DILLION Family Genealogy-History
(Updated April 18, 2024)
SOURCE NOTES: [N1779]
Source of Name: Internet Website
SHEPHERD Family Genealogy Forum
http://genforum.genealogy.com/shepherd/all.html
http://genforum.genealogy.com/shepherd/messages/462.html
Re: Shepherds in Virginia/West Virginia desc. of Thomas
Posted by: Marge Leevey
Date: February 15, 1999 at 08:49:10
In Reply to: Shepherds in Virginia/West Virginia desc. of Thomas by Elizabeth Dian MOORE of 874
found this is a book, thought it might help
HISTORY OF THE EARLY SETTLERS SANGAMON COUNTY, ILLINOIS
bY John C. Powers 1876
SHEPHERD, the origin of this family in America was with Thomas SHEPHERD, a native of Wales, who came to Virginia long before the thirteen colonies declared themselves independent of the British crown. He settled on the south bank of the Potomac about ten miles west of the Blue Ridge and the mouth of the Shenandoah river. According to the custom then prevailing, he tomahawked, or "blazed" the trees around a tract of land, including several thousands of acres, all lying south of the Potomac. The recording of the description of this land secured to him the title. He laid out and named for He himself Shepherdstown. In order to encourage settlement he sold lots -- generally half an acre each--at nominal prices, but required an annual quit rent of five shillings to be paid perpetually. That rent is still being paid by owners of the lots, who have not bought off. He accquired other landed property by purchase, and at his death, Thomas SHEPHERD left a will, a copy of which is in possesion of Thomas B. SHEPHERD , of Sangamon county, the fifth Thomas SHEPHERD in a direct line from Thomas SHEPHERD, of Wales. By that will he bequeathed some land, declared to have been deeded to him June 12, 1751, by the Right Hon. Thomas Lord Fairfax. The will is dated Aug. 20, 1776, and bequeaths to his sons, Thomas, William, John, Abraham and David, lands, and a saw-mill in the county of Berkley, Virginia, United States, and lots in the town of Mechlenburg, same county. To his daughters, Susannah, Mary, Martha, Sarah and Elizabeth, he bequeaths money and some personal property. The will covers some eight pages of fools'-cap, and in its metes and bounds is quite a curiosity. Two of the sons of the original Thomas SHEPHERD were soldiers in the Revolutionary army. One of them, Californiaptain Abraham SHEPHERD, was captured and held on board a Bristish prison ship until he came near losing his life. The eldest son or Thomas No. 2, married Susan Hulse, and raised a family of eight children. His eldest child, or Thomas No. 3 was born Nov. 3, 1774, and was married Oct. 15, 1805, to Mary Byers, who was born Dec. 13, 1779, in Shepherdstown, also. They had eight children in Shepherdstown, and Thomas No.3 died Nov. 9, 1832, in his native town. Eight of his children came to Sangamon county,Illinois
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