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From the "Net"
Amazing update regarding the Shapard family, Lewis Thomas Shapard
Replies: 3
Amazing update regarding the Shapard family, Lewis Thomas Shapard
CAStalcup (View posts)
Posted: 11 Jan 2014 08:43PM
Classification: Query
Edited: 21 Feb 2014 01:05PM
Surnames: shapard
The Comma That Changed Shapard Family History
By Dr. Nathan Shapard
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
What if I told you that everything you thought you knew about the origin of the Shapard family history was wrong, and it was all due to a misplaced comma (,) one hundred years ago.
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, 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 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, 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.
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. Here we are also offered information on “Lewis Thomas Shepard,” 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 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 completely disregard the old letters. They 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. His pedigree lines, however had a 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.”
I easily traced Lewis 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 (b.1762-d.1840) 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), 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 father may hold that distinction. 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. In all of the documents regarding Lewis, is he is never referred to as “L. Thomas Shepard,” 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…!
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.
Upon reflection of the articles published in 1926 and 1927 about the Shepard family in the William and Mary College Quarterly, I have come to conclude that the letters are most likely a forgery. 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. That being said, I also do not hold credible any of articles published in the William and Mary College Quarterly by William Shepard in the 1930s and 1940s, as they relate to the Shapard family. I conclude that he dramatically altered the original sources or fabricated these later documents to “fit” the pedigree he had manufactured in 1927.
As of 2014, I am sill researching Lewis Shapard and his father and hopefully will have many additional breakthroughs allowing us to better understand our amazing family and assist future generations of Shapard research genealogists. Welcome to the “Lewis Shapard Era!”
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.
Lewis Thomas Shapard, son of Samuel and Anne, is said to be the one who changed the spelling from Shepard to Shapard. However, the following is taken from an article written by Mrs. Eleanor Gillespie a Shapard descendant, in the News-Banner of Murfreesboro, Tennessee:
"The shepard, from Major Robert Shepard of Chippoke, Charles City County, Virginia, who was a member of the House of Burgesses, spelled the name Shepard, but in the part of Tennessee the E has become A as it did occasionally in old Virginia."
An example is the following marriage bond (from the News-Banner of Murfreesboro, Tennessee):
"To, Samuel Shaperd and John Holman acknowledge ourselves to Edmund Randolph Esquire, Governor of Va., in the sum of fifty pounds current money, to be paid to the said Governor his successors: Yet is there be on lawful cause to obstruct a marriage intended between Samuel Shapard and Susanna Holman, then this obligation to be void, else to remain in full force and virtue.
Given under our hands and seals the 2nd day of Nov. one thousand and seven hundred eighty eight.
Samuel Sheppard
John Holman"
"December 10, 1805
Dear Brother L. Thomas: While I am writing a sheaf of letters to my relatives I must write one to you, though I do not know whether, from your steady silence, I owe you any writing. Prosperity must have dislocated your sense of relationship with us Virginians, or, as I trust not, adversity upset your affairs to the extent of causing you to forget the cradle you were born in. I refuse to consider myself the friend remembered not, until you tell me so.
"My wife has another son, upon whose first name we cannot agree, but whose middle name my wife says shall by Yancy. Mrs. Sheppard insists that his first name shall be Sais, but I refuse up to this time, to yield up my son to such a name. Charles, Peter, Richard, or more appropriately to Robert for our great ancestor - great, because he lived a long, long time ago and perhaps for other reasons suits me better. But my wife has not the bold of the Welsh rulers in her veins for nothing; there may be only a millionth particle of a droplet in her, yet it is sufficient to make her as much a dictator as Queen Elizabeth, of great "Axial" fame. Our child, however, is delicate and may not live. My wife thinks me foolish but I have had queer sensations that warn me of its hold on life. I pray God I am wrong. There are corners of the mind we do not know of, and I fear, I greatly fear the premonitions that often rouse me in the night. I have had these feelings before, with results in conformity with my apprehensions."
"We are so much separated that we should tell each other in detail of our doings. Our folk in N.C. seem to be as forgetful as you have been, and Brother Robert, set out for the Ohio country, he's not written en route. I hope he has now arrived. Don't you remember father's anxiety to keep the clan connections firm? And do you recall his sitting before the tavern fire in Norfolk, how many years ago! -- when we were visiting our people, and telling us stories of our English ancestors, their wars, and their rise and fall! How his eyes shone when he stirred the punch, drank, and gave us what he termed our background in the world! That must have been 33 years ago, and in late December we wore our uniforms and old war stained swords, and he was dressed in a brown velvet his face beaming over a wave of white lace at the neck, and everyone remarked how old-fashioned his garb and appearance were - well, time passes. Then he went on to N.C., was what I intended concluding with, returning in March the following year."
"The hour is late and now that I have written and written and written until my hand has gone numb, I will stop. I have written no news, but Xmas night I shall give you a full account of all our doings."
"May God bless you all, and keep me in your remembrance."
Samuel Sheppard
Notes from "A Shapard Family 1623 - 1980 by Sarah Marsh Shapard page 13: Lewis Thomas and his brother, Samuel served in the Revolutionary War. "March 12, 1812: I promise to pay to my brother, L. Thomas Shepard the sum of $150.00, being a debt owed him from the time of our service in the Continental Army in 1778. signed Samuel Shepard. Witness: Robert Shepard, Chas. Yancey, R. Eldridge. Paid March 15, 1812. "Lewis Thomas believed in training his sons in a trade. Family Search Ancestral File: of Person, N.C."
Name: Lewis Thomas SHAPARD
Sex: M
Note: He fought in the Revolutionary War with his brother, Samuel III, and his father, Samuel II. 12 Mar 1812: "I promise to pay to my brother L. Thomas Sheperd the sum of $150.00, being a debt owed him from the time of our service in the Continental Army in 1778. Samuel Shepard" Witnesses: Robert Shepard, Chas. Yancey, R. Eldridge. Paid 15 Mar 1812.
Birth: ABT 1764 in Gloucester Co., VA
Note: One source indicates he was born 24 Nov 1759 in Wadesboro, Anson Co., NC.
Census: 1800 Caswell Co., NC
Note: listed as Lewis Shepperd, a free white male of age 26-44, with one male of age under 10, one male of age 16-25, four females of age under 10, one female of age 26-44, and eight slaves.
Census: 1810 Caswell Co., NC
Note: listed as Lewis Sheappard, a free white male of age 26-44, with four males of age under 10, one male of age 10-15, one male of age 16-25, two females of age under 10, three females of age 10-15, one female of age 16-25, one female of age 45 or older, and 16 slaves.
Census: 1820 Murfreesboro Twp., Rutherford Co., TN
Note: listed as Thomas Shepherd, a free white male of age 45 or older, with two males of age under 10, two males of age 10-15, one male of age 16-18, one male of age 16-25, one female of age under 10, and one female of age 26-44, with four of those persons engaged in agriculture, and no slaves.
Death: of cholera, at the home of his son James 16 JUN 1833 in Middleton, Rutherford Co., TN
Burial: Murfreesboro, Rutherford Co., TN
ADDR: the Old Cemetery
Father: Samuel SHEPPARD b: 3 FEB 1730 in Gloucester Co., VA
Mother: Anne BURWELL b: 19 JUL 1741 in Abingdon Parish, Gloucester Co., VA
Marriage 1 Martha PAINE b: 17 NOV 1773 in Caswell Co., NC
Married: 22 NOV 1796 in Caswell Co., NC
Note: One source gives the year of marriage as 1798.
Children
William Brooks SHAPARD b: 5 NOV 1797 in Caswell Co., NC
David SHAPARD b: ABT 1798 in NC
Sophia SHAPARD b: 24 NOV 1799 in Caswell Co., NC
James Paine SHAPARD b: 11 APR 1801 in Caswell Co., NC
Booker SHAPARD b: 28 FEB 1803 in Caswell Co., NC
Robert Paine SHAPARD b: 9 JAN 1805 in Caswell Co., NC
Lewis SHAPARD b: 8 NOV 1806 in Caswell Co., NC
Martha SHAPARD b: APR 1808 in NC
Thelia or Avilla SHAPARD b: ABT 1809 in NC
Thomas Paine SHAPARD b: 22 JUL 1811 in Caswell Co., NC
Marriage 2 Elizabeth PARRISH b: ABT 1785 in Wilson Co., TN
Married: 4 NOV 1814 in Wilson Co., TN
From the "Net"
Amazing update regarding the Shapard family, Lewis Thomas Shapard
Replies: 3
Amazing update regarding the Shapard family, Lewis Thomas Shapard
CAStalcup (View posts)
Posted: 11 Jan 2014 08:43PM
Classification: Query
Edited: 21 Feb 2014 01:05PM
Surnames: shapard
The Comma That Changed Shapard Family History
By Dr. Nathan Shapard
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
What if I told you that everything you thought you knew about the origin of the Shapard family history was wrong, and it was all due to a misplaced comma (,) one hundred years ago.
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, 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 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, 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.
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. Here we are also offered information on “Lewis Thomas Shepard,” 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 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 completely disregard the old letters. They 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. His pedigree lines, however had a 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.”
I easily traced Lewis 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 (b.1762-d.1840) 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), 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 father may hold that distinction. 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. In all of the documents regarding Lewis, is he is never referred to as “L. Thomas Shepard,” 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…!
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.
Upon reflection of the articles published in 1926 and 1927 about the Shepard family in the William and Mary College Quarterly, I have come to conclude that the letters are most likely a forgery. 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. That being said, I also do not hold credible any of articles published in the William and Mary College Quarterly by William Shepard in the 1930s and 1940s, as they relate to the Shapard family. I conclude that he dramatically altered the original sources or fabricated these later documents to “fit” the pedigree he had manufactured in 1927.
As of 2014, I am sill researching Lewis Shapard and his father and hopefully will have many additional breakthroughs allowing us to better understand our amazing family and assist future generations of Shapard research genealogists. Welcome to the “Lewis Shapard Era!”
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.
Lewis Thomas Shapard, son of Samuel and Anne, is said to be the one who changed the spelling from Shepard to Shapard. However, the following is taken from an article written by Mrs. Eleanor Gillespie a Shapard descendant, in the News-Banner of Murfreesboro, Tennessee:
"The shepard, from Major Robert Shepard of Chippoke, Charles City County, Virginia, who was a member of the House of Burgesses, spelled the name Shepard, but in the part of Tennessee the E has become A as it did occasionally in old Virginia."
An example is the following marriage bond (from the News-Banner of Murfreesboro, Tennessee):
"To, Samuel Shaperd and John Holman acknowledge ourselves to Edmund Randolph Esquire, Governor of Va., in the sum of fifty pounds current money, to be paid to the said Governor his successors: Yet is there be on lawful cause to obstruct a marriage intended between Samuel Shapard and Susanna Holman, then this obligation to be void, else to remain in full force and virtue.
Given under our hands and seals the 2nd day of Nov. one thousand and seven hundred eighty eight.
Samuel Sheppard
John Holman"
"December 10, 1805
Dear Brother L. Thomas: While I am writing a sheaf of letters to my relatives I must write one to you, though I do not know whether, from your steady silence, I owe you any writing. Prosperity must have dislocated your sense of relationship with us Virginians, or, as I trust not, adversity upset your affairs to the extent of causing you to forget the cradle you were born in. I refuse to consider myself the friend remembered not, until you tell me so.
"My wife has another son, upon whose first name we cannot agree, but whose middle name my wife says shall by Yancy. Mrs. Sheppard insists that his first name shall be Sais, but I refuse up to this time, to yield up my son to such a name. Charles, Peter, Richard, or more appropriately to Robert for our great ancestor - great, because he lived a long, long time ago and perhaps for other reasons suits me better. But my wife has not the bold of the Welsh rulers in her veins for nothing; there may be only a millionth particle of a droplet in her, yet it is sufficient to make her as much a dictator as Queen Elizabeth, of great "Axial" fame. Our child, however, is delicate and may not live. My wife thinks me foolish but I have had queer sensations that warn me of its hold on life. I pray God I am wrong. There are corners of the mind we do not know of, and I fear, I greatly fear the premonitions that often rouse me in the night. I have had these feelings before, with results in conformity with my apprehensions."
"We are so much separated that we should tell each other in detail of our doings. Our folk in N.C. seem to be as forgetful as you have been, and Brother Robert, set out for the Ohio country, he's not written en route. I hope he has now arrived. Don't you remember father's anxiety to keep the clan connections firm? And do you recall his sitting before the tavern fire in Norfolk, how many years ago! -- when we were visiting our people, and telling us stories of our English ancestors, their wars, and their rise and fall! How his eyes shone when he stirred the punch, drank, and gave us what he termed our background in the world! That must have been 33 years ago, and in late December we wore our uniforms and old war stained swords, and he was dressed in a brown velvet his face beaming over a wave of white lace at the neck, and everyone remarked how old-fashioned his garb and appearance were - well, time passes. Then he went on to N.C., was what I intended concluding with, returning in March the following year."
"The hour is late and now that I have written and written and written until my hand has gone numb, I will stop. I have written no news, but Xmas night I shall give you a full account of all our doings."
"May God bless you all, and keep me in your remembrance."
Samuel Sheppard
Notes from "A Shapard Family 1623 - 1980 by Sarah Marsh Shapard page 13: Lewis Thomas and his brother, Samuel served in the Revolutionary War. "March 12, 1812: I promise to pay to my brother, L. Thomas Shepard the sum of $150.00, being a debt owed him from the time of our service in the Continental Army in 1778. signed Samuel Shepard. Witness: Robert Shepard, Chas. Yancey, R. Eldridge. Paid March 15, 1812. "Lewis Thomas believed in training his sons in a trade. Family Search Ancestral File: of Person, N.C."
Name: Lewis Thomas SHAPARD
Sex: M
Note: He fought in the Revolutionary War with his brother, Samuel III, and his father, Samuel II. 12 Mar 1812: "I promise to pay to my brother L. Thomas Sheperd the sum of $150.00, being a debt owed him from the time of our service in the Continental Army in 1778. Samuel Shepard" Witnesses: Robert Shepard, Chas. Yancey, R. Eldridge. Paid 15 Mar 1812.
Birth: ABT 1764 in Gloucester Co., VA
Note: One source indicates he was born 24 Nov 1759 in Wadesboro, Anson Co., NC.
Census: 1800 Caswell Co., NC
Note: listed as Lewis Shepperd, a free white male of age 26-44, with one male of age under 10, one male of age 16-25, four females of age under 10, one female of age 26-44, and eight slaves.
Census: 1810 Caswell Co., NC
Note: listed as Lewis Sheappard, a free white male of age 26-44, with four males of age under 10, one male of age 10-15, one male of age 16-25, two females of age under 10, three females of age 10-15, one female of age 16-25, one female of age 45 or older, and 16 slaves.
Census: 1820 Murfreesboro Twp., Rutherford Co., TN
Note: listed as Thomas Shepherd, a free white male of age 45 or older, with two males of age under 10, two males of age 10-15, one male of age 16-18, one male of age 16-25, one female of age under 10, and one female of age 26-44, with four of those persons engaged in agriculture, and no slaves.
Death: of cholera, at the home of his son James 16 JUN 1833 in Middleton, Rutherford Co., TN
Burial: Murfreesboro, Rutherford Co., TN
ADDR: the Old Cemetery
Father: Samuel SHEPPARD b: 3 FEB 1730 in Gloucester Co., VA
Mother: Anne BURWELL b: 19 JUL 1741 in Abingdon Parish, Gloucester Co., VA
Marriage 1 Martha PAINE b: 17 NOV 1773 in Caswell Co., NC
Married: 22 NOV 1796 in Caswell Co., NC
Note: One source gives the year of marriage as 1798.
Children
William Brooks SHAPARD b: 5 NOV 1797 in Caswell Co., NC
David SHAPARD b: ABT 1798 in NC
Sophia SHAPARD b: 24 NOV 1799 in Caswell Co., NC
James Paine SHAPARD b: 11 APR 1801 in Caswell Co., NC
Booker SHAPARD b: 28 FEB 1803 in Caswell Co., NC
Robert Paine SHAPARD b: 9 JAN 1805 in Caswell Co., NC
Lewis SHAPARD b: 8 NOV 1806 in Caswell Co., NC
Martha SHAPARD b: APR 1808 in NC
Thelia or Avilla SHAPARD b: ABT 1809 in NC
Thomas Paine SHAPARD b: 22 JUL 1811 in Caswell Co., NC
Marriage 2 Elizabeth PARRISH b: ABT 1785 in Wilson Co., TN
Married: 4 NOV 1814 in Wilson Co., TN
Updated August 14, 2018
From the "Net"
Amazing update regarding the Shapard family, Lewis Thomas Shapard
Replies: 3
Amazing update regarding the Shapard family, Lewis Thomas Shapard
CAStalcup (View posts)
Posted: 11 Jan 2014 08:43PM
Classification: Query
Edited: 21 Feb 2014 01:05PM
Surnames: shapard
The Comma That Changed Shapard Family History
By Dr. Nathan Shapard
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
What if I told you that everything you thought you knew about the origin of the Shapard family history was wrong, and it was all due to a misplaced comma (,) one hundred years ago.
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, 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 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, 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.
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. Here we are also offered information on “Lewis Thomas Shepard,” 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 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 completely disregard the old letters. They 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. His pedigree lines, however had a 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.”
I easily traced Lewis 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 (b.1762-d.1840) 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), 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 father may hold that distinction. 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. In all of the documents regarding Lewis, is he is never referred to as “L. Thomas Shepard,” 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…!
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.
Upon reflection of the articles published in 1926 and 1927 about the Shepard family in the William and Mary College Quarterly, I have come to conclude that the letters are most likely a forgery. 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. That being said, I also do not hold credible any of articles published in the William and Mary College Quarterly by William Shepard in the 1930s and 1940s, as they relate to the Shapard family. I conclude that he dramatically altered the original sources or fabricated these later documents to “fit” the pedigree he had manufactured in 1927.
As of 2014, I am sill researching Lewis Shapard and his father and hopefully will have many additional breakthroughs allowing us to better understand our amazing family and assist future generations of Shapard research genealogists. Welcome to the “Lewis Shapard Era!”
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.
Lewis Thomas Shapard, son of Samuel and Anne, is said to be the one who changed the spelling from Shepard to Shapard. However, the following is taken from an article written by Mrs. Eleanor Gillespie a Shapard descendant, in the News-Banner of Murfreesboro, Tennessee:
"The shepard, from Major Robert Shepard of Chippoke, Charles City County, Virginia, who was a member of the House of Burgesses, spelled the name Shepard, but in the part of Tennessee the E has become A as it did occasionally in old Virginia."
An example is the following marriage bond (from the News-Banner of Murfreesboro, Tennessee):
"To, Samuel Shaperd and John Holman acknowledge ourselves to Edmund Randolph Esquire, Governor of Va., in the sum of fifty pounds current money, to be paid to the said Governor his successors: Yet is there be on lawful cause to obstruct a marriage intended between Samuel Shapard and Susanna Holman, then this obligation to be void, else to remain in full force and virtue.
Given under our hands and seals the 2nd day of Nov. one thousand and seven hundred eighty eight.
Samuel Sheppard
John Holman"
"December 10, 1805
Dear Brother L. Thomas: While I am writing a sheaf of letters to my relatives I must write one to you, though I do not know whether, from your steady silence, I owe you any writing. Prosperity must have dislocated your sense of relationship with us Virginians, or, as I trust not, adversity upset your affairs to the extent of causing you to forget the cradle you were born in. I refuse to consider myself the friend remembered not, until you tell me so.
"My wife has another son, upon whose first name we cannot agree, but whose middle name my wife says shall by Yancy. Mrs. Sheppard insists that his first name shall be Sais, but I refuse up to this time, to yield up my son to such a name. Charles, Peter, Richard, or more appropriately to Robert for our great ancestor - great, because he lived a long, long time ago and perhaps for other reasons suits me better. But my wife has not the bold of the Welsh rulers in her veins for nothing; there may be only a millionth particle of a droplet in her, yet it is sufficient to make her as much a dictator as Queen Elizabeth, of great "Axial" fame. Our child, however, is delicate and may not live. My wife thinks me foolish but I have had queer sensations that warn me of its hold on life. I pray God I am wrong. There are corners of the mind we do not know of, and I fear, I greatly fear the premonitions that often rouse me in the night. I have had these feelings before, with results in conformity with my apprehensions."
"We are so much separated that we should tell each other in detail of our doings. Our folk in N.C. seem to be as forgetful as you have been, and Brother Robert, set out for the Ohio country, he's not written en route. I hope he has now arrived. Don't you remember father's anxiety to keep the clan connections firm? And do you recall his sitting before the tavern fire in Norfolk, how many years ago! -- when we were visiting our people, and telling us stories of our English ancestors, their wars, and their rise and fall! How his eyes shone when he stirred the punch, drank, and gave us what he termed our background in the world! That must have been 33 years ago, and in late December we wore our uniforms and old war stained swords, and he was dressed in a brown velvet his face beaming over a wave of white lace at the neck, and everyone remarked how old-fashioned his garb and appearance were - well, time passes. Then he went on to N.C., was what I intended concluding with, returning in March the following year."
"The hour is late and now that I have written and written and written until my hand has gone numb, I will stop. I have written no news, but Xmas night I shall give you a full account of all our doings."
"May God bless you all, and keep me in your remembrance."
Samuel Sheppard
Notes from "A Shapard Family 1623 - 1980 by Sarah Marsh Shapard page 13: Lewis Thomas and his brother, Samuel served in the Revolutionary War. "March 12, 1812: I promise to pay to my brother, L. Thomas Shepard the sum of $150.00, being a debt owed him from the time of our service in the Continental Army in 1778. signed Samuel Shepard. Witness: Robert Shepard, Chas. Yancey, R. Eldridge. Paid March 15, 1812. "Lewis Thomas believed in training his sons in a trade. Family Search Ancestral File: of Person, N.C."
Name: Lewis Thomas SHAPARD
Sex: M
Note: He fought in the Revolutionary War with his brother, Samuel III, and his father, Samuel II. 12 Mar 1812: "I promise to pay to my brother L. Thomas Sheperd the sum of $150.00, being a debt owed him from the time of our service in the Continental Army in 1778. Samuel Shepard" Witnesses: Robert Shepard, Chas. Yancey, R. Eldridge. Paid 15 Mar 1812.
Birth: ABT 1764 in Gloucester Co., VA
Note: One source indicates he was born 24 Nov 1759 in Wadesboro, Anson Co., NC.
Census: 1800 Caswell Co., NC
Note: listed as Lewis Shepperd, a free white male of age 26-44, with one male of age under 10, one male of age 16-25, four females of age under 10, one female of age 26-44, and eight slaves.
Census: 1810 Caswell Co., NC
Note: listed as Lewis Sheappard, a free white male of age 26-44, with four males of age under 10, one male of age 10-15, one male of age 16-25, two females of age under 10, three females of age 10-15, one female of age 16-25, one female of age 45 or older, and 16 slaves.
Census: 1820 Murfreesboro Twp., Rutherford Co., TN
Note: listed as Thomas Shepherd, a free white male of age 45 or older, with two males of age under 10, two males of age 10-15, one male of age 16-18, one male of age 16-25, one female of age under 10, and one female of age 26-44, with four of those persons engaged in agriculture, and no slaves.
Death: of cholera, at the home of his son James 16 JUN 1833 in Middleton, Rutherford Co., TN
Burial: Murfreesboro, Rutherford Co., TN
ADDR: the Old Cemetery
Father: Samuel SHEPPARD b: 3 FEB 1730 in Gloucester Co., VA
Mother: Anne BURWELL b: 19 JUL 1741 in Abingdon Parish, Gloucester Co., VA
Marriage 1 Martha PAINE b: 17 NOV 1773 in Caswell Co., NC
Married: 22 NOV 1796 in Caswell Co., NC
Note: One source gives the year of marriage as 1798.
Children
William Brooks SHAPARD b: 5 NOV 1797 in Caswell Co., NC
David SHAPARD b: ABT 1798 in NC
Sophia SHAPARD b: 24 NOV 1799 in Caswell Co., NC
James Paine SHAPARD b: 11 APR 1801 in Caswell Co., NC
Booker SHAPARD b: 28 FEB 1803 in Caswell Co., NC
Robert Paine SHAPARD b: 9 JAN 1805 in Caswell Co., NC
Lewis SHAPARD b: 8 NOV 1806 in Caswell Co., NC
Martha SHAPARD b: APR 1808 in NC
Thelia or Avilla SHAPARD b: ABT 1809 in NC
Thomas Paine SHAPARD b: 22 JUL 1811 in Caswell Co., NC
Marriage 2 Elizabeth PARRISH b: ABT 1785 in Wilson Co., TN
Married: 4 NOV 1814 in Wilson Co., TN
From the "Net"
Amazing update regarding the Shapard family, Lewis Thomas Shapard
Replies: 3
Amazing update regarding the Shapard family, Lewis Thomas Shapard
CAStalcup (View posts)
Posted: 11 Jan 2014 08:43PM
Classification: Query
Edited: 21 Feb 2014 01:05PM
Surnames: shapard
The Comma That Changed Shapard Family History
By Dr. Nathan Shapard
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
What if I told you that everything you thought you knew about the origin of the Shapard family history was wrong, and it was all due to a misplaced comma (,) one hundred years ago.
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, 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 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, 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.
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. Here we are also offered information on “Lewis Thomas Shepard,” 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 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 completely disregard the old letters. They 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. His pedigree lines, however had a 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.”
I easily traced Lewis 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 (b.1762-d.1840) 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), 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 father may hold that distinction. 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. In all of the documents regarding Lewis, is he is never referred to as “L. Thomas Shepard,” 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…!
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.
Upon reflection of the articles published in 1926 and 1927 about the Shepard family in the William and Mary College Quarterly, I have come to conclude that the letters are most likely a forgery. 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. That being said, I also do not hold credible any of articles published in the William and Mary College Quarterly by William Shepard in the 1930s and 1940s, as they relate to the Shapard family. I conclude that he dramatically altered the original sources or fabricated these later documents to “fit” the pedigree he had manufactured in 1927.
As of 2014, I am sill researching Lewis Shapard and his father and hopefully will have many additional breakthroughs allowing us to better understand our amazing family and assist future generations of Shapard research genealogists. Welcome to the “Lewis Shapard Era!”
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.
Lewis Thomas Shapard, son of Samuel and Anne, is said to be the one who changed the spelling from Shepard to Shapard. However, the following is taken from an article written by Mrs. Eleanor Gillespie a Shapard descendant, in the News-Banner of Murfreesboro, Tennessee:
"The shepard, from Major Robert Shepard of Chippoke, Charles City County, Virginia, who was a member of the House of Burgesses, spelled the name Shepard, but in the part of Tennessee the E has become A as it did occasionally in old Virginia."
An example is the following marriage bond (from the News-Banner of Murfreesboro, Tennessee):
"To, Samuel Shaperd and John Holman acknowledge ourselves to Edmund Randolph Esquire, Governor of Va., in the sum of fifty pounds current money, to be paid to the said Governor his successors: Yet is there be on lawful cause to obstruct a marriage intended between Samuel Shapard and Susanna Holman, then this obligation to be void, else to remain in full force and virtue.
Given under our hands and seals the 2nd day of Nov. one thousand and seven hundred eighty eight.
Samuel Sheppard
John Holman"
"December 10, 1805
Dear Brother L. Thomas: While I am writing a sheaf of letters to my relatives I must write one to you, though I do not know whether, from your steady silence, I owe you any writing. Prosperity must have dislocated your sense of relationship with us Virginians, or, as I trust not, adversity upset your affairs to the extent of causing you to forget the cradle you were born in. I refuse to consider myself the friend remembered not, until you tell me so.
"My wife has another son, upon whose first name we cannot agree, but whose middle name my wife says shall by Yancy. Mrs. Sheppard insists that his first name shall be Sais, but I refuse up to this time, to yield up my son to such a name. Charles, Peter, Richard, or more appropriately to Robert for our great ancestor - great, because he lived a long, long time ago and perhaps for other reasons suits me better. But my wife has not the bold of the Welsh rulers in her veins for nothing; there may be only a millionth particle of a droplet in her, yet it is sufficient to make her as much a dictator as Queen Elizabeth, of great "Axial" fame. Our child, however, is delicate and may not live. My wife thinks me foolish but I have had queer sensations that warn me of its hold on life. I pray God I am wrong. There are corners of the mind we do not know of, and I fear, I greatly fear the premonitions that often rouse me in the night. I have had these feelings before, with results in conformity with my apprehensions."
"We are so much separated that we should tell each other in detail of our doings. Our folk in N.C. seem to be as forgetful as you have been, and Brother Robert, set out for the Ohio country, he's not written en route. I hope he has now arrived. Don't you remember father's anxiety to keep the clan connections firm? And do you recall his sitting before the tavern fire in Norfolk, how many years ago! -- when we were visiting our people, and telling us stories of our English ancestors, their wars, and their rise and fall! How his eyes shone when he stirred the punch, drank, and gave us what he termed our background in the world! That must have been 33 years ago, and in late December we wore our uniforms and old war stained swords, and he was dressed in a brown velvet his face beaming over a wave of white lace at the neck, and everyone remarked how old-fashioned his garb and appearance were - well, time passes. Then he went on to N.C., was what I intended concluding with, returning in March the following year."
"The hour is late and now that I have written and written and written until my hand has gone numb, I will stop. I have written no news, but Xmas night I shall give you a full account of all our doings."
"May God bless you all, and keep me in your remembrance."
Samuel Sheppard
Notes from "A Shapard Family 1623 - 1980 by Sarah Marsh Shapard page 13: Lewis Thomas and his brother, Samuel served in the Revolutionary War. "March 12, 1812: I promise to pay to my brother, L. Thomas Shepard the sum of $150.00, being a debt owed him from the time of our service in the Continental Army in 1778. signed Samuel Shepard. Witness: Robert Shepard, Chas. Yancey, R. Eldridge. Paid March 15, 1812. "Lewis Thomas believed in training his sons in a trade. Family Search Ancestral File: of Person, N.C."
Name: Lewis Thomas SHAPARD
Sex: M
Note: He fought in the Revolutionary War with his brother, Samuel III, and his father, Samuel II. 12 Mar 1812: "I promise to pay to my brother L. Thomas Sheperd the sum of $150.00, being a debt owed him from the time of our service in the Continental Army in 1778. Samuel Shepard" Witnesses: Robert Shepard, Chas. Yancey, R. Eldridge. Paid 15 Mar 1812.
Birth: ABT 1764 in Gloucester Co., VA
Note: One source indicates he was born 24 Nov 1759 in Wadesboro, Anson Co., NC.
Census: 1800 Caswell Co., NC
Note: listed as Lewis Shepperd, a free white male of age 26-44, with one male of age under 10, one male of age 16-25, four females of age under 10, one female of age 26-44, and eight slaves.
Census: 1810 Caswell Co., NC
Note: listed as Lewis Sheappard, a free white male of age 26-44, with four males of age under 10, one male of age 10-15, one male of age 16-25, two females of age under 10, three females of age 10-15, one female of age 16-25, one female of age 45 or older, and 16 slaves.
Census: 1820 Murfreesboro Twp., Rutherford Co., TN
Note: listed as Thomas Shepherd, a free white male of age 45 or older, with two males of age under 10, two males of age 10-15, one male of age 16-18, one male of age 16-25, one female of age under 10, and one female of age 26-44, with four of those persons engaged in agriculture, and no slaves.
Death: of cholera, at the home of his son James 16 JUN 1833 in Middleton, Rutherford Co., TN
Burial: Murfreesboro, Rutherford Co., TN
ADDR: the Old Cemetery
Father: Samuel SHEPPARD b: 3 FEB 1730 in Gloucester Co., VA
Mother: Anne BURWELL b: 19 JUL 1741 in Abingdon Parish, Gloucester Co., VA
Marriage 1 Martha PAINE b: 17 NOV 1773 in Caswell Co., NC
Married: 22 NOV 1796 in Caswell Co., NC
Note: One source gives the year of marriage as 1798.
Children
William Brooks SHAPARD b: 5 NOV 1797 in Caswell Co., NC
David SHAPARD b: ABT 1798 in NC
Sophia SHAPARD b: 24 NOV 1799 in Caswell Co., NC
James Paine SHAPARD b: 11 APR 1801 in Caswell Co., NC
Booker SHAPARD b: 28 FEB 1803 in Caswell Co., NC
Robert Paine SHAPARD b: 9 JAN 1805 in Caswell Co., NC
Lewis SHAPARD b: 8 NOV 1806 in Caswell Co., NC
Martha SHAPARD b: APR 1808 in NC
Thelia or Avilla SHAPARD b: ABT 1809 in NC
Thomas Paine SHAPARD b: 22 JUL 1811 in Caswell Co., NC
Marriage 2 Elizabeth PARRISH b: ABT 1785 in Wilson Co., TN
Married: 4 NOV 1814 in Wilson Co., TN
Family Members
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