Washington.

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Steve