Shepherds About?

[Margshep]

I have been looking everywhere for information on a Gtgtgtgt Grandad . I have managed to track down a will, a death cert. Am unable to find his marriage, his birth, his sons birth. Which would take me back another generation. His name was George Shepherd, and he died in 1838 aged 55 which has him being born in 1783, I found his widow Ann on the 1841 census living with the son George. he was 20, but from other census' i think he was 2 years younger than that. I cannot find his birth either!!!!!
I have looked on microfiche for the area, Woolwich in Kent, St Marys etc, which I purchased from Parish Chest. So anyone want a look I can help.
I have lots of History books on Kent and Woolwich anything trying to piece together his life, but nada nothing. Anyone want to help (Please!!!!!)
|banghead|

[hughar]

What does George's death certificate list as his occupation? Ann is shown in the 1841 as of independent means, so George must have had a reasonable occupation. This might help trace him.

Was George's address at the time of his death the same as Ann's address in the 1841 census?

Does George's will mention any relatives - parents, brothers, cousins etc, who might provide a lead?

[Margshep]

George was a pensioner in the Royal Arsenal, no other relatives mentioned apart from dear wife beloved son. Two executors both friends, both who died a couple of years after George. He did not own his house, in 1823 when the will was drafted he lived in Helen Street, he died at Brewer Street, and Ann was living in Charles St in 1841. She died from an accidental fall. He died from a brain affection, in another words epilepsy.Cant find any mention of him in the Arsenal records, but my brother is still looking there.|banghead|
Any more ideas, its so hard when you get to this stage.

[hughar]

You mention having fiche of Woolwich St.Marys bought from Parish Chest. If this is the one produced by North Kent FHS then this seems to only cover from 1813 - as also does the IGI. Although son George was born c.1821, his parents George and Ann could have married quite a while earlier, as they were apparently born 1783 and 1785 respectively. So you would need to check in a more complete set of PR's that covers the earlier period.

Then there is of course the possibility that Ann was not from Woolwich, and that as was common at the time, the marriage was held in her home parish. Also the reason you have not been able to find son George's birth/baptism may be because Ann went home to her mother for what seems to have been her first birth. So if you do find George and Ann's marriage in another parish, look there for the baptism of son George.

Phillimore's Index of Parish Registers shows that there are several privately held marriage indexes that may be of assistance in locating George and Ann's marriage.- the West Kent Marriage Index 1538-1812, Mike Gandy's East Kent Marriage Index 1754-1812 and his Kent Marriage Index 1813-1837, and the SELON index. There is also a West Kent Baptism Index from 1813 held by Matthew Copus. You can find details of all these using Google.

[jault]

You are not the only one stumped on dear George. I have also been looking for some time. I recently noticed on the web that there is a reference in the book Cure, Comfort & Safe Custody: Public Lunatic Asylums in early 19th Century by Leonard D Smith in which he refers to a George Shepherd being admitted to a Kent Asylum in Dec 1836. This George Shepherd was a clerk in Woolwich and was aged 54. Apparently he thought that a dwarf was going to suffocate him and eventually things got rather serious.

I assume that this is the father of the George Shepherd b 1815 and who died in Arthur St Woolwich 22 June 1866.

[Margshep]

Are you a relative? If so which descendant are you? Am going to try and find the book that you mentioned, it looks like the same one, but there where two Georges living in Woolwich at that time.
Please reply as I am very interested.

[jault]

Yes. My wife is a Shepherd coming down from dear George and then to his son George (of Clay Hill farm fame) and then via the Frederick John route. We started doing the genealogy some years ago and we also got back as far as George the clerk before we hit the buffers and ground to a halt. It was only recently that I picked up the research again and found from the National Archives that he left a will. (Incidentally Frederick John also left a will and I can let you have a copy of that).
I was beginning to think that the fact that George was a Yeoman might lead to us putting some flesh on the bones. However, the book may lead somewhere. There were just not that many Shepherds who died in the Woolwich and Plumstead area. There were clumps of Shepherds in Maidstone, Hackney, Stepney and thereabouts and a smaller sprinkling in Dartford and Crayford but the number in Woolwich and Plumstead were very small. There may have only been one only the one family. I guess what I am pondering is the question of just how many Shepherds were there in Woolwich who were clerks and approximately the right age group, if it was not the George with the Dwarf fixation.
Incidentally it is page 97 in the book

[Margshep]

Thanks for the information, which descendant is your wife? My grandad was the brother of Frederick, we have a copy of the will,plus lots of other information, which may prove useful to you. Do you belong to Genes reunited?
Thank you so much for coming back, its good to find another relative.

[jault]

Absolutely, it is always great to find another relative. We have done some head scratching around here and reckon that you are probably a descendent of Albert. It will be great to plug another branch into the tree. By the way check the Genes reunited site. Hopefully I have left some more details for the right Margaret.

[DavidS]

I know this is a few months after the last post on the thread, but I have only recently started to research George Shepherd (both father and son).

I believe George snr is my 4 x great grandfather and would be most interested in finding out as much about him as I can. As I said, I have only just started researching him, assuming he is the father of the George who died in Arthur Street in 1866. I suspect he is as George jnr, on his marriage certificate to his second wife, Elizabeth Chandler, gave his father's occupation as clerk at the Royal Arsenal. My relationship to them is through Frederick John - 3 of them; a family who obviously were very imaginative when naming sons!

[Margshep]

Dear David,
As you have probably gathered I have been researching the Shepherds for quite some time. Will gladly share information with you.

Margaret