My trip to Ashtabula and Mary we found you!
A couple of weeks ago, Camie and I went with her brother Zack and his wife Cindy to Kirtland. While we were there, I knew I had to visit Ashtabula Cemetery. Zack suggested we go to Niagara Falls, and it just so happens that Ashtabula is on the way from Kirtland to Niagara. So naturally I told the crew that we would be stopping at the Edgewood Cemetery in Ashtabula. Why would I be so interested in Ashtabula, OH you ask.... Well let me tell you. If anyone ever asks if we are related to so and so Sheppards, I always ask, did they come from Ashtabula. The Sheppard name came from England, and then to Connecticut, and then to Ashtabula. So it's kind of the last place where the Sheppards in our line were all gathered before Mary had Isaac (George Thorpe), and then from there, Mary's siblings and family started spreading out. More on Mary later. Anyway, I knew Peleg (and wife Mary) Sweet were buried there, as well as Peletiah (and wife Mary (Poly)) Sheppard were there. So I knew if I could find them it would be a success. As we drove into Ashtabula, I instantly felt a connection to that place. As far as I know, it is the oldest, if not close to oldest, graves in my tree that we know where they are buried. Here is a little back story of Peleg Sweet so you can have some context.
Peleg Sweet served in the Revolutionary War and was living in Conn. when he hit some rocks as he was farming. He was so tired of the rocky soil, he decided to take part, along with some others, in a land swap. He traded some land in Litchfield County, Conn for 850 Acres of wild land in Ashtabula. As far as we know he was the first white settler in the area. He built and ran a tavern, and turned his land into the town of Ashtabula. The cemetery land was donated by Peleg, as well as a park.
His daughter Mary (Poly) Sweet married Peletiah Sheppard in Connecticut, but it appears that the Sheppard family decided to go with Peleg Sweet as all of the Sheppard children born after 1811 were born in Ashtabula. Above you see me with the headstone of Peletiah and Mary (Poly) Sheppard, Here is me with the headstone of Peleg and Mary Sweet:
So the trip was a success! But wait there's more! When I got home, I started looking around Family Search for the family I saw in the cemetery. I saw so many Sheppard headstones, and I knew I must be related to them. I saw in Family Search that there was a son attached to Peletiah and Mary (Poly) named Capt. Lorin Orin Sheppard. I thought that was a really strange name, so I started to look into the sources, and I saw a very interesting pattern. There was not a single source that said Lorin Orin, but I saw many that said Lorin, and many others that said Orin. So I looked closer and the sources all had the same birthdate. 9 Dec 1838. Then I started looking at the marriage records attached, and I found that Lorin Orin's wife's name was listed sometimes as Mary McColley, and other times as Sarah McColley. And I also noticed that there were two different marriage dates listed. I then saw that the marriage record that hd Sarah and all the census records with Sarah list Lorin as the husband, and all the records with Mary had Orin listed as the husband. And then it hit me. Lorin Orrin are not the same person, Lorin and Orrin are twins that married sisters! I sorted it all out in Family Search and have been so excited to take the Orrin Sheppard family to the temple in Nauvoo in a couple of weeks and seal them together.
But wait there's even more! I decided that since my trip to Ashtabula had obviously stirred up the other side, I thought I might check in on Mary Sheppard to see if there were any more records that might give us a hint as to what happened to her. A quick refresher for those who may not remember, Mary Sheppard is the daughter of Peletiah and Mary (Poly) Sweet. She had a baby out of wedlock named Isaac Leroy Sheppard. A few months later Mary married Richard Giddings in May of 1832. The story goes that Richard was a widower, and did not want the child, and so Isaac was given up for adoption to Owen and Merab Thorpe. Isaac's name was changed to George Thorpe. The only sources we really had for Mary was her marriage to Richard Giddings. Well I believe my trip to Ashtabula shook the family tree leaves on the other side as I randomly found a connection on Find a Grave. On Findagrave.com, I was looking at Peletiah Sheppard, and I saw that there was a Mary Forsyth connected to Peletiah as a daughter. I looked into it, and I found that there was a Mary Sheppard married to a Stephen Forsyth in 1834. This was interesting and I found that Mary Sheppard in Family Search. She was listed with no parents, but in some of the sources it states that she was born in Ohio in 1815. As I shared my findings with Aunt Susan, she dug into it some more and we both prayed about it and felt that we should merge our Mary who married Richard Giddings, with Mary who married Stephen Forsythe. We still don't have a reason Mary married Stephen 2 years after her marriage to Richard, but there are seemingly no records of Richard after the 1832 marriage. Acting under the assumption that he passed away, and in the lack of any conflicting information, I am excited that we may have finally found what happened to our Mary Sheppard. We don't have 100 percent proof, and if more information comes, we will make the corrections then, but as Aunt Suzan said to me, it makes me happy to think that Mary went on and had several children with Stephen and seemingly had a great life. Isaac/George married Elizabeth Allen which was our first introduction to the church. It is interesting to note that Ashtabula is very close to Kirtland, and the Sheppard/Sweet families had to have known about the Mormons. I wonder if they ever had any interactions!
