A Southern Family Story, April 22, 2020

Despite the sarcastic remarks of Northerners,

the South can be so impellingly beautiful 

that sophisticated creature comforts

diminish in importance.
~Maya Angelou

In my last post I wrote about Cindy's GG Grandparents Julius Caesar Vessels and Fannie Narcissus Vessels, a couple from Northern Alabama during Civil War days. After becoming acquainted with this couple, I decided to search Narcissus' history, with some surprising results. Her family history contains some of the best finds in our family tree and some not so admirable.

Here is a 12 generation lineage that includes Julius Caesar and Narcissus, and traces one family line back to 17th Century Scotland:

• Preslea Maida Shepard, b. 2010, the daughter of...
• Nathan Shepard, b. 1977 (wife Chenda Sou) the son of...
• Cindy Harris Shepard, b. 1948 (husband Steve Shepard), the daughter of...
• Sammie Joe Harris, 1922-1999 (wife Paula Hicks), the son of...
• Mary Lee McGowan, 1899-1985 (husband Fred Harris) the daughter of...
• Edna Pearl Vessels, 1882-1967 (husband S. A. McGowan) the daughter of...
• Fannie Narcissus Bradford, 1845-1891 (husband Julius Caesar Vessels) the daughter of...
• Jesse David Bradford, 1813-1885 (wife Mary Chandler) the son of...
• Katherine Keith, 1779-1831 (husband James Bradford) the daughter of...
• Alexander Keith, 1748-1822 (wife Margaret Harned) the son of...
• James F. E. Keith, 1695-1752 (wife Mary Isham Randolph), son of...
• William Keith, (1663-1712) of Peterhead, Scotland

GGG Grandfather Jesse David Bradford. As indicated in the lineage above, Fannie Narcissus' father was Jesse David Bradford (1813-1885), who was originally from Wayne County, Tennessee, just across the border from northern Alabama. As a young man he made his way from Southern Tennessee into Northern Alabama where he met a girl from Virginia by the name of Mary Chandler. In Athens, Alabama Jesse married Mary, and soon thereafter found a job in the mining industry in Lawrence, Alabama just 30 miles west of Athens, south across the Tennessee River.

GGG Grandfather

Jesse David Bradford

The 1840 U.S. Census shows Mary and Jesse Bradford, in their 20s, living in Lawrence, Alabama. Their family at that time included one young white son, and three young black children, presumably slave children who lived with them and helped around the house. Within a few years Jesse left his work in the mines and moved his young family to Florence, Alabama, some 30 miles further west on the northern banks of the Tennessee River. 

Life On the Hood Plantation. In Florence, Jesse accepted a job as the Overseer of the Mary Hood Plantation, a prosperous farming operation. Jesse Bradford's job was to supervise the slaves who lived and worked on the plantation. Overseers were often ruthless, cruel, despised individuals. They were hired by the plantation owner to maintain order, to keep the plantation and its slaves secure, and to keep the business going by any means. This enabled the owners to avoid the hard work in the fields, and to leave the discipline and sometimes harsh punishments to the Overseer. It was not an honorable profession. But in the pre-Civil War days, it was an essential and accepted part of the process of maintaining the cruel slave culture.

The Mary Hood Plantation

Florence, Alabama

Overseers were generally paid well. GGG Grandfather Jesse Bradford lived with his family in their own home on the plantation and did well financially while he worked there. The 1850 U.S. Census shows him living on the plantation owning real estate worth $700. Ten years later the U.S. Census shows he had an estate worth $4,500, a considerable sum in the antebellum South. While Jesse and Mary Bradford lived on the Mary Hood Plantation they added several children to their family. The third among their 6 children was Cindy's GG Grandmother Narcissus Bradford (1845-1891) who spent the first years of her life on the Hood Plantation. She came to understand well the slave culture, the clear social strata of the South, and the ugliness of life on a southern plantation.

Southerners had a penchant for classic names of the ancient Greco-Roman world. In Greek Mythology, Narcissus was the name of a handsome young hunter who was known for his beauty. He loved everything beautiful, including his own image when he saw it reflected in a pool of water. Narcissus in the origin of the term narcissism, a fixation with oneself and one's physical appearance. In modern times it is also the name of a flower, which is more likely the reason her parents gave her the name.

Narcissus flower

Julius Caesar and Narcissus: A Wartime Romance. In the spring of 1861, when Narcissus was 15 years old, the Civil War began and life was upended for people in Alabama and all over America. At the time Narcissus and her family were still living in Florence, Alabama. During the War, young Narcissus met a soldier named Julius Caesar Vessels, from the southern part of the state. In 1863 Narcissus and Julius married in Florence, possibly while he was on furlough from the War. They settled for a while in Gravelly Springs, a sparsely populated community west of town.

In the 24 years between 1864 and 1888 Narcissus bore 11 children with her husband Julius Caesar. Tragically their last child, Johnnie David Vessels, died at just 15 months old in the spring of 1890. In 1889 their 22 year old son William Terry Vessels died. Then in the summer of 1891 Narcissus died at just 45 years old. We don't know what caused these three deaths in one family in just 2 1/2 years. In Narcissus' case, 11 pregnancies in 24 years would certainly have taken its toll. She and her two sons might have died from the Russian Flu pandemic that raged from 1889 to 1894. In any case these deaths in the Vessels family created a tragic hardship for husband Julius who was suddenly a single parent with 9 children, 7 of whom were between 19 and 4 years old.

At Rest in Athens. After the War, Julius and Narcissus relocated with their family to Athens, Alabama where her parents Jesse and Mary Bradford lived. It took Julius and Narcissus and their family almost two weeks to make the 60 mile trip. They traveled by wagon as they drove their livestock from their home west of Florence to Athens. In 1868 Julius purchased 80 acres of land north of Athens for $160. There Julius and Narcissus farmed and lived the rest of their lives.

Narcissus, who died in 1891, and husband Julius Caesar Vessels, who died in 1928, are both buried in the Reunion Cemetery which sits behind the Reunion Church of Christ, 8 miles northeast of Athens. Also buried there in unmarked graves are Narcissus' parents Jesse and Mary Bradford and several other family members. Julius and Narcissus, then are one more couple who takes their place in the great pantheon of our family history, people whose lives instruct, inform and inspire us. And for them we can be eternally grateful.
- - -
Steve Shepard
(he, him, his)

Sweet Home Alabama, April 3, 2020

Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet Home Alabama
Lord, I'm coming home to you
~Lynyrd Skynyrd

Strange and Difficult Times. I trust that you are all enduring these strange and difficult times of staying home, worrying about family, and doing your best to remain healthy. Wherever your home happens to be located -- Washington, California, Oklahoma, Texas or elsewhere -- I am sure your situation is difficult as we all battle the Coronavirus pandemic. A century ago, in 1918, our ancestors dealt with a virus that wreaked as much havoc then as we are experiencing today. I wish I knew more about how they dealt with that adversity. They survived, and apparently quite well. And we will too. In the midst of whatever hardships you have to deal with, I wish you the very best.

Nate with Logan, William and Preslea

Happy Birthday to Nate. Despite the Virus, life goes on. Today our family here in San Diego is celebrating the birthday of our son Nathan Shepard who was born right here in San Diego in 1977. We and he and his three children are doing quite well as we celebrate this special day with him. We won't go out to a restaurant this year. We won't invite others in to celebrate with us. We will celebrate in "hunker down" mode. But we will gladly celebrate nonetheless. It will be a time for cake and ice cream, birthday candles, special gifts and singing "Happy Birthday." Best wishes to Nate for a great birthday!

A Classic Family Story. Back in 2018 I wrote a series in The Shepard's Crook about people in our family history with interesting names. I called it "The Pantheon of the Famously Named." Two of the people I wrote about were Cindy's GG grandparents Julius Caesar Vessels and his wife Fanny Narcissus Bradford. In this post I want to look further into the lives of these two remarkably named people.

Julius Caesar Vessels

The Julius Caesar in our family tree was born in 1842 in the Southeastern Alabama community of Eufala, along the Chattahoochee River that separates Alabama and Georgia. When just a young man he met a teenaged Southern Belle from Lauderdale, Alabama with a name almost as colorful as his: Fanny Narcissus Bradford. In the summer of 1863, during the Civil War, they married in Lauderdale in the Northwest part of the state and settled in nearby Athens, Alabama. What could be more appropriate? Narcissus (a famous character from Greek mythology) and Julius Caesar (leader of the Roman Empire) settling in the town of Athens!

Service in the Confederate Army. Julius Caesar, born in the early 1940s, was exactly the right age for service in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. On April 15, 1861, the very day he turned 19 years old, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for an Army of 75,000 men. Being from the south that edict did not apply to Julius Caesar, but it was a sure indication of the conflict that was to come, and foreshadowed the Southern call for men to join the Confederate Army. I have written several times in this blog about some Shepard ancestors who served in the Union Army, especially my GG Grandfather William Shepard. The only time I have written about service in the Confederate Army was in reference to the Southern soldier David Reid Shannon (1821-1864), the Grandfather of my Grandmother Nola Gower Shannon. Like many American families, we have numerous people in our ancestry who served in the Southern Army. So it is only fair to give consideration to them.

Documentation of the 1862 Civil War letter

A Family Affair. Julius Caesar Vessels, his older brother John, and their father John Franklin Vessels all served during the war in the Confederate Army. For a period of time in 1862, all three were in active service at the same time. Dad served in Company F of the 18th Alabama Infantry, while Julius served in the 53rd Regiment, the Alabama Partisan Rangers. In November, 1842, 52 year old John Franklin Vessels, petitioned the Governor of Alabama for a discharge because he had two sons already fighting in the war. We don't know what the Governor decided, but John certainly had a strong case. This family of 10 children had their father and the two oldest sons taken away to fight in the war, leaving a mother with 8 children to fend for themselves in very dangerous times. One can only hope the governor granted the father's request to be released from duty. What we know for sure is that all three soldiers survived the War and eventually returned to life on their farm outside Athens.

A Hearty Alabaman. Julius Vessels and his wife Fannie, whose married life began during the War, were married for 28 years. She died in 1891 at just 45 years old, leaving her husband and 10 children, the youngest of whom was just 2 years old. Fannie Bradford's family history is quite remarkable in its own right. In a future post I plan to share her interesting and surprising story.

Sally Bates Vessels (1852-1901)

2nd Wife of Julius Caesar Vessels

Shortly after his wife Fannie died in Alabama in the summer of 1891, Julius moved with a broken heart westward some 700 miles with his motherless children to Wise County, northwest of Fort Worth, Texas. He was a hearty Alabaman who lived to be 86, very old by 19th century standards. He outlived three of his children, and his first wife Fannie by almost 30 years. He married a second time to a Texas girl named Sally Bates and lived in North Texas with her. Though 10 years older than her, he outlived her by 27 years!

With his second wife Sally he had one more child, a daughter they named Dollie May Vessels. She was just 7 years old when her mother died of consumption in 1901. This left Julius Caesar Vessels a widower (for the second time!) with several children at home to raise. One of those children was his youngest daughter Dollie May, but the household also included the two youngest children from his first marriage.

Sweet Home Alabama. Sometime before 1920, after he finished raising his children in Texas, the widower Julius Caesar felt the call of his sweet Alabama home which he had left 25 years earlier. At 75 years old, he made the decision to return to his old life in Athens, Limestone County, Alabama. Athens was where his life with Fannie had begun, where Julius had left for the war with his brother and father and then returned safely. Athens was where their children had been born, and where Fannie had died nearly 40 years earlier. It was where a lifetime of other memories were to be found. So it was only fitting that Athens would be the place to which he would return for his final years.

Julius Caesar Vessels may be the only person in our family history who, after migrating westward, went back East to his original home to finish his life. I cannot think of anyone else in our family history who did that. Can you? In Athens Julius lived out the last 12 years of his life. He and his first love Fannie Narcissus Bradford are buried in the Reunion Cemetery in Thach, Alabama, north of Athens, along with other members of their family. It is a fitting final resting place for these two, whose lives were well lived.
- - -
Steve Shepard
(he, him, his)

A Double Whammy For Lydia Warford, March 15, 2020

A woman is like a tea bag -
you never know how strong she is
until she gets in hot water.
~Eleanor Roosevelt

In my last post I told the story of two star-crossed lovers, William and Mary Shepard (my GG Grandparents), who were married just two years when he tragically died in the Civil War in 1862. Civil War widow Mary was left with 2 young sons to raise. Against great odds, she was able to make a good life for herself and her sons even though the path was filled with adversity and hardship. Civil War soldier William Shepard and his wife Mary were not alone in our family history. Others had to endure a similar fate when a young person died unexpectedly and left a surviving spouse. I can think of several instances in my own lifetime:

• In 1970 my wife Cindy's 23 year old cousin Gloria Eeds Westin died in an accident leaving her young husband Terry.
• In 1971 my sister Linda Shepard Clark at just 20 years old, died in a car accident leaving her young husband Jerry Clark.
• In 1992 Manuel Aquiningoc tragically died leaving a baby daughter and a 24 year old pregnant wife, my niece Kerri Shepard Aquiningoc.

Lydia Warford Williams. Before the 20th century there were several instances of young people among our kinfolk who experienced the death of a spouse and had to deal with the hardships of single parenthood. One of the most remarkable is my 4X Great Grandmother Lydia Warford Williams (1782-1829) who was born shortly after the revolutionary war.

Here is my lineage to Lydia Warford Williams:

• my father Eugene Shepard (1921-2003)
• his mother Bura Davis Shepard (1896-1986)
• her mother Callie Spear Davis (1865-1951)
• her mother Maggie Williams Spear (1845-1904)
• her father John Pouty Williams (1806-1898)
• his mother Lydia Warford Williams (1782-1829)

Lydia Warford Williams' granddaughter
Maggie Williams Spear (left) and
her daughter Callie Spear Davis abt. 1880

When Lydia, the youngest of 8 siblings, was just 2 years old, her father Henry Warford (1741-1784) died in Southern Pennsylvania in the town of Warfordsburg, which was named after Lydia's family. With her father Henry's death, her mother Elizabeth Van Hook Warford became a single parent with the primary responsibility for 8 children between the ages of 2 and 18. The struggle was difficult for their family especially for young Lydia, who only knew her father for two short years of her
life. For the rest of her childhood, Lydia, her siblings and her mother struggled to make do without their father.

At the turn of the 19th century when Lydia was about 18, her family migrated some 500 miles westward from Southern Pennsylvania to the frontier of Shelby County, Kentucky, 30 miles east of Louisville. In 1803 in Kentucky, 21 year old Lydia married neighbor John Williams and with him had a family of her own, including 4 children. In 1813 her husband John Williams died, possibly in the War of 1812, and left her with 4 children under 10 years old.

A Double Whammy. Lydia's father had died in 1784 when she was just 2 years old, and then her husband died in 1813 when she was a 31 year old mother of 4. Not just once, but twice in her life she found herself part of a family where the father-breadwinner died and the sole responsibility for raising the children fell to mom. It was a double whammy for poor Lydia. She was left wondering if she could ever count on the important men in her life. From all that we know she survived her difficult childhood fairly well. And she made the most of her life as a single mother for 13 years after husband John died in 1813.

Pleasant Grove Cemetery near Spencer, Indiana
where several Williams Family members reside
including Lydia Williams' son John Pouty Williams

Not long after her husband John died, Lydia packed up her four kids and left Shelby County, Kentucky. They first traveled 75 or so miles northwest, through Louisville, Kentucky, across the state line, and into Washington County, Indiana, where she and the kids resided in 1820, according to U.S. Census records. Some time later they moved on to Spencer, Indiana, where she and the kids made their home. In 1826, at 44 years old Lydia married an older gentleman named William S. Jones from Putnam County, Indiana just 25 miles north of Spencer. He was an old family friend she had previous known in Kentucky. With him she lived the last few years of her life.

Lydia only lived 47 years. She spent the greater part of her life struggling to overcome the loss of her father first, and then her husband second. She is one more fascinating person in our family tree who overcame great odds. On this "Women's History Month," it is appropriate for us to remember and celebrate the life of a remarkable woman in our family history, Lydia Warford Williams.
- - -
Steve Shepard
(he, him, his)

When Hope and Heartbreak Collided, March 11, 2020

From day one

I've already won

You're my Kin

~KT Tunstall

Over the 12 years that I have written this blog, I have often celebrated longevity by honoring individuals whose long lives or lengthy marriages were inspirational. But in this post I want to celebrate a marriage that did not last even two years.

160 Years Ago Today. My Great, Great Grandparents William Shepard and Mary Sprague Shepard were married 160 years ago. On March 11, 1860, William and Mary tied the knot in the small town of Crawfordsville, the county seat of Montgomery County, Indiana. She had just turned 20 years old, while he was an ambitious 24 year old. She was from a farming community 20 miles southeast of Crawfordsville, while he was from Wayne, Indiana, 25 miles north of Crawfordsville near what is today Purdue University.

Winter was drawing to a close and spring time was just around the corner when they went to the county courthouse and became husband and wife. Sometime in the early weeks of their marriage Mary got pregnant, which put pressure on William to provide adequate income for his new family. In June he found a good job, but on a farm 100 miles away near Wabash, Indiana. Later that summer he arranged for Mary to join him and they began their new life together on the farm south of Wabash. In December their first child was born, who they named Frank Shepard.

The Specter of War. All through their first year of marriage, the specter of Civil War loomed large. In the early months of 1861, the Southern States seceded from the Union. As William and Mary's first anniversary rolled around in March, Abraham Lincoln became President, and the Confederacy began to take shape. On April 12, 1861 Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter, South Carolina and the Civil War was underway.

William Shepard's Grave in Evansville, Indiana (left), and 

Mary Sprague Shepard Ragsdale's Grave in Indianapolis

On April 15, President Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for an army of 75,000 men. Like all young men of a certain age, William was concerned about his future and that of his young wife and son. They knew it was probably impossible to avoid military service. But with hope and optimism they looked to the future, hoping the impending conflict would not disrupt their lives too severely and not for very long.

In May, Mary became pregnant again. They did their best to enjoy that summer of 1861, caring for Mary in her pregnancy and relishing the life they shared as a young family of 3, with another on the way. At the end of the summer, Col. John Bridgeland came to Wabash as he organized the Second Indiana Cavalry Regiment, the first complete Regiment from Indiana to fight in the Civil War. In September, William volunteered and began his training for service in the Union Army.

Monday, December 9, 1861, William said his tearful goodbyes to his 21 year old wife Mary and their 1 year old son Frank. He left Wabash for Indianapolis to become part of the Union Army of the Ohio. Little did William and Mary know that they would never see each other again. Their life together ended that sad Monday in early December when he went away to war. They had only been married a year and 9 months. That beautiful wedding day in March of 1860 was becoming a distant memory.

To Finish William's Story. Just a week after arriving in Indianapolis, William and his regiment departed the capital city on a 250 mile, 6 week military march southward to Louisville, and then further on into Kentucky.

On February 1, 1862 William and his Regiment had their first military action at Bowling Green. Historians do not call it a battle. It was a skirmish with some confederate forces, during which a canon mishap occurred. As an old family story tells it, "William had his arm blown off." He was transported 100 miles to a Military Hospital in Evansville, Indiana. As with most injured Civil War soldiers, it was not the initial injury that took his life. It was a secondary cause during hospitalization -- in William's case dysentery -- that finally brought about his death July 22, 1862.

That first weekend in February of 1862 hope and heartbreak collided. Saturday, February 1, horrible pain and anguish resulted from William's arm injury at Bowling Green, which led to his death 5 months later. The next day, Sunday, February 2, was a day of great hope for a bright future as William's wife Mary gave birth to their second son, William Elmer Shepard. On the same weekend, one of the great tragedies of our family history was paired with one of the greatest joys.

Two of William and Mary Shepard's grandchildren:

William Shepard (left) with wife Bura,

Sadie Shepard Pruett (right) with husband Levi

in San Diego in 1946

To Finish Mary's Story. Neither Mary nor William knew what was happening to the other that weekend in early February. Communication was painfully slow during the war. As far as we know, the soldier William never got to see his wife or family again. Eventually the heart breaking news made its way back to Mary in Wabash that her husband had died and had been buried in Evansville, Indiana. With a heavy heart she took her two young boys and made her way back to Montgomery County, where her life with the soldier William had begun. In 1865 she married an older widowed farmer named William Ragsdale and became step-mother to his 9 children, adding her own two youngsters to the mix. With Mr. Ragsdale she had three more children. Having lived a precious few years as Mrs. William Shepard, Mary spent the last 54 years of her life as Mrs. William Ragsdale. But she never forgot her first love, that special day they married, and the all too shortened life they shared together.

A Proud Legacy Remains. We celebrate the marriage of William and Mary Shepard that occurred 160 years ago today in Indiana. It was 80 years ago that their only grandson -- also named William Shepard -- migrated to San Diego, California from Southeast Colorado, with his wife Bura and their four children Pauline, Elmer, Eugene and Thelma. Some of Will and Bura's descendants still live here in San Diego today. Others live in Washington, Oklahoma, Texas and other places. But wherever we are, we remain indebted to William and Mary, those two who struggled through those difficult times. Their memory stays with us, and their legacy we proudly claim on this 160th anniversary of their wedding.

- - -

Steve Shepard

(he, him, his)

Our Oklahoma Roots, February 23, 2020

I’d rather drink muddy water
Sleep out in a hollow log
Than be in California
Treated like a dirty dog

In my family research I continue to marvel at how many of our family members came to California in the 20th Century from Oklahoma. Numerous relatives were either born in Oklahoma or lived there for significant periods of time before settling in California. The list includes my parents Eugene and Maida Shepard, both my Shepard grandparents and their 4 children, both my Gower Grandparents and their 3 children, Cindy's parents Joe and Paula Harris, her father's Grandparents Fred and Mary Harris, as well as her aunt and uncle Juanita and Gene Eeds. This is quite a collection of family members with roots in Oklahoma who settled in California. This influx of Oklahomans to Southern California occurred in the 1930s when a huge migration took place. Many had lost their farms because of the Dust Bowl and were desperate to find jobs.

Harris Family Immigrants from 

Oklahoma to California: Fred and Mary Harris 

with their children Mittie, Sammie Joe and Nikki

The Okie Movement to California. During this period an estimated 100,000 people per year moved westward from Oklahoma and surrounding states. So many flooded into California that the City of Los Angeles decided to take action to stem the tide. The name "Okie" came to be a negative moniker referring to poor immigrants from several states who became an alarming drain on community resources in California. “Okies” were the butt of derogatory jokes and the focus of political campaigns. Politicians blamed them for the state's reeling economy. The impact of all these migrants became a very controversial topic throughout the state. At the top of this post are the words of a popular song migrants sang in response to their poor treatment in California.

For several months in 1936, the Los Angeles Police Department, under the direction of Police Chief Edgar Davis, set up what was called a "Bum Blockade" along California's eastern border. 136 LAPD officers were deployed to 16 different border stations to turn away "Okie immigrants" who could show “no visible means of support.” It sounds surprisingly similar the immigration problem at our international border today. The blockade of 1936 was obviously a tremendous miscarriage of justice. Yet equally surprising was the fact that it received a lot of support, in particular from the Governor of California, Frank Merriam. Even so it did not take long for the illegality of that "Bum Blockade" to catch up with the LAPD. Within just a few months, the State Attorney General's Office got involved, law suits were filed, public opinion rose up against it, and the Blockade ended. 

William and Bura Shepard (right) 

with children Pauline, Eugene and Thelma, 

son-in-law Bill Russell and 

grandchildren Rex and Beverly

The Shepards, Gowers and Harrises In San Diego. It was just a few years later, after the furor died down, that my paternal grandparents, Oklahomans William and Bura Shepard, migrated to California. In the fall of 1940 they, and their family of 9, arrived in San Diego (8 of the 9 are pictured on the left). They came from the panhandle of Oklahoma via Southeast Colorado looking for jobs. Just two years later my maternal Grandparents, Leroy and Nola Gower, with their family of 6 (4 of whom are pictured below), migrated to San Diego from central Oklahoma with similar dreams and aspirations. Later in the 1940s Cindy's grandparents Fred and Mary Harris came from Southern Oklahoma to California with their family (see picture at the top of this post). All of them came west looking to establish better lives than what they had in the drought and depression of Oklahoma.

Last week on February 19, my cousin Hershell Gower celebrated a birthday. Born in 1943, he was the first in our family to be born in San Diego. A year later his brother Jimmie Gower was born. By the time my brother Gary and I came along in 1946 and 1948, the Shepard and Gower families had begun to settle into life in San Diego. The stigma associated with being "Okies" was dying out. Instead of a put-down it had become a lighthearted way in which they referred to themselves. Even so, the fact of being from Oklahoma continued to have an indelible influence on the life of our family.

My grandparents Nola and Leroy Gower

with their children Maida and Vicky Gower

My father Eugene Shepard came to San Diego from Oklahoma in 1940. He lived the last 63 years of his life here on the West Coast, but until his dying day he thought of himself as a country boy from Oklahoma. The same could be said about many of our relatives who came from Oklahoma and settled in San Diego. Being from Oklahoma was a significant part of our family's identity for many years through the middle part of the 20th Century. It was an identity that was reinforced by family friends who had followed a similar path: the Gibbs, Indermills, Kilpatricks and others, some of whom still live in Southern California.

Three Immigrant Okies Remain. I can identify just 3 people alive today who were part of that family migration from Oklahoma to San Diego nearly 80 years ago: my mother Maida Gower Shepard (of Anacortes, Washington), my aunt Thelma Shepard Boyd (of El Cajon, California), and my aunt Vicky Gower Johnston (of Chandler, Arizona). Our thanks go to them and their now departed parents who had the foresight to see the possibilities of life on the West Coast.
- - -
Steve Shepard
(his, him, his)

The Trail of Tears, January 31, 2020

We are now about to take our leave
and kind farewell to our native land,
the country the Great Spirit gave our Fathers,
we bid farewell to it and all we hold dear.
~Chief Charles Hicks (Cherokee)
re: the Trail of Tears, Nov. 4, 1838

This is the third in a series of posts about Cindy's Native American heritage. Her known maternal lineage consists of 6 Chickasaw women, including her 2X Great Grandmother Lucy Hawkins Newberry (1824-1907). The oldest Chickasaw ancestor in her lineage is her 3X Great Grandmother Sha-thlock-kee Hawkins, who was born in Mississippi in the early years of the 19th century and who died sometime before 1897.

Lucy Hawkins Newberry

(1824-1907)

In Oklahoma, about 1900

The Indian Removal Act. Lucy Newberry and her mother Sha-thlock-kee Hawkins were two Native American ancestors who were personally affected by the worst event in the history of the Chickasaw Nation. It occurred in the late 1830s when the Chickasaws were forced out of their ancestral home in Mississippi and relocated to Indian Territory in what is today Oklahoma. Before Europeans ever came to North America, the Chickasaw, and many other Native Americans, resided east of the Mississippi River in what is today Northern Mississippi and surrounding areas. As Europeans arrived on North American shores and moved westward from the East Coast they coveted Native American ancestral land for their own agricultural use and financial benefit. As a result the Indian Removal Act of 1830 was passed during the Presidency of Andrew Jackson which authorized the forced relocation of indigenous people. It was one more way our early European Ancestors exploited Native Americans. Their motivation was the same as the slave traders who forced countless black Africans into slavery.

"The Trail of Tears." Over the decades of the 1830s and 1840s the "Five Civilized Tribes of Native Americans," one of which was the Chickasaw Tribe, were forced to leave the land that had been their home for generations. They were marched by American Soldiers and State Militias westward across the Mississippi River several hundred miles to what is today Oklahoma. There they were given land in exchange for their land in the area around Northern Mississippi. It was a deal that was intended to be fair and equitable, but had a very negative impact on the Chickasaw and other Native American tribes. The route the American Indians were forced to travel came to be called "The Trail of Tears" because of the many hardships they had to endure. Nearly 60,000 total Indians of all five tribes made the arduous trek. They included women, men, children and numerous black slaves who were owned by the Indians. About 10% of all those who began the march died along the way from exposure, starvation or disease. It was a traumatic event that will forever remain etched in the collective psyche of the Native American Tribes who were affected.

Sculpture of Chickasaw Warrior

Chickasaw Cultural Center

Sulphur, Oklahoma

The Chickasaw Nation, of which Cindy is a citizen, has been resilient over the last two centuries since the time of "The Trail of Tears." They have thrived as a people, not only in South Central Oklahoma but throughout the US where many thousands live in the diaspora and continue to proudly claim their Native American heritage.

The official Chickasaw website says that "Today, the Chickasaw Nation is economically strong, culturally vibrant and full of energetic people dedicated to the preservation of family, community and heritage. Business has flourished, programs and services have grown, and the quality of life for all Chickasaws has been greatly enhanced. The Chickasaw Nation uses new technologies and dynamic business strategies in a global market. This unique system is key to the Chickasaw Nation’s efforts to pursue self-sufficiency and self-determination which helps ensure that Chickasaws stay a united and thriving people."

This Native American heritage is one more part of a very diverse and beautiful family tree to which we all belong, a family tree that we lift up and celebrate with great thanksgiving. Others of you who are readers of this blog may also have Native American roots. I would welcome your stories and would be glad to include them in this blog.
- - -
Steve Shepard
(he, him, his)

A Chickasaw Heritage, January 20, 2020

We did not think of the great open plains, the beautiful rolling hills and the winding streams with tangled growth, as 'wild'. To us it was home. Earth was beautiful and we were surrounded with the blessings of the Great Mystery.  ~Chief Standing River

Today is Martin Luther King Day, an occasion to remember one of the greatest Americans. Celebrating MLK is also a reminder of what many call America's "Original Sin," the sin of Slavery. Hand in hand with the historical enslavement of millions of Africans was the treatment of Native Americans by our United States government. Today therefore is an unpleasant but important reminder of a dark chapter in our country's history, a chapter that is all too close to many in our family tree.

Last month I wrote the first of a few postings about my wife Cindy's Native American ancestry. The lineage of her and her mother Paula Hicks Harris (1923-2018) includes 6 generations of Chickasaw women, beginning with her GGG Grandmother Sha-thlock-kee Hawkins. It is a maternal lineage that stretches back 200 years on American soil. Her Chickasaw heritage actually goes back much farther than that but scant records are available for indigenous people whose home was this continent before our Europeans ancestors arrived. Here is a list of those 6 women and their spouses.

• Cindy Harris Shepard (b. 1948), husband Steve Shepard (b. 1948)
• Paula Hicks Harris (1923-2018), husband Sammie Joe Harris (1922-1999)
• Rosa May Krause Hicks (1896-1940), husband Jenkins Arthur Hicks (1895-1967)
• Frances Newberry Krause (1854-1915), husband Christian Krause Jr. (1846-1909)
• Lucy Hawkins Newberry (1824-1907), husband Robert Newberry (1826-1886)
• Sha-thlock-kee Hawkins (d. before 1897), husband (unknown) Hawkins

Frances Newberry Krause (1854-1915)

Cindy's Great Grandmother, about 1880

A Transitional Figure. Cindy's Great Grandmother Frances Newberry Krause (1854-1915) was a key person in this family line as a transitional figure. She was the first in this lineage to have been born in Oklahoma. Her parents were both from Mississippi where the Chickasaw nation was rooted until the 1830s when the Nation was forcibly relocated to Indian Territory in what is today Oklahoma. The account of that historic relocation along "The Trail of Tears," I will write about in an upcoming post.

As a young Native American woman in Southeast Oklahoma, Frances Newberry met and then married a 31 year old German immigrant named Christian Krause who was 8 years her senior. He had only been in Oklahoma a few years before they met and then married in the spring of 1877. Because of his marriage to Frances, Christian applied for and eventually became a citizen by intermarriage of the Chickasaw Nation. He went on to become a successful businessman who owned and operated a cotton gin on Indian Territory in what is today Bryan County, Oklahoma. Frances and husband Christian had an impressive family of 8 children who were all raised on Indian Territory in and around Bryan County. The Krause family, at the turn of the 20th century, included Frances' widowed mother, Lucy Hawkins Newberry, a full blooded Chickasaw.

The family of Cindy's Great Grandparents Christian and Frances Krause

Picture taken in early 1890's in Oklahoma

The Krause-Newberry Family. This family picture, from the early 1890s, shows Christian Krause (seated on the left), his wife Frances Newberry (seated in the middle), her mother Lucy Hawkins (seated on the right), and 6 of their 8 children. One of their daughters had died at 4 years old, several years before this picture was taken. Their youngest daughter, Rosa May Krause (Cindy's Grandmother) had not yet been born at the time of this picture, and may have actually been "on the way" when this picture was taken. Does it appears to you that mother Frances is with child? The other Krause children in this family picture are Martin, Lucy, Johnson and Lewis across the back, and young daughters Margaret and Lena in front.

The father of the family, Christian (who died in 1909), and his wife Frances (who died in 1915) are both buried in Yarbrough Cemetery alongside Lake Texoma, 19 miles southwest of Durant, Oklahoma.

Lucy Hawkins Newberry, Cindy's Great Great Grandmother, is the elderly lady on the right in the family picture above. She was the last person in Cindy's maternal lineage to have been born in Mississippi. She was born there in the Chickasaw Nation in 1824. She was just a young person when the Chickasaws made the arduous trek in the 1830s from Mississippi to Indian Territory in what eventually became the State of Oklahoma in 1907.

Frances Newberry Krause and her mother Lucy Hawkins Newberry appear in the 1900 US Census. The 2020 U.S. Census is coming up this year with its own controversies about what questions should be asked of citizens. It is worth noting how different the Census process was a century ago. In that 1900 Census, apart from the regular questions, were a series of questions called "Special Inquiries Related to Indians." The Census taker asked people if they were living in a "Civilized" or in an "Aboriginal Home." Furthermore they asked couples whether or not they were living in polygamy, and if so, whether or not the two wives of the polygamous household were sisters. Thankfully we've come a long way in our Census taking in the last century.

Cindy's proud maternal lineage is an important part of our family's multi-faceted history. It reminds us once again how deeply rooted we are in American soil.
- - -
Steve Shepard
(he, him, his)

A Continuing Journey, January 16, 2020

She comprehended the perversity of life, 

that in the struggle lies the joy.

~Maya Angelou

A Continuing Journey. It was four years ago this month that my 95 year old mother Maida Shepard of Anacortes, Washington, began showing signs of serious memory issues. These past four years have brought many challenges as we, her family, have sought to provide her with the best care possible as she approaches the century mark of her life. Thankfully Mom's physical and mental health has remained fairly stable in these last 4 years.

Barbara, Gary and Maida Shepard

November, 2019, Anacortes, Wa.

The journey has not been easy, and appears to be far from over. It has strained some family relationships, strengthened others, required significant medical care, been a costly enterprise, and has severely tested our mettle as a family. I think it is safe to say that we will never be the same after this, which is often the outcome when families encounter serious challenges of this sort. But through it all we have remained diligent. Mom's physical, emotional and spiritual well being in these final years continues to be of utmost importance to us. I know that many of you have experienced this same kind of thing within your own family life. So you understand very well what I am talking about.

Mom's primary care givers, her daughter Barbara and her son Gary, deserve our great thanks for all they do. They continue to go above and beyond the call of duty, sometimes at the cost of having to put aside their own needs. Living at a distance, I am especially appreciative of their hard work and careful dedication. They have stretched themselves in ways that show their great respect for family and their genuine love and dedication to our mother. They are a testimony to the exemplary upbringing our mother and father provided them, and the values our parents instilled in all their children.

As this new year of 2020 gets underway I want to express my deepest gratitude to all of you who are readers of The Shepard's Crook. Especially those of you who, from various places around the country have shared your support and well wishes for this particular family journey on which we remain. Your prayers, expressions of concern and good thoughts are appreciated very much. May this new year be a time for growth and happiness for each of us as we face the challenges of the future with grace and strength.
- - -
Steve Shepard
(he, him, his)

Native American Heritage, December 19, 2019

Merry Christmas to All!

As Christmas approaches, it is time to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. It has been a difficult time for our Shepard family with our mother's dementia in Anacortes, and the challenges that brings. Even so we celebrate the joy and happiness of Christmas and the meaning that it brings to our lives.

Merry Christmas from the San Diego Shepards!

Steve, Preslea (with Jasmine), Nathan, Cindy
William and Logan

Our Shepard family here in San Diego -- Nathan, Cindy and me, Preslea, William and Logan -- wishes all of you much happiness in the coming year.

Native American Heritage. 51 years ago this month when Cindy and I married, my knowledge of her Native American ancestry was limited. Over the years I have come to see how important her Chickasaw heritage has been to her, her mother Paula Harris who died last year, and her aunt Juanita Eeds who died this past summer. All three of them -- Cindy, Paula and Juanita -- identified throughout their lives as Native American as a result of a rich family background with deep roots in American soil. Their Chickasaw roots go back to a time before our European ancestors ever came to this continent and named it after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci.

Cindy's maternal lineage reveals a strong connection to her Native American ancestry. Here is a six generation lineage that summarizes that connection.

1. Cindy Harris Shepard (b. 1948), husband Steve Shepard (b. 1948)
2. Paula Hicks Harris (1923-2018), husband Sammie Joe Harris (1922-1999)
3. Rosa May Krause Hicks (1896-1940), husband Jenkins Arthur Hicks (1895-1967)
4. Frances Newberry Krause (1854-1915), husband Christian Krause Jr. (1846-1909)
5. Lucy Hawkins Newberry (1824-1907), husband Robert Newberry (1826-1886)
6. Sha-thlock-kee Hawkins (b. about 1800, d. before 1897), husband (unknown) Hawkins

It is traditional in the Chicksaw culture to place great importance on one's maternal ancestry. All 6 women listed above are Native Americans of the Chickasaw Tribe. Cindy and her mother Paula were born in the 20th century of course. Numbers 3 and 4 in the lineage above, Rosa Krause Hicks and her mother Frances Newberry Krause, were born into the Chickasaw Nation in Indian Territory in Oklahoma in the second half of the 19th century. The final two in the above lineage, numbers 5 and 6, are Lucy Hawkins Newberry and her mother Sha-thlock-kee Hawkins. They were born into the Chickasaw Nation in Mississippi in the early 19th century. Not much is known about their ancestors who lived on this continent before the 19th century, other than their history goes back hundreds of years before Europeans arrived.
                     

Cindy's maternal Grandparents

Jenkins ("Jinks") Hicks and Rosa May Krause Hicks

Oklahoma, about 1920

Cindy's mother Paula Hicks Harris and her aunt Juanita Hicks Eeds were both originally from Oklahoma, and were members of the Chickasaw Nation. Their mother, Rosa May Krause (Cindy's grandmother), was born in 1896 in Indian Territory in what is today Southcentral Oklahoma. Rosa was the youngest of the six children of Christian Krause, Jr. and Frances Newberry Krause. 

Christian Krause (Cindy's Great Grandfather) was born in Baden, Germany but came to America as a teenager and settled with his family in Pennsylvania and then Wisconsin. He served in the American Civil War before moving south to Oklahoma about 1870. In 1877 this German immigrant, who had become a successful businessman on the Oklahoma frontier, married Frances Newberry, a full blooded Chickasaw. 

Cindy's grandmother, Rosa Krause Hicks, was therefore half Chickasaw, half German. She was raised in rural Oklahoma in the early years of the 20th century, near the town of Durant. At 18 she married a Texan named Jenkins Arthur Hicks, who was originally from Gainesville, Texas just across the state line from Oklahoma. Rosa and her husband "Jinks" Hicks, as he was called, traveled around Oklahoma and Texas in the 1920s and 1930s looking for work as they raised their 4 children. Among their offspring were two girls who would become Cindy's mother Paula, and her aunt Juanita. Both women proudly carried their Chickasaw heritage with them throughout their lives. 

I have more to share about our Chickasaw connection that I will share in upcoming posts. Others of you may also have Native American heritage. If so I would be glad to hear about it and share it in future posts.
- - -
Steve Shepard
(he, him, his)