I'M DOING A MAJOR OVERHAUL OF MY WEBSITE. SOME PAGES WILL NOT HAVE ANY INFORMATION YET.

 

My name is David (Dave) William Shepardson. Based on the family histories done by Francis Wayland Shepardson of the Shepardsons in America & my grandmother continuing his work for our line, I'm an 11th generation Shepardson. My lineage back to the 1st Shepardson (Daniel) in this country is William10, Harold9, Willie8, Samuel7, Joel6, Ancel5, John4, John3, Daniel2, Daniel1.

 

SHEPARDSON FAMILY HISTORY

 

"Sometime in the year 1628-9, from what ship no record remains to tell, Daniel Shepardson landed at Salem, Mass."

 

That was my introduction to the Shepardson Family histories written by Francis Wayland Shepardson (as it probably was for most other Shepardsons looking into our family's history). In the late 1980s, I asked my grandmother if there was any information on the Shepardson family so I could find out about our family name. She brought me two small stacks of paper. The first one, as it turns out, was the 1st & 3rd Shepardson Family History leaflets by FWS (I didn't know there were more of them then). The second one was the family history that she & my grandfather had done in 1973 to continue on from FWS's work & bring our family's line down to the 11th generation (me, my brother, & our cousins).

 

Originally, my website was only those two Francis Wayland Shepardson histories (February & May 1907), coverering the first 6 generations of Shepardsons in America, along with my grandmother's (Grace Clark Shepardson) history of 1973.

 

Several years ago, a distant cousin from California (Susan Shepardson) found my website & emailed me asking me if I'd be interested in a family history she had on her family's line. She sent me the history on the line of Alfred Waldo Shepardson done by her great-aunt, Della Mae Shepardson Dewey. In May 2024, I finally finished scanning that in & getting it into Word (LONG overdue!). That prompted me to look over my Shepardson Family Facebook group which got me looking over the other Shepardson Family histories I'd linked to in it. And that prompted to me spend several hours digging through Google results for "Shepardson." I discovered that Francis Wayland Shepardson actually wrote SEVEN leaflets on the Shepardson Family: one in 1906, four in 1907, & two in 1912. He also included one on the history of Zephaniah Shepardson of Guilford, VT, written by John Eaton Shepardson in September 1907, in the complete published collection of seven leaflets (this did NOT include his original first leaflet from 1906). I also found several geneology websites with very good information which I'll include in my compilation.

 

My website is now a fairly comprehensive Shepardson Family history. Included are:

 

• A history of Francis Wayland Shepardson (because without his original leaflets, most of the other information on the Shepardson families probably wouldn't exist)
• A compilation of all the family histories I've found along with information from other Shepardson Family history websites & other sources
• A PDF of Francis Wayland Shepardson's ACTUAL first Shepardson history leaflet: Shepardson — A Family Story, published in 1906.
• A PDF of Francis Wayland Shepardson's original leaflets, which includes John Eaton Shepardson's history of Zephaniah Shepardson (published together as one booklet).
• A PDF of Dr. W.K. Shepardson's history of Newell Alonzo Shepardson (Dr. W.K. Shepardson's history was mentioned in the Alfred Waldo Shepardson history.
• A PDF of Della Mae Shepardson Dewey's history of Alfred Waldo Shepardson (her father) - sent to me by Susan Shepardson (his great-granddaughter).
• A PDF of Richard D. Shepardson's histories of George Jeremiah Shepardson's (his great-grandfather) line.
• A PDF of Grace Clark Shepardson's history.

The compilation pages includes information from the following sources:

 

• Francis Wayland Shepardson's ACTUAL first history leaflet: Shepardson — A Family Story.
• Francis Wayland Shepardson's six Shepardson family history leaflets.
• John Eaton Shepardson's history of Zephaniah Shepardson of Guilford, VT.
• Wikipedia Articles on several notable Shepardsons.
• John Shepardson (#12 on the first FWS leaflet)
• Ray Shepardson (1897-1975), Baseball player
• Raymond K Shepardson (1944-2014), Theater restoration specialist
• Rob Shepardson, Political consultant & marketing strategist
• Whitney Hart Shepardson (1890-1966), Head of the Secret Intelligence Branch of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS - which became the CIA) during WW2
• Dr. W.K. Shepardson's history of Newell Alonzo Shepardson (1957).
• Della Mae Shepardson Dewey's history of Alfred Waldo Shepardson (late 1950s - mentions the Dr. W.K. Shepardson history in it), sent to me by Susan Shepardson.
• Daniel Shepardson's website on the History of the Shepardsons in Royalston, MA (shepardsons.org).
• Grace Clark Shepardson's (my grandmother) history of 1973 bringing our family's line down to the 10th generation (my parents, uncles, & aunts).
• Richard D. Shepardson's histories from 2010-2016 of George Jeremiah Shepardson's line.
• FamilySearch.org, Ancestry.com, & Geni.com.
• My history of 2024 adding more information on the 10th & 11th generations of my family's line, AND adding the 12th generation (my son & his cousins).