Primary Sources Linking the Shapard Generations

As research genealogists, we use a variety of sources. Fundamentally there are two categories of sources: primary and secondary. Primary sources are records that are original to the timeframe being researched, such as, court records, marriage records, birth certificates, letters, first-hand testimony, etc. Secondary sources are records that were created after the timeframe being researched, such as, information from books, recollections from someone’s past, etc… Due to the fact that secondary sources originated beyond the timeframe being researched, there are often inaccuracies and faulty assumptions.
 

Primary sources are the “gold standard” for the basis of my research. Over the years, I have encountered numerous secondary sources that were clearly in error when compared with the primary source. These errors are often transcription errors, yet, some have turned out to be deliberate forgeries. One of my goals is to eliminate these erroneous secondary sources so they are not indefinitely perpetuated from one researcher to the next.
    

One of the most important uses for primary sources is in linking the generations together. Without primary sources connecting the generations, doubt can be raised whether those generations are truly connected or not. It took me years to locate the primary sources connecting the patriarchs from the present-day back to our most distantly known ancestor (Samuel Shapard c.1700 - 1752). For those future Shapard research genealogists, I have illuminated the essential records linking the generations of the Shapard family... This key knowledge will greatly advance your understanding of our family tree and dispel any debate over our patriarchal lineage.  
 

Beginning with my grandfather:
David Conger Shapard (1913-1983) was originally named David Evander Shapard, Jr. He changed his name after his parents divorced and his mother moved him from Fort Smith, Arkansas, to Enid, Oklahoma, in 1929. The primary source of the name change is located in the last will and testament of his father, David Evander Shapard, Sr., found in the court records of Sebastian County, Arkansas. The primary source confirming he was the son of David Evander Shapard, Sr., and Annelise Conger is his birth certificate, Sebastian County, Arkansas. Note that David Conger Shapard had a brother (Jack Conger Shapard) who died shortly after birth. David had no other siblings.
 

David Evander Shapard, Sr. (1887-1935) was the son of Rev. Edwin Ruthven Shapard and Jennie Neely Hall. The primary source linking these generations is the Death Report of David Evander Shapard, Sr., located in Sebastian County, Arkansas, as well as, letters of correspondence between David Evander Shapard, Sr., and Rev. J.Y. Bryce, which states the father-son relationship. These letters are held in the J.Y. Bryce Collection at the Oklahoma Historical Society in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Note that David Evander Shapard, Sr., had two brothers (Sumner Samuel Shapard and Edwin Ruthven Shapard, Jr.) and one sister (Elizabeth "Lizzie" Mitchell Shapard).
 

Rev. Edwin Ruthven Shapard (1838-1889) was the son of Robert Paine Shapard and Parthenia Mitchell. The primary source linking these generations is from E.R. Shapard's Sebastian County Arkansas 1889 Death Record (familysearch film 4707960, image 275) listing his parents as Robert Paine Shapard and Parthenia. Note that Edwin had numerous siblings: William Booker, James Hodge, daughter, Avarilla Elizabeth, Robert Addison, Evander, David Green, Sarah and John Mitchell.

Robert Paine Shapard (1805-1871) was the son of Lewis Shapard. The primary source linking these generations is the apprentice bond found in Rutherford County, Tennessee Deed Book L, page 1-3, whereby, Lewis Shapard bound "his son" Robert P. Shapard to Joshua Harrison to learn the trade of a nailer. Note that Robert Paine Shapard had numerous siblings: William Booker, Sophia, James Paine, Booker, Lewis, Martha, Thelia and Thomas Paine.

Lewis Shapard (1773-1833) was the son of William Shapard. The primary source linking these generations is found in Granville County, North Carolina Deed Book T, page 49, whereby, William Shapard places his property in trust in return for an annuity to be paid each Christmas by "his children:" Samuel, Mildred, Elizabeth, James, William, Lewis, Thomas, Mary , John, Anne and Robert. In addition, there is another source from Granville County, North Carolina Deed Book S, page 259, whereby, William Shapard deeds a tract of land to "his son" Lewis Shapard. As stated above, Lewis had numerous siblings.

William Shapard (1741 - 1807) was the son of Samuel Shapard. The primary source linking these generations is found at Virginia Digital Collections; Middlesex County, Virginia Chancery #1791-002; Vass vs Shackleford, whereby, it states that William Shapard is the brother of Mrs. Crittenden. This court record further documents that Mrs. Frances (Shapard) Crittenden was the daughter of Samuel Shapard. Thus William and Frances were siblings and the children of Samuel Shapard. Further evidence at worldfamilies.net the Shepard DNA Project confirms a Y-DNA match between William Shapard's lineage and his brother Robert's lineage - proving them to be siblings of the same father (Samuel Shapard). Note that William had numerous siblings: Samuel [Jr.], Robert, Elizabeth, John, Ann, Mary, Mildred, Frances and Sarah.

Beyond Samuel Shapard (c.1700-1752) we have no connection to additional generations, as of yet.   

Shepard DNA Project at Familytreedna.com

When considering DNA in Shapard research genealogy, it is important for the reader to know that in the early 1700s, the Shapard family settled in King and Queen County, Virginia. Regretfully, for our family, King and Queen County is considered a “burned county,” whereby, the vast majority of early public records have been lost. Some early records were consumed in a fire, in 1828, at the County Clerk’s Office; however, the majority of early records were destroyed, in 1864, during the Civil War, when invading Union troops deliberately set fire to the Clerk’s Office, County Court House and other public buildings (damned Yankees). The fragmented records that remain today were pieced together from private sources and the surviving public records of neighboring counties, yet, much of early Shapard history from this region has been forever lost to the ages.

In addition, we have lost the written record linking our paternal line beyond our oldest known Shapard forefather - Samuel Shapard (c.1700 – 1752). Though the records did not survive, we Shapard’s did; and in so doing, brought through history an extraordinary resource to link us to the past, in the form of DNA. Just as fathers pass their surname on to their sons, they also pass on their Y-DNA, which remains nearly unchanged from one generation to the next. By comparing Y-DNA with other families of similar surname (Shapard, Shepard and Shepherd) we will inevitably be able to transcend the obstacle of missing written records, and definitively reestablish a connection, beyond Samuel Shapard, with the paternal line of our forefathers.

Because of the burned records, I had come to a seemingly impassable “brick wall” in my genealogical research, and realized that the limited paper records would not offer me the information I sought. DNA was the only way for a potential breakthrough. Familytreedna.com hosts a surname project, whereby, anyone with a similar surname can compare their DNA results with one another and see if there is a relation. The Shepard DNA Project at Familytreedna.com captivated my attention. In particular, there was Y-DNA already posted by a Shepard descendant claiming to have traced their pedigree back to “Robert Shepard of Goochland County, Virginia.” My research had led me to conclude that this Robert Shepard (1732 – 1796) was the son of Samuel Shapard (c.1700-1752). There was only one way to find out if the conclusion of my extensive research had merit…

About a year ago, I submitted Y-DNA testing with Familytreedna.com for comparison on the Shepard DNA Project. It cost about $140 for a 36 marker Y-DNA test which was sufficient for making a positive connection for distant ancestors. I hoped with all my heart that the Shapard females had been faithful spouses for the last 270 years…otherwise the Y-DNA (which tests the male’s Y-chromosome) would not be accurate. The gamble paid off.  One of the most exciting moments that I have had in the field of Shapard research genealogy was when the results came back with a match to Robert Shepard!!! Y-DNA has positively affirmed the link between our two families that occurred in the 1740s! The DNA result would be meaningless without the research to provide names and dates; just as the research is only speculation or an educated guess without DNA if the paper trail is not strong.
 

As a result, I have made a wonderful connection with the research genealogist from Robert Shepard’s family line.  We have shared a tremendous amount of research back and forth to further our pursuit for knowledge about our amazing family. I would highly encourage all Shapard, Shepard, Sheppard and Shepherd families to join the Shepard DNA Project at Familytreedna.com, it is our only way to restore what has been lost through the passage of time.  

The Evolution of the Shapard Surname

During the course of researching our family history, one of my aspirations was to identify the source of the name “Shapard.” In essence, to answer the query of when and where did our name originate, and who was the first Shapard? Our surname is unique because of the spelling, being a variant of “Shepherd,” which is derived from the old English words “sceap” (meaning “sheep”) and “weard” or “hierde” (meaning “guardian” or “herdsman”).   The earliest record of this surname dates to southern England in 1279 A.D., being William Sepherd of Oxfordshire and Walter Le Schepherde of Cambridgeshire.

Research suggests that our Shapard surname evolved in England, roughly between 1600 and 1650, where it most likely branched off from the Shepherd surname trunk as an alternative spelling. This theory is supported by the fact that, there seems to be no spellings of "Shapard" located in the early records of England prior to about 1600, whereas, the “Shepard/Shepherd” spelling can be traced back centuries earlier. The question we really need to inquire is when did the “Shapard” spelling become prevalent within our family tree?

The two previous books written about our family, Shapard, A Family History (2004) by the Shapard Family Association and A Shapard Family 1623-1980 by Sarah Marsh Shapard have erroneously suggested that our surname branched off from the Shepherd line in America in the 1790s on account of our forefather, "Lewis Thomas Shapard." This idea was mostly based on the letters printed in William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine in the 1920-1940s, authored by William Shepard. My research over the last decade has discredited these letters as forgeries, and comically even our famed forefather "Lewis Thomas Shapard" was found to be a creation of William Shepard's faulty research. In actuality, "Lewis Thomas Shapard" was not ONE man but TWO brothers - Lewis Shapard and Thomas Shapard. Nevertheless, our surname was clearly not created by Lewis Shapard (c. 1773 - 1833), it was much older, and was traced to his father, William Shapard (c. 1741-1807).

Research shows that William used our “Shapard” surname throughout his lifetime. We can follow the name through his migratory history from Granville County, North Carolina (1785-1807), back to Cumberland County, Virginia (1762-1785), back to King and Queen County, Virginia (1741-1762). Our name clearly is older in America than anyone suspected, thus far, it pre-dates the Revolutionary War, being prevalent well into the Colonial Era when Virginia was a colony of England. Although William is not the source of our namesake, he does hold a very important position in our lineage, which will be explained soon.

Further research stretched our surname back an additional generation to William's father, Samuel Shapard (c. 1700-1752). One fact that must be faced as we descend deep into the annals of history is that literacy was limited and the modern rules of spelling did not apply.  Spelling of a surname was often arbitrary and dependent on how a word sounded to the recording scribe. The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy offers us some insight on why this may have occurred; “…the early settlers of America were emigrants from many foreign lands. There were many accents, and when records were made the scribe wrote what he heard, accent and all.” In addition, “Most persons who did write did not concern themselves particularly with so-called standard spellings, but rather spelled words just as they sounded – phonetically – with local accents.” This issue is never more clearly illustrated than in the scribing of the Last Will and Testament of Samuel Shapard (c. 1700-1752), whereby the recording scribe spelled our surname three different ways in this single document. 

While variations in the spelling of our surname are abundant in the documents that have survived (deeds, wills, tax lists, etc.), it must be remembered that all of these documents were recorded by independent scribes, with their own rules for spelling. However, when we observe the actual signatures made by our ancestors on the early records, we discover that Samuel (c. 1700-1752) and all his male children (Samuel II, Robert, John and William) were not only educated, being able to read and write, but they all consistently signed their surname as “Shapard.” It is only in later generations, when literacy was abandoned or when the Shapard father-figure died prematurely, that the surname changed to the “Shepard” or “Shepherd” spelling.    

The records show, without a doubt, that Samuel (c. 1700-1752) was using the “Shapard” spelling as early as 1739; which, thus far, is the earliest known American record of our surname within our lineage being spelled correctly in a document. Unfortunately, King and Queen County, Virginia, where Samuel Shapard resided, suffered the loss of nearly all their early records. Because of this, there is a great void in the amount of information regarding the early Shapard family in this county which can never be recovered. In regards to our surname, however, there seem to be no other Shapard's in the early records of Virginia prior to Samuel.

The more I research, the more I have come to believe that Samuel Shapard (c. 1700-1752) may have been the first of our family to arrive in America from England. In addition, I believe that he brought the “Shapard” spelling uncorrupted from England to America, which is contrary to everything we have previously believed about the origins of our namesake. It is estimated that Samuel’s father would have been born circa 1670s; and, if educated, he would have acquired a grammatical consistency when spelling his name, which would have been perpetuated through the lineage of his educated male children. The birth, death, marriage and christening records of England document “Shapards," beginning circa 1600, which surged in the 1650s and 1670s. The greatest prevalence of this surname seems to come from the counties of Gloucestershire and Norfolk, England, which may be the place of our origin prior to America. If this is in fact the case, the unique spelling of our surname may be the key to unlocking our origin in England.

 In regards to Samuel's (c. 1700-1752) legacy in America, all of Samuel's sons (Samuel II, Robert, John and William) used the “Shapard” spelling. Samuel II (c. 1729-1781) moved to Henrico County, Virginia, and had numerous children before his death in 1781. Interestingly, all three of Samuel II’s sons (Samuel III, Reuben and William) were “infants” at the time of his death, and appear to have adopted the "Shepard" spelling to represent their surname when they reached adulthood.  Robert migrated to Goochland County, Virginia, where he had numerous children. All of Robert's sons (Samuel, William B., Benjamin and Thomas) were illiterate and adopted the "Shepard" spelling to represent their surname. John eventually migrated to Granville County, North Carolina, where he vanished from the records in 1781. As of yet, there is no evidence of children in which to carry on his surname. William, as discussed earlier, migrated frequently yet retained the “Shapard” spelling as did his sons. Thus while William was not the creator of our surname, William was the only male line to perpetuate the “Shapard” spelling in subsequent generations to the present day. Therefore, William Shapard (c. 1741 – 1807) is our family’s “Adam,” the one who carried the name to every Shapard in modern times in America - the source where all current Shapard lines converge.

Therefore, in answer to the question of when the “Shapard” spelling became prevalent in our pedigree, we have learned that, contrary to past beliefs, our namesake (spelled as “Shapard”) is much older than previously imagined. It appears to have originated in England in the 1600s and come to America, possibly with Samuel Shapard, circa 1720. Further research will be needed to test these hypotheses and develop a better understanding of our English origins.

 

 

 

Shapard Origins and William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine: One Hundred Years of Misinformation and Confusion

          What if I told you that everything you thought you knew about the origin of the Shapard family history was wrong!

          The year was 1926 and a social interest in knowing one’s family pedigree was on the rise. Tired of being “painfully uncertain” of his ancestry, a gentleman from Virginia named William Shepard wrote the first pedigree of the Shepard family which was published in William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, under the title of “Shepard and Other Buckingham Families.” This article was significant, due to the fact that the Shepard family of Virginia resided in “burned counties,” of which, the majority of the records were destroyed during the Revolutionary War, Civil War and in subsequent courthouse fires; thus, to obtain information on the oldest generations, Mr. Shepard claimed that he gathered what little scraps remained and interviewed the older inhabitants for his research.

           After the article was published, Mr. Shepard reported that he was flooded with additional information regarding the Shepard family by the local inhabitants, in the form of letters dating from the 1780s-1812, documents, family bible entries, diary, stories, etc. - all of which were compiled in the publication of his second article, a year later, entitled, “Shepard and Other Buckingham Families, Part II.” The significance of his research for our family (being the ShApard family – spelled with an “A”) has always been the shadowy revelation of how the ShApard branch evolved from the ShEpard family tree. Within the pedigree of names listed in the article, a glimpse of “A”s began to appear in the spelling of the surnames that the author dismisses as, “clerical errors” in writing the name Shepard. As a result, this 1927 family history by William Shepard (which henceforth shall be referred to as the “W.S. history”) became the unquestioned cornerstone upon which all further Shapard research would be based for the next 87 years! It has been used ‘as gospel’ in the two books published about our family: A Shapard Family by Sarah Marsh Shapard (1980) and Shapard, A Family History by the Shapard Family Association (2004) and has been referenced in countless articles since 1927, regarding the numerous other surnames mentioned. Even today, these letters and articles are prevalent and referenced as "factual credible sources" on nearly all the genealogical websites (Ancestory.com, Worldfamilies.net, Geni.com, Wikitree.com, Findagrave.com, etc.). They are passed on from one source to the next, becoming interwoven in the fabric of every history about our family, without any regard to their veracity.    

               At first glimpse, the “W.S. history” is a wonderland of genealogical excitement, just the stuff one hopes to find in their family history. It is interlaced with letters from the demigod patriarchs of the early Shepard family discussing their Revolutionary War experiences, their pedigree with the powerful families of early Virginia and their personal stories and beliefs. The "W.S. history" also offers us a spoon-fed pedigree of forefathers via the "found" letters and diary entries: Samuel Shepherd I (1695 - 17??) who married Mary Kavanaugh beget; Samuel Shepherd II (1730 - 1794) who married Anne Burwell beget; “Lewis Thomas Shepard” (1759 - 1833), being rumored (by later researchers) to be the first to use the magic “A” in his name, thus the first true Shapard. The “W.S. history,” constructed the initial framework of our modern beliefs about our lineage and especially about "Lewis Thomas Shapard," in that: (1.) He was born in 1759, in Gloucester, Virginia. (2.) He was the son of Samuel Sheppard. (3.) He fought in the Revolutionary War. (4) In writing, he often dropped his first name ‘Lewis’ and used the name “L. Thomas Shepard.” (5.) He married Martha Paine (their children all used the Shapard surname) and moved to Tennessee. For 87 years this has been our family lore, the bedrock upon which we have built our lineage beliefs.

           In 2006, I began to pursue my family history with the dedication and passion of an Olympic athlete. Having literally ‘written the book’ on other Shapard patriarchs, I was thrilled, in 2013, to finally focus my research on Lewis Thomas Shapard. As I approached learning about Lewis, I decided to use only primary sources and forgo any assumptions or non-substantiated lore. An important source of information on Lewis Thomas Shapard was the “W.S. history” of 1926 and 1927. A major change in the approach that I took, compared to past historians, was to initially completely disregard the old letters published in the article and see if other sources would support or deny their claims. The old letters never felt ‘right’ to me and honestly I came to doubt their veracity based on their over emphasis on family lines within the play of the words. In addition, ALL of the records found by William Shepard to write his articles have mysteriously been LOST, thus there is no way to verify his information. This was a huge "red flag" of potential deception or fakery that I could not overlook.  His pedigree lines, however had a slightly better feel, possibly being recorded from a jumble of early court document or family Bibles. He listed the children of Samuel Shepard II as: “James Booker Shepard, Robert Shepard, William Shepard, b. 1758, Edward Shepard, Jacob Shepard, Susanna Shepard, Priscilla Shepard, Mildred Shepard, m. Anderson Williams, Samuel Shepard III, b. 1762, d. 1840, m. Susanna Holman, Lewis Thomas Shepard, lived in Tennessee , married Martha Paine.”

          In an effort to test the veracity of the William & Mary College Quarterly articles, I traced Lewis Shapard to Caswell County, North Carolina, where he appears in numerous sources beginning in 1795 through 1812. It was true that he married Martha Paine, as their marriage bond was located in Caswell County from 1796. Lewis had numerous interactions with his brother-in-law, Anderson Williams, who married, Mildred Shapard. There also were numerous interactions between Lewis and James Shapard and Booker Shapard. James died in Caswell County in 1836, and in his will he mentions his sister Mary. In 1802, Booker Shapard died in Caswell County and Lewis was the executor of his property and settled his debts. A search for Booker Shapard in the Estate Files of Caswell County yielded numerous documents of interest. In particular there was a receipt from “Thomas Shapard of Granville County, North Carolina” who paid a debt for his brother Booker Shapard in Caswell County. This evidence then led me to Granville County to find out how all these Shapards were related to Lewis Thomas Shapard.

           Granville County produced numerous Shapard documents which predated all others known from Caswell County by about 10 years, taking us to the 1780s. There I located the Rosetta Stone of documents, a diamond in the rough in the form of a court document from Deed Book T, page 49; whereby William Shapard, Sr. on February 2, 1807, deeded of all his property to trustees Thomas Shapard and Francis Royster in return for an annuity to be provided each Christmas by his children: “Samuel, Mildred, William, Elizabeth Royster, James, William Lewis, Thomas, Mary, John, Anne, Barnett and Robert.” Notice how in the punctuation there is “Mildred, William,” and also a “William Lewis” and “Anne, Barnett.” By altering the commas, we now have: Samuel, Mildred William(s), Elizabeth Royster, James, William, Lewis, Thomas, Mary, John, Anne Barnett and Robert.

           Further research has shown that “Samuel” was Samuel Booker Shapard who was an attorney, “Mildred” married Anderson Williams in 1786, “Elizabeth Royster” married Francis Royster in 1789, “James” died in 1836 and his sister “Mary” never married and died in Person County in 1829, “William” (b. 1771) moved to Richmond Virginia where he died in 1843, “John S. Shapard” married Elizabeth Vass and died in 1857 in Halifax County, Virginia, “Anne” married Joseph Barnett in 1804, “Robert” was born about 1786, “Thomas” married Francis (Fanny) Bailey in 1811, and “Lewis” was living in Caswell County as proved by another document from Granville County Deed Book S, whereby in 1806, William Shepherd, Sr., of Granville County gave property to his son Lewis Shepherd of Caswell County.

           So what are the implications of this discovery? All of the above evidence without a doubt proves that Lewis was the SON of William Shapard, Sr. (and not the son of Samuel Shepard II as stated by the letters of the W.S. history), thus a misplaced paternal patriarch has reassumed his rightful place within our family lines. It is known that William Shapard, Sr. used the magic “A” in the spelling of his name, thus Lewis was NOT the origin of the spelling of our name, and it now appears that his grandfather may hold that distinction, having used the Shapard spelling as early as 1739. William Shapard, Sr. married Mary Booker in 1762, therefore Lewis cannot have been born in 1759, but was born about 1773, as suggested by his birth order from the court documents. Due to his birth date, he would have been born in Cumberland County, Virginia (where his parents lived at the time) and not in Gloucester County, Virginia. Due to his birth date, it would have been impossible for him to have fought in the Revolutionary War (as portrayed in the letters of the W.S. history). In all of the documents regarding Lewis, he is never referred to as “L. Thomas Shepard" (as stated by the letters of the W.S. history), he only signs “L. Shapard” or “Lewis Shapard.” It is now proved how a grammatical error, made eighty-seven years ago, by the author of the “W.S. history” created the fictitious “James Booker Shapard” and “Lewis Thomas Shapard”. Clearly, these were FOUR brothers and not TWO… their names were joined due to a missing comma when listing the birth order of children: James, Booker, Lewis, Thomas…!

              Upon reflection of the articles authored by William Shepard and published about the Shepard family in the William and Mary College Quarterly from the 1920s through the 1940s, I have come to conclude that the contents of the letters are an absolute forgery and do not hold veracity when compared against other independent factual sources. I believe that the author had a collage of bits and pieces of information and invented a means for them to assimilate together, to create an impressive pedigree. I conclude that he dramatically altered the context of any original sources and fabricated later documents to “fit” the pedigree he had manufactured in 1927. As stated earlier, NONE of the "found" documents he claims he used to write his article have ever been located in any historical society archives, libraries, etc.

          We are now living in a “Lewis Shapard Era,” and leave the mistaken “Lewis Thomas Shapard Era” to the past. We are one step closer to TRUTH IN HISTORY. I urge all future Shapard research genealogists to not fall victim to the fictitious articles authored by William Shepard and published about the Shepard family in the William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine. They have done irreparable damage to the truth of our family's past and will no doubt continue to plague future historians. To restore our family tree to its most accurate representation I hope we, as a family, will unite and do everything we can to eradicate these letters from our histories and enlighten future generations on this matter.

1. “Shepard and Other Buckingham Families” by William Shapard, William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Second Series, 6, 1926, p. 148-145.

2. “Shepard and Other Buckingham Families, Part II” by William Shapard, William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Second Series, 7, 1927, p. 174-180.

3. Shapard, A Family History (Shapard Family Association, 2004).

4. Cumberland County Virginia Marriage Records, December 18, 1786, Mildred Shapard and Anderson Williams.

5. Caswell County North Carolina Marriage Bonds 1741 – 1868, Nov. 22, 1796- Lewis Shapard and Martha Paine.

6. Caswell County, North Carolina Estate Records, 1802 for Shepard, Booker.

All great things have humble beginnings...

           This blog shall be a tribute to all those noble Shapard men and women of a by-gone era, whom, deserve to be remembered and have their story told. It shall be a vast resource for future Shapard research genealogists seeking truth and knowledge about our wonderful family, and an arena to share an discuss topics pertaining to these fascinating men and women of history.

           Years ago, I felt the call to research an obscure Shapard ancestor and unknowingly began an extraordinary genealogical adventure which would occupy the betterment of my free-time for the next decade of my life. Before me was an unexplored historical frontier steeped in mystery, scholarly study, expeditions to unknown locations and the excitement of the find - no matter how great or small. I tirelessly explored historical society archives, libraries, the internet, and the dusty old boxes held by every relative, near and distant. All the while, meeting wonderful people who shared a similar interest in genealogy and/or Shapard family history, whom I otherwise would have never met. Shapard family history was on my mind from the time I awoke each morning until the time I fell asleep. I awaited each new day for an opportunity to illuminate the traces of these Shapard ancestors within the obscured cracks and crevices of recorded history where the vestige of their lives had settled.

           The faces from their era had all disappeared, their life’s achievements and struggles forgotten as others from succeeding generations had filled their places. They had slipped into obscurity and were being erased by the consequence of time. There were no recognized testaments to their life’s work, no knowledge of their extraordinary deeds, no bold link connecting the succeeding generations to them. These Shapards from antiquity were perilously close to being erased from all known consciousness...perhaps only holding on by a single notation in a bible, a single inscription on a tombstone or a single faint memory from someone's childhood. I truly believed that the spirits of these nearly forgotten Shapards found me and beckoned me to seek out their life’s story, to bring life back to their forgotten memory and the memory of those they loved.

          This has been my passion for the last decade. It will be my joy to share what has been illuminated to me about our ancestors so future generations can build on the foundation which has taken me so many years to develop. 

          “The true worth of men is not estimated by the impression which they make while living – the influence they exert upon the future generations is the criterion of worth.” Rev. Edwin Ruthven Shapard, April 14, 1888.