The Evloution 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.