Shepard Family Update August 28, 2009

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Nor need we power or splendor,
wide hall or lordly dome;

The good, the true, the tender
-- these form the wealth of home.

-Sarah J. Hale

Hello Shepard Family and Friends,

Greetings from the Great Northwest, in particular Anacortes, Washington where Cindy and I are visiting with my mom Maida Shepard and other family members here who "form the wealth of home." I am struck again by the fact that August is a wonderful time to be in this part of the world.

As I continue to reflect on my visit to Indiana earlier this summer, I can't help but be struck by how Church affiliation has been a strong value in our family for many generations. To be sure, almost all American families are church related to some degree. But ours has church connections that seem to be stronger and more enduring than most.

I have mentioned before that our family has an exceptionally long history in the Churches of Christ, at least as far back as 1866. That's when my GGGgrandfather Alexander Davis became the first of many family members to belong to the New Union Church of Christ near Spencer, Indiana. The connection may go back even farther, because Alexander Davis came to Indiana from Belmont County, Ohio, which was just a few miles from where the Stone-Campbell Movement originated in the earliest years of the 19th century. In 1866 (which, coincidentally, was the year that Alexander Campbell died) the Stone-Campbell Movement was still young. So young, in fact, that there was no distinction between Churches of Christ, Christian Churches, or Disciples of Christ. Those three groups were not separate identities until the 20th Century.

The New Union Church of Christ outside Spencer was just the first of many congregations where people in our family have clustered for several decades at a time. There were members of our family in the New Union Church for most of its 100 history until it died in 1956.

About 1910 some of our Davis kin (including Bura Davis) migrated from Indiana to Beaver County Oklahoma, where they helped start the South Flat Church of Christ. It became the church home for Will and Bura's family until 1928. It was also home to many other Davises for many decades after that.

The first picture I am including was taken in front of the South Flat Church in Oklahoma in 1989. On the front steps is my father, Eugene Shepard, who was baptized at this church (in a horse trough!) as a youth.

When Will and Bura moved to San Diego in 1940, the El Cajon Blvd Church of Christ became the church home for them and some of their family for nearly 60 years. Other Church of Christ congregations in the San Diego area where some of our family have belonged include Linda Vista, Allied Gardens, Bostonia, El Cajon, and Poway. For over 30 years now the 32nd St. Church of Christ in Anacortes has been the spiritual home for many of Eugene and Maida Shepard's part of the family.

There are, of course, many other congregations that folks in our larger family have been affiliated with over the years in Oklahoma, Texas, California, Washington and elsewhere. If you are a part of our larger family and belong to another congregation, I would be glad to hear from you. You are welcome to send me an email with the particulars.

This brief summary of Church affiliation does not even include the ways that some in our family (including myself) have developed religious ties to groups besides the Churches of Christ. And a number of our family members, of course, have chosen to develop no official religious ties at all. Yet it remains true that one way to tell our family's history is through the congregations around which they have clustered over the last 150 years.

Happy 19th Birthday tomorrow to Lyndsey Aquiningoc! The second picture shows Lyndsey in a picture taken last month at Weatherford, Texas where she and her family live, including mom Kerri and sister Mandi. She is the first GGgrandchild of Will and Bura Shepard. In the picture with her is one of her Ggrandmothers Maylo Enderle. Thanks to Barbara Shepard for this picture.

-- Steve

Shepard Family Update, August 21, 2009

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I came up out of those chilly waters
a bearcat for the Lord,
and have remained that way ever since!
-Carrie Nation
(19th Century activist)

Hello Shepard Family and Friends,

Greetings from the cool, green mountains of the High Sierra in Northern California. Cindy and I are looking forward to a pleasant weekend here with Nathan and Chenda.

I begin on a somber note. Today would have been the 59th birthday of my younger sister Linda Shepard, who died in 1971. It has been 38 years since the car accident that took her life, but the impact of her 21 years remains indelible on those who knew her. The first picture I am including was taken in 1970 and was one of the last family pictures with all 6 children. It shows Eugene and Maida Shepard on the back left. Seated next to them are Gary, me and Linda. In front are Darrell, Russell and Barbara.

We all make mistakes. Last week I sent a family picture from the 1940s in which I identified the young man in the picture as Rex Russell. The other child in the picture -- Thelma (Shepard) Boyd -- emailed me to say that the boy in the photo was NOT Rex. Instead it was Norman Getz, who was Rex's second cousin, and about the same age. (One has to work very hard to put something past Thelma!)

More About the Davises. A couple of weeks ago I mentioned Lucy Davis, the daughter of Tom Davis, and cousin of Bura Davis, all of whom were members of the New Union Church of Christ, near Spencer, Indiana about 100 years ago. Lucy had been baptized in 1916 in frozen Rattlesnake Creek, where the ice had to be broken to get her in the water. When I first heard that story, I must admit I was a little skeptical. Not just because I tend to be skeptical, but because I know how family stories DO get exaggerated sometimes! However, I have since learned that years ago, being baptized in a frozen creek was not all that unusual. For some, it even became something of a badge of honor, a point of pride. The following true story illustrates this. (I heard this in Indianapolis last month, told by TCU Church historian Newell Williams. This is my recollection and not a direct quote.)

Carrie Nation (1846-1911) was a 19th century temperance crusader adamantly opposed to the evils of drinking alcohol. She was also a member of the Stone-Campbell Movement (the movement that gave birth to the Churches of Christ, the Christian Church and the Disciples of Christ). Carrie Nation was in the habit of storming into a bar, with hatchet in hand (see her picture, hatchet and all), and driving out the drinkers and tearing up the place -- the tables and chairs, the bar, even the picture of the half naked lady behind the bar -- all "in the name of the Lord". Later a reporter asked her about such extreme behavior. She proudly reported that when she came to the Lord and was baptized, it was on the coldest day of the year. They had to saw a hole in the ice to get her into the river for baptism. "I came up out of those chilly waters a bearcat for the Lord, and have remained that way ever since!"

Call me a sissy, but I'm proud of my immersion in the heated waters of the indoor baptistry of the Linda Vista Church of Christ in San Diego (50 years ago last month!). Even so, you have to admire the spunk of a young person like Carrie Nation or Lucy Davis, who responds to God's call and is baptized outdoors, in the Midwest, in winter. Bura Davis was much more sensible. She had the good sense to be baptized in August! (See picture at left of Rattlesnake Creek near the New Union Church of Christ, taken this summer. This is the creek where they did their baptisms.)

I'd like to think that cousin Lucy Davis' icy December baptism in Rattlesnake Creek was something that she, like Carrie Nation, was proud of all her life. But no matter how full of pride Lucy may have been in her private moments, she would never have acted in such a rash, albeit purposeful manner as Ms. Nation. Our family has always valued modesty and decency too much for that. Lucy may have thought highly of that crusader, and may have even felt a kinship in spirit, but I doubt she would have acted with such abandon.

Even though Lucy may not have thought of her baptism as making her a "bearcat for the Lord", she was a devout Christian. Five years after her baptism, she married Frank Wheeler, who had been a fellow teen with her in the New Union Church. He had actually begun preaching at age 16, the same year as Lucy's icy baptism at age 13. (Hmm. A connection perhaps?) Their dream of a life together was cut short, however, when Frank died after just two years of marriage at age 24 of Typhoid fever while preaching for the Linton (Indiana) Church of Christ. Two children were born to that short marriage: Lloyd Wheeler (who also became a Church of Christ preacher) and Ruth (Wheeler) Fortner, who Cindy and I had the pleasure of spending time with recently in Spencer, Indiana.

Happy Birthday, Amanda. This coming Tuesday is the Birthday of Amanda Ortiz, one of Will and Bura (Davis) Shepard's 20 Ggrandchildren. Amanda lives in Blue Springs, Missouri with Jeff and (her mother) Kim Clark. She was part of Thelma (Shepard) Boyd's family who attended the family reunion in Oklahoma last month. In the picture surrounding Amanda are Desiree Ortiz on the left, Cindy Shepard and Barbara Shepard in the back, and on the right are Kori Boyd (in purple) and Kim Clark. Amanda is holding her niece Ashlyn Ortiz.

Have a great week. And as these long, warm days of August continue, let the thought of an icy baptism keep you cool. And full of spunk!
--
Steve

Shepard Family Update, August 14, 2009

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A people without history
is like wind on the buffalo grass.

-Native American Proverb

Hello Shepard Family and Friends,

Greetings to all of you! This blog entry is coming to you from our home in San Diego where Cindy and I are cooling our heels, as we make our way through these warm, dog days of summer.

REGARDING OUR SHEPARD ROOTS. After my comments last week, I received word from an historian in Wabash, Indiana about one of our Shepard ancestors. I had mentioned that the 1860 census shows a William Sheppard living in Wabash, Indiana with a family named Baker. Susan Neff is the historian for the Dr. James Ford Museum in Wabash, and is herself descended from the family with whom William was living. She says, among other things, that our ancestor William was a part of "the farm household of George and Rhoda (Stradley) Baker and their young daughter Catherine. Rhoda was from a prominent family of local physicians - i.e., her father Dr. Daniel W. Stradley and two brothers, Dr. Ayres and Dr. Daniel N. Stradley." You can read her very interesting message at the end of my blog posting for Aug 7. I am very grateful for Susan Neff's response and her insights and suggestions.

Even though this William Sheppard's name is spelled with two p's, I am certain this is my GGgrandfather. Everything about this William from Wabash fits with what we know. And name misspellings were not uncommon among census takers, or among other people for that matter, including the military. In Evansville, Indiana where the military buried him, the cemetery has in their office records "William Sheppard," but when you go to the headstone in that cemetery his name is spelled "William Shephard". This would certainly not be the first time the government has misspelled the name of a young person in their service.

Add to all this the interesting family story that this William's son, William Elmer Shepard, who never knew his father, ran away from home in Wabash in the late 1870's and separated forever from any Shepard kin he might have known. Perhaps, somewhere between Wabash, Indiana and Madison County, Illinois, where he settled, he chose to simplify the spelling of his name to Shepard. Or maybe he was just unsure of how it was spelled. In view of all of this, is it surprising that the name spelling is so confusing? Fortunately, after Ggrandad William Elmer Shepard married and settled in Illinois, the name has always been spelled "Shepard" and remains so to this day.

Back to 1860: Why William from Wabash was living with the Bakers just before the Civil War, we do not know. There is no indication that any other family members of this William Sheppard were living in the area at the time, so perhaps he had recently moved there by himself or with friends.

The 1860 census record also indicates that William, who was 24 at the time, had "personal property" valued at $550, which was a significant amount of money. It was enough to buy a large parcel of land for a farm in Indiana in 1860, which may very well have been what William intended to do. Unfortunately he died in the Civil War just 2 years later, as did any hopes or dreams he might have had for the future.

So now the search continues for information about the widow Sheppard, who was left behind with an infant child when William died in July, 1862. It appears that William was single at the time of the 1860 census, so their marriage must have occurred in the 15 months between the census of June, 1860 and September, 1861 when he enlisted in the Army. Their son William Elmer was born in February, 1862, so that narrows their probable marriage date down even further. Unfortunately there is no record of their marriage in Wabash County during that time, although record keeping was not consistent. I know that this may seem tedious to some of you, but I find it fascinating and look forward to the next bit of information that will be discovered.

The first picture I am including, from the early 1940s, shows the only two grandchildren of that Civil war casualty William Sheppard: my grandfather also named William Shepard (1888-1976) and his sister Sadie (Shepard) Pruett (1892-1980). They are the two adults in the middle of the picture. On the far left is Will's wife Bura (Davis) Shepard, and next to her is Will and Bura's young daughter Thelma (Shepard) Boyd. On the right is their first grandchild Rex Russell.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDA SHEPARD! One of Wabash William Sheppard's GGGgrandchildren is Linda Shepard of Anacortes, Washington whose 16th birthday is this Sunday. See a photo presentation celebrating her birthday.

Linda is Pam and Russ Shepard's daughter, and Maida Shepard's youngest grandchild. She spent most of a month this summer visiting family and friends in Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas, and attending the Newcastle family reunion. Her favorite part of this summer was spent in Weatherford, Texas hanging out with cousins Kerri, Lyndsey and Mandi Aquiningoc.

Linda is also honing her driving skills, in hopes of getting her driver's license next week. In just a few weeks she begins her junior year at Anacortes High School. Best wishes to Linda for a very happy birthday!

I have more I want to share about our recent trip to Indiana, regarding our Davis family, but I will save that for next time.
--
Steve

Shepard Family Update, August 7, 2009

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If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton,
you may as well make it dance.-George Bernard Shaw

Hello Shepard Family and Friends,

It is a pleasant, warm summer day here in San Diego, in contrast to some of you who may be enduring scorching summer heat in your part of the world. Thanks to my brother Darrell for suggesting the quote at the top, from George Bernard Shaw. Food for thought: which particular family skeletons would you like to make dance? Just asking. ;-)

Cindy and I are now home from our pilgrimage to Indiana which was primarily to attend the General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Indianapolis. But as I mentioned last week, it also gave us a chance to visit the birthplaces of some Indiana ancestors and learn some valuable things about our roots.

REGARDING OUR SHEPARD ROOTS. This past Monday, on our way out of Indianapolis, we stopped at the Indiana State Archives just off I-70 in that city to research our Shepard ancestors. The attendant we met searched the archives and -- lo and behold! -- found the Civil War service record for William Shepard (1835 -1862), who was my grandfather's grandfather. (The two men share the same name.)

We then drove 2 hours north of Indianapolis to visit the small town of Wabash, Indiana, where my grandfather Will Shepard's father William Elmer Shepard (1862-1915) was born. Wabash is also the place where Grandad's Grandfather, had enlisted in the Union Army, which resulted in his death in the Civil War in 1862. We searched the archives of their local library only to realize that there is scant information to be found about our Shepard ancestors in Wabash.

What we do know is that a young 24 year old named William Shepard shows up in the 1860 census, living in Wabash with a family named Baker. In 1861 he entered the Army, was soon wounded, and died within a year of Typhoid fever at a hospital in Evansville, Indiana, which is where he is buried today (see a picture of his grave). His son, William Elmer Shepard, was born the very year he died, 1862.

What happened to this soldier's young widow we do not know. We don't even know her name, for that matter. An old family story says that her son, W. E. Shepard, ran away from home as a teenager and was never reunited with his family in Wabash. We do know that he eventually settled in Madison County, Illinois where he started his own family, which included a son, Will Shepard, my grandfather. (See picture of him on the left in the 1950s with wife Bura).

In the early 1900s this family moved to Beaver County, Oklahoma, which is where W.E. Shepard died in 1915. Most of what we found earlier this week simply confirmed what we already knew. I am certain that there are other details to be uncovered, but finding them is difficult. Yet the effort continues.

I have more to share about our trip to Indiana, but I need to leave it there for now and move on to matters relating to "live" people. Dane Shepard emailed me recently to send his thanks to everyone who supported last month's family reunion, especially financially. He also sent me some recordings of Grandad Will Shepard that were made before he passed away in 1976. They are fine quality recordings that capture him talking about a variety of subjects. Dane is still in the process of converting the recordings he has to MP3 format that can be shared over the internet. We are still considering the best way to make them available to everybody. More about that in upcoming weeks.

Dane and Cindy were the host team that welcomed the reunion goers a few weeks ago to their fine town of Newcastle, and their beautiful home. One of my enduring memories of the reunion will be of sitting on their front porch, resting with several other family members after that long day. We were looking out over the beautiful placid pond of their lovely "Deer Run" subdivision. Kids were romping in the grass while others were riding some kind of skate board contraption (too dangerous for my liking) and everyone was in good spirits. It was a most pleasant ending to a wonderful day. Thanks Cindy and Dane (and Nathan and Kaylan!) for your gracious hospitality.

Happy Birthday this coming Wednesday to Jeremy Ortiz of El Cajon, California. (See picture on the right with his mother Kim.) Hard working Jeremy was unable to attend the family reunion last month because of his responsibilities as manager of Pizza Hut in San Diego. But at the reunion were his grandmother Thelma Boyd, his mother Kim Clark, his wife Desiree, and his 3 children who represented their part of the family well. Among his children was mohawked Damian, who received the award for being the youngest person in attendance, at 2 years old.

Have a good week making those skeletons dance!
--
Steve

Shepard Family Update, July 31, 2009

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In every conceivable manner,
the family is link to our past,
bridge to our future.
-- Alex Haley

Hello Shepard Family and Friends,

This past Tuesday, as Cindy and I drove up a tree lined country lane near Spencer, Indiana, it was as if we were going back in time. Earlier that day we had left Indianapolis where we are attending the General Assembly of the Christian Church, a fellowship that I have served as a minister for over 30 years now. From Indianapolis we made our way west on I-70 and then south on Hwy 231 to Owen County. It was about an hour's drive, but it felt like going back several generations in time.

As we drove that county lane, our guide in the back seat said, "Slow down, it should be just up ahead." Our guide was Ruth Wheeler Fortner, an octogenarian from Spencer whose Ggrandfather, Charles Edward Davis, is my GGgrandfather. We had been introduced to her earlier that day, and after a short visit she had agreed to show us the way.

I slowed down as we came up over a rise and rounded a slight curve, and there it was on the right, at the corner of Rattlesnake Creek Rd. and Shepard Patrick Rd. (You read that right: Shepard Patrick Rd.) We were looking for the New Union Church of Christ, which had been the spiritual home to several dozen of our Davis kinfolk, including Bura Davis Shepard (1896-1986), for the first 14 years of her life. What we found instead was a beautiful, grassy, but empty corner lot.

The New Union Church had started in the 1850s. Among its very first members was my GGGgrandfather Robert Alexander Davis (1819-1866). The church had served families in these back woods for 100 years until it finally died in 1956. That's when the last few members -- including our guide Ruth Fortner -- closed the doors and joined the Spencer Church of Christ, 5 miles away. The Spencer church still has New Union's old membership book in which one can read name after name of Davis relatives, including Bura Davis ("received by immersion Aug 10, 1908" the record says), her mother and father, both her grandmothers, and her uncles Thomas and Mort (who was the minister of the New Union Church in 1924).

On arriving at the old Church's location, we parked the car and walked out onto that grassy corner lot. We could only imagine what the Church once looked like, because nothing of it remained, not a foundation, not the steps, not a plank or brick. I have an old picture of it from a book, a modest, white wooden structure with a chimney on the right side and two entrances in front, one for the men and one for the women, which was typical back then. But none of that was here now, it was simply a vacant, grassy expanse. The emptiness of what had once been a thriving country church reminded me of the transient nature of all life. One day there will be emptiness where we each now stand, and others will follow us to ponder our lives.

Even though we found nothing of the old church building, we did find the well-tended New Union Cemetery, which adjoins the area where the Church once stood. In the cemetery we found the final resting places of several Davis relatives. Since the church never had an indoor baptistry, nearby Rattlesnake Creek was where Bura Davis and many others were baptized during those 100 years. "Sometimes," Ruth told us, "they even had to break the ice to do baptisms. That's what they did when my mother Lucy was baptized." (Sure enough. I checked the record book: "Lucy Davis, received by immersion, Dec 11, 1916." Brrr!)

After a peaceful time at New Union, we found our way farther back into the woods (wishing I had 4 wheel drive!) to an even more secluded Pleasant Grove Cemetery, near the junction of Fish Creek Rd and Bandy Rd. Set in a quiet, sacred-feeling forest of tall green trees, it is a beautiful resting place for several other relatives, including Bura's Ggrandparents John Pouty Williams (1806-1898) and his wife Sarah Richardson Williams (1801-1877) (see picture above).

With gratitude for her help, we took Ruth back to her home in Spencer, where she has lived for nearly all of her 86 years. We then retraced our steps and found our way back to the 21st century in Indianapolis. We felt fortunate to have spent some quality time with relatives of long ago.

The closest link within our Shepard clan to our relatives in Indiana is Elmer Shepard, second child of Bura Davis Shepard, who was born in 1918 just 8 years after she moved with her family to Oklahoma. The second picture I am including today shows the two surviving children of Bura Davis and Will Shepard: Elmer Shepard and Thelma Shepard Boyd. Thelma is holding her Ggrandson Damian, son of Desiree and Jeremy Ortiz of El Cajon, California. This picture was taken at the recent family reunion in Newcastle, Oklahoma, where Damian and Elmer were recognized for being the oldest and youngest persons in attendance at 2 and 92 years old.

- - -
Steve

Shepard Family Update, July 24, 2009

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A person travels the world overin search of what they need,and returns home to find it.
-- George Moore

Hello Shepard Family and Friends.

Greetings to all of you from home in sunny San Diego, where Cindy and I have returned after last weekend's trip to Oklahoma. The Newcastle Family Reunion is over, but the memories remain. It was a grand event as 40 of our family members met outside Oklahoma City in the small throw-back town of Newcastle, Oklahoma. Most of those present were descendants of Bura Davis and Will Shepard, but we were also honored to have a dozen or so other Davis relatives (one of whom rightly reminded us that all of us Shepard descendants are also "Davis relatives").

The first picture I am including today shows the group who attended the reunion, including people with the last names of Shepard, Davis, Taylor, Sauvage, Millikan, Jenkins, Villanueva, Ortiz and Boyd. (Click on the picture to see a larger view.) Select this link to see the pictures that appeared in my PowerPoint presentation at the reunion. But be patient, there are lots of pictures, so it takes a while to load. The good news is there is a feature that allows you to download the pictures if you choose. Select this link to see a much smaller collection of some pictures that were taken last weekend.

The day began with a time of renewing family ties with people we had not seen in many years. In some cases family members were meeting for the very first time. We also shared a great meal catered by a local barbeque, and then viewed lots of old (and new) family pictures from photo albums as well as on a big screen. We also recognized special people among us, including the oldest and youngest members of the Shepard clan: 92 year old Elmer Shepard (Dane's dad), and 2 year old Damian Ortiz (Thelma's Ggrandson). Special thanks go to Dane Shepard and his cousin Kim Clark who formed the core of the planning team for the reunion.

BIRTHDAYS. Today is the birthday of Shannon Wilk of Atchison, Kansas, granddaughter of Pauline Shepard Russell. Shannon was planning to attend our reunion last week, but health concerns prevented her from coming. Best wishes to Shannon for good health and a happy birthday!

This coming Tuesday is the birthday of Barbara Shepard of Anacortes, Washington, who reaches a major milestone on July 28. Tuesday is also the birthday of Jeff Clark, husband of Kim Clark of Blue Springs, Missouri. The second picture shows these two birthday kids, taken last week at the family reunion. As you might guess from the camera in his hand, Jeff was the photographer of the group picture above.

And finally I would like to pass on some family emails I received just before the reunion.

From Eric and Ruth Russell of Red Rock, Nevada,
Hello Steve... Sorry we haven’t gotten back to you sooner. Work has been busy and dad was in the hospital two weeks ago with pneumonia. He’s doing well now. This past week was dealing with two wild fires near our houses. All is well now. I did find some photos of dad that you might enjoy. We are still trying to locate old family photos that you were asking about. We do enjoy reading your e-mails, and print them out for dad to read. Best wishes.
(Eric and Ruth graciously sent some photos of their father Rex, which I will include in an upcoming email.)
From Joan Shepard of Dixon, California,

Right now I'm concentrating to reach a deadline with my work. And I'll miss you all very much. I wanted to thank you for the inspiring comments in the family emails. Havilah and I appreciated your discussion so much. Thank you for your loving altruism. I'm also so delighted about Nathan and Chenda. My best to them. I've attached some memories for Dad. Perhaps you can read it at the reunion. Thanks so much, Steve. Have a wonderful weekend.

From Joan's daughter Halilah Reynolds, who lives just outside Salt Lake City, Utah,

I so wish that I could be there at the family reunion. I send my love to the family! Thanks for the updates, as always. Enjoy the day! -Havilah

From Bud and Janet Davis,

Please say hello to our family members for us, as we are not able to make the trip from the Tacoma, WA area. Sounds like you will have a great time at the reunion. Thank you for doing such a good job with your family email and website. It helps us hold on to memories. Great pictures of the Davis family including my dad Jesse. Jessie and Charlotte should have some pics to share and wish we could be there too. ...Bud and Janet Davis

And lastly, these insightful words from brother Darrell Shepard of Kenmore, Wa.,

I loved the quotes this week. I presume you are just being nice and upbeat regarding those quotes for the sake of the family reunion. Because quite frankly as funny as those quotes are, I think they reveal a usually unspoken truth about family dynamics. (Please don't make me sight examples or individuals, mainly because I would have to present myself as exhibit "A".) I believe when it comes to family self image, we like to present ourselves as we would like to be. Otherwise we might lose sight of how important and valuable and wonderful family relationships really are - in spite of all the quirkiness. If we hold that image of who would like to be as as a family up to ourselves and the world, we might move closer to actually being that someday.

Anyway, I will be with you all tomorrow in spirit. I hope you all have a terrific time. The family web site and the old pictures you post are a blessing to all of us. Especially my kids, and in fact all the younger members of our family. Thank you for the recent picture of Gram, me and Mary taken in 1984. My kids love that picture and it has launched many a story telling session about the "older days." It really gives them a strong sense of family and history and belonging to something bigger than themselves. It binds us all together more closely - quirks and all.
--
Steve

Shepard Family Update, July 17, 2009

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Hello Shepard Family and Friends,

Greetings to all of you from the (not quite 5 star) Newcastle Hotel in Newcastle, Oklahoma where Cindy and I find ourselves on this day before our Family Reunion! Everything is just about ready for our celebration. We anticipate a wonderful time with family and friends, including some Davis relatives who will be joining us.

Many of you are not able to be with us because of distance or health or other commitments. Please know that we will be thinking of you and hope you will be able to attend future reunions.

A lot of work has gone into the planning and preparing for this event, especially by those who are traveling quite a distance. Special thanks go to Kim Clark, and our local host Dane Shepard. The graphic at the bottom is just one of the many things Dane created in getting ready for our gathering tomorrow.

The first picture I am including today shows two of the people who will be with us at the reunion tomorrow, both children of Will and Bura: Elmer Shepard of Oklahoma and his sister Thelma Shepard Boyd of Gallup, New Mexico. This picture was taken in the early 1950s in San Diego. Elmer has the honor of being the senior member of our Shepard family.

I set out to find an appropriate quote for this week of our family reunion, and had a very difficult time. I'd like to share with you some of what I found. First, a few quotes I rejected.

"When our relatives are at home, we have to think of all their good points or it would be impossible to endure them." (George Bernard Shaw)

"Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in." (Robert Frost)

"Every one sees in their relatives, and especially in their cousins, a series of grotesque caricatures of themselves." (Henry Louis Mencken)

"Family is just accident. They don't mean to get on your nerves. They don't even mean to be your family, they just are. (Marsha Norman)

"A friend who is near and dear may in time become as useless as a relative." (George Ade)

Ouch! I would never use these quotes when thinking about our family! They are just too negative, if you ask me. "Grotesque caricatures"? "Useless as a relative"? Family "getting on your nerves"? These are all quotes from people who should know better. What were they thinking?

The following are a few more quotes that I also rejected. They do not reveal quite the depth of cynicism and cheap humor as the foregoing, but they still don't make the grade, as far as I am concerned.

"If you don't believe in ghosts, you've never been to a family reunion." (Ashleigh Brilliant)

"I wish I could relate to the people I am related to." (Jeff Foxworthy)

"Remember, as far as anyone knows, we're a nice, normal family." (Homer Simpson)

"Nothing is so soothing to our self-esteem as to find our bad traits in our forebears. It seems to absolve us." (Van Wyck Brooks)

"Some family trees have beautiful leaves, and some just have a bunch of nuts. Remember, it is the nuts that make the tree worth shaking." (Author Unknown)

See what I mean? I guess I'm going to have to keep looking, because it is hard to come up with the right quote when thinking about our family and our reunion. On the other hand... maybe I am missing something here. Do you suppose these quotes DO provide some valuable insight into what it means for us to be family?

Whether or not you'll be at the reunion tomorrow, celebrate our family with a sense of humor. It's the only way to go.
--
Steve

Shepard Family Update, July 10, 2009

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The lack of emotional security of our young people
is due to their isolation from the larger family unit.
No two people are enough
to provide emotional security for a child.
He needs to feel himself one in a world of kinfolk,
persons allied to himself by an indissoluble bond
which he cannot break,
for nature has welded him into it
before he was born.
~Pearl S. Buck

Hello Shepard Family and Friends,

Greetings to all of you wherever you may be. Cindy and I are enjoying a few days with our son Nathan and his wife Chenda, in San Francisco. I am being reminded again that this is one of the most beautiful cities in the world! And that is saying a lot, coming from someone who lives in another one of the world's beautiful cities, San Diego. (Okay, okay, I may not be giving OKC, DFW, SEA or even LUB enough credit -- to say nothing of NYC -- but don't hold that against me!)

With our family reunion coming up next weekend just outside OKC in Newcastle, I am still thinking about those members of our larger Davis family who will be with us. The first picture I am including today is yet another old photo of Bura Davis Shepard and the other 6 children of James Brooks and Callie Davis (plus a couple of spouses). It looks very much like another picture I have of this same group dated 1968, taken on the steps of the South Flat Church of Christ in Beaver County, Oklahoma (click here to see that picture).

Becky Davis emailed me recently concerning this image. "Steve... Have never seen that picture before and it is a great one. I know the people in it but don't know where it was taken. Left to right: My dad Jesse, Marjorie Millikan, Nona and Myra Kilpatrick, Bura [and husband Will], Esther Jenkins [and husband Perry], and Lawrence [with wife Lou]. All 7 [Davis siblings] are there. They all look great and it must have been fun for them all to get together. Someone surely knows when they were all able to get together. Where are you coming up with all these old pictures? Keep them coming. ...Becky

Gary Millikan also emailed and reminded me that Jesse Davis (on the far left) passed away in the spring of 1969, so this may have been one of the last pictures of all 7 Davis children.

Like many of the old photos I have, I cannot remember where I got it. Most of the ones I have are from the photo collection of my mom Maida Shepard in Anacortes, Washington. But in recent months I have also received pictures from my cousin Dane, and my aunt Thelma and her daughter Kim. Unfortunately I cannot give credit to the one from whom I received this particular photo, but thanks to that person nonetheless.

The second picture I am including shows Bura Davis Shepard with one of her grandsons Darrell Shepard and his wife Mary. This picture was taken in 1984 in Anacortes, Washington where Bura lived with her son Eugene and his family for the last few years of her life, until she died in 1986.

Darrell and Mary, along with their three kids Chris, Rachel and Patrick, now live in Kenmore Washington, a suburb of Seattle. They are only part of our family who presently live in Washington State. Unfortunately the distance from Washington to Oklahoma is such that only a few of our kinfolk from the great Northwest will be with us when we gather next week in Newcastle, including Maida, Barbara, Steve and Linda Shepard of Anacortes. Those four will probably be coming the farthest distance to the reunion. Anyone coming from a greater distance?

In case you missed it before here is the location of our reunion in Newcastle, Oklahoma, which will be held from noon till 5 pm. As a final reminder, be sure to bring whatever old (or new) family photos you would like to place on our picture table at the reunion for all to see.

Dane wants me to tell everyone -- especially those of us coming from the west coast -- to be prepared, the temperature will probably be in the 90s. Best wishes to all for safe travels next week for our gathering on Saturday.
--
Steve

Shepard Family Update, July 3, 2009

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In each family a story is playing itself out,
and each family's story embodies its hope and despair.
-- Auguste Napier

Hello Shepard Family and Friends,

Best wishes to all of you for a safe and sane July 4th weekend, on our nation's 233rd birthday! We have had family members in this country for all of those years. One Yankee Doodle Dandy was Vashti Wright (the Ggrandfather of James Brooks Davis) who was born in South Carolina in 1775, the year before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He was part of the westward movement that brought our ancestors in the 19th century to Indiana. Our family's history has been primarily an American story for more than two centuries.

This is not to diminish that part of our story where we have embraced, through marriage, other ethnicities such as Irish, Mexican, Colombian, Native American, and most recently Cambodian. But it is to celebrate the degree to which our roots are deeply ingrained in the American landscape.

More on Our Davis Roots. The first picture I am including today -- like last week's picture -- illustrates our Davis roots, by showing the 7 children of James and Callie Davis. In last week's picture (from 1908) the children were all between 11 years old and just a few months old. They have grown considerably by the time of this week's picture, taken 14 years later, in about 1922.

Bura Davis, the oldest, was the tall girl in last week's picture, but this week (on the far right, at 25 years old) she appears to be the shortest one of the bunch. (Was the camera tilted, giving a false impression? What do you think?) When this picture was taken, she was married to William Shepard and the mother of their first 3 children, Pauline, Elmer and Eugene.

Next to her is Jesse Davis, about 21 years old. (You gotta love the preppy hair styles on the boys!) Moving to the left, the next person is Myra Davis, about 22 years old, married to William Allen Kilpatrick at the time, and the mother of their first two, Geneva and Bernard. Behind her is Marjorie Davis, the youngest at 14 years old.

Next to Marjorie is Esther Davis, in the blouse with the interesting designs. She is about 17 years old here, and married Perry Jenkins the summer of the following year. Next to her is Lawrence, the oldest son at 24. On the far left is Winona, who was about 19 years old at this time.

If any of you have other insights into this picture, regarding date, place, circumstances, etc., I would appreciate you dropping me a line with your thoughts.

It must have been an interesting time for the James and Callie Davis family. These 7 siblings were maturing into adulthood and beginning to leave home, with three of them married, and 5 grandchildren on the scene. It is very interesting to compare this picture with one I shared with you last June. That picture (select this link to view it) appears to have been taken at the same time, and in the same setting, as this picture. It shows James and Callie Davis with their first 5 grandchildren (they would eventually have 31).

Among the people scheduled to attend the reunion in two weeks will be 2 of Bura's children (Elmer and Thelma) plus other descendants of hers (including the two boys pictured below), and at least 2 of Jesse's children (Charlotte and Jessie), perhaps other descendants of his as well. I do not have the entire list of those planning to attend, but other descendants of the 7 Davis kids may also be with us.

Happy Birthday to Kelly and James Savage's older son Nathaniel, of Weatherford, Texas, who turns 7 this coming Tuesday. I mentioned his younger brother Kyle last week, whose 5th birthday was last Friday. The second picture shows these two young San Diego Padre fans at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas, just last weekend. Their family moved from San Diego to Texas several years ago, but have kept their love for the San Diego team.

Nathaniel and Kyle are two of Bura Davis and Will Shepard's GGgrandchildren. Gary Shepard is the proud grandfather of these two. Their mother Kelly said in a recent email...

"The whole family, including the four of us, [my] mom, Rick, Kerri, Lyndsey, Mandi and Jason enjoyed it very much when the Padres came to Texas to play the Rangers for the weekend and won two out of three! We braved the over 100 degrees every night. Kyle was so excited because he thought the Padres came all the way to Texas for his birthday. They put his name on the rolling score board and brought him a gift bag. Kyle turned 5 on June 26th. Loves the Padres! His favorite players are Adrian Gonzalez and Tony Gwynn Jr. He finished his first season of soccer this past Spring. He did a great job and loved to play. He can't wait to play T-ball next season!

Nathaniel ('Nate') turns 7 on 7-7. He just finished his second season of T-ball. He was on the Padres!! He has played soccer and is an orange belt in Karate. Nate loves to do anything that gives him a chance to run and get dirty. He never misses an opportunity to tell a stranger he loves them and/or give them a hug."

Best wishes for a very happy birthday this coming week!
--
Steve

Shepard Family Update, June 26, 2009

We all grow up with the weight of history on us.

Our ancestors dwell in the attics of our brains
as they do in the spiraling chains of knowledge
hidden in every cell of our bodies.~Shirley Abbott

Hello Shepard Family Members and Friends,

Greetings to each of you from hot Tucson, Arizona where Cindy and I are visiting friends for the weekend. At our family reunion July 18 -- which is fast approaching! -- we may have a number of relatives from my Grandmother Bura Davis' side of the family. Many of them live in and around Oklahoma and have been invited to join us, in particular by Dane Shepard and Kim Clark, who have gone out of their way to make contact with many of them.

The first picture I am including today shows the connections with our larger Davis family. In the picture is my great grandparents James Brooks Davis and Caroline (Callie) Spear Davis with their 7 children. It is one of the finest quality old family pictures that I have.

Standing tall in the back is the oldest child, my grandmother Bura Davis, who, 7 years after this photo was taken, would marry William Shepard, who she did not even meet until after they had moved and settled in Oklahoma. I never remember her looking any taller than she appears in this picture.

The boy on the far right is Lawrence Davis, taking the serious posture of the oldest boy. He was the second born in the family, and in 1930 would marry Loudella Jackson. Next to Bura is Myra Davis, the third child, who has her father's eeire eyes; in 1918 she would marry William Allen Kilpatrick. The boy smack dab in the middle is Jesse Davis, the middle child of the 7, who would marry Mildred Beck in 1930. (Mildred, by the way, is the last survivor of this generation in our family, and lives in Bartlesville, Oklahoma today.)

The girl nearly hidden on the far left is Winona Davis, child #5, who in 1924 would marry William Allen's brother Barney Kilpatrick. Esther, child #6, is the cute little girl in the front between her parents with her head slightly cocked. She would marry Perry Jenkins in 1923. Marjorie, the youngest of the 7, is the baby sitting in her father's lap. In 1931 she would become Mrs. John Millikan, and then 50 years after that, Mrs. A.C. Williams.

Marjorie was born in late December 1907. In the picture she cannot be any more than a few months old, indicating that this picture must have been taken in the spring or summer of 1908 -- 101 years ago! The location was probably Spencer Indiana, where the family lived at the time. A few years later they moved to Beaver County, Oklahoma.

None of the people in this picture are still living today. The last one of James and Callie's children to pass away was the youngest, Marjorie, who died just last fall in Tulsa, Oklahoma at 100.

One of the most remarkable things about this picture is how they managed to get all the children to pose so perfectly, at the same time. To get ANY 9 people to photograph well is tough enough. When 7 of the 9 are under 12 years old, it is uncanny. Some of our younger family members may need to be reminded that this picture was taken long before the age of digital photography, meaning that each shot was very important. They did not take 20 pictures and then select the best one. 100 years ago photography was still a relatively new phenomenon, which may help to explain the rapt attention given by each of the family members -- including the baby!

The indicators of the early 20th century in this photo are very apparent -- the curtains in the back, the knickers on Lawrence, the collar and blouse on Jess (try putting that on a boy today and the neighbors may call CPS!), the well worn shoes, the soft white cottons on all the girls, and the high collars on everybody.

Mother Callie, though 5 years older than her husband James, actually looks younger and is quite a beauty at 42 years old. He is the one who -- though only 37 --seems to show in his face the signs of having borne 7 children in the first 12 years of their married life.

Most of those who read this blog are descendants of Bura Davis, the tall girl in the back in the picture above. But a growing number of readers are descendants of the other Davis children, with names like Niles, Millikan, Allen, Borgstadt, Ellred, Taylor, Roberts and of course, Davis. We will be blessed to be joined at the reunion by some of these other members of our larger family.

Congratulations Newlyweds. I mentioned last week that Nathan, our son (and one of James and Callie's GGgrandsons) was recently joined by his fiance Chenda from Cambodia. But I need to report further this week that they were married last Sunday, on Father's Day! It was this father's honor to do the outdoor ceremony in San Diego, on a small bluff overlooking the Pacific ocean. Congratulations to Nathan and Chenda Shepard! The second picture I am including today is a picture of the newlyweds with Cindy and me. (I promise not to bore you EVERY week with updates. ;-)

Happy Birthday Kyle Sauvage. As a final word I want to say happy birthday to Kyle Christian Sauvage, one of James and Callie Davis' GGGgrandsons. Kyle, who turns 5 today, lives in Weatherford, Texas with his parents James and Kelly Sauvage. Kyle is the grandson of Gary Shepard and the great grandson of Maida Shepard.
--
Steve