By Jared L. Olar
December 2018
The surname of "Sheppard" is a form of the word "shepherd," a very common occupation that gave rise to numerous unrelated Sheppard and Shepherd families. Through the Turney family we have a descent from a Sheppard family who lived in the village of Wavendon in Buckinghamshire, England -- namely, a certain John Sheppard of Wavendon had a daughter named Elizabeth Sheppard who was the first wife of Barnard Turney (c.1531-1612) of Hollingdon, Buckinghamshire. Interestingly, Barnard Turney's mother Alice was probably a Sheppard of Littlecott in Buckinghamshire, and so may have been related to the Sheppards of Wavendon. The Turney connection to the Sheppards of Wavendon is mentioned in the research of Helen Turney Sharps which was presented in "The Ancestry of Benjamin Turney of Concord, Mass., and Fairfield, Conn.," published in The American Genealogist, Oct. 1936, page 138. That article shows the two above mentioned generations of this family. Various online family trees show a mother for Elizabeth and extend the line back an additional generation, though the trees do not provide any sources to substantiate what they claim. Assuming they are correct, this Sheppard line would proceed as follows:
1. JOHN SHEPPARD, presumably lived in Buckinghamshire, England, said to have married HANNAH PECK and to have had a son:
2. JOHN SHEPPARD, born circa 1500.
2. JOHN SHEPPARD, son of John and Hannah Sheppard, born circa 1500 in England, died circa 1617 probably at Wavendon, Buckinghamshire, England. Some online family trees claim without evidence that John Sheppard, father of Elizabeth (Sheppard) Turney, was born circa 1477 and died in 1507, but those dates are obviously erroneous, since Elizabeth was born circa 1535. John married ELIZABETH FLOWER, by whom he had a daughter. Various websites absurdly claim that Elizabeth was the daughter of the English colonist Tamrock Flower of Connecticut, who was born circa 1660, about a century after his alleged daughter was born.
3. ELIZABETH SHEPPARD, born circa 1560 in Wavendon, Buckinghamshire, England.
3. ELIZABETH SHEPPARD, daughter of John and Elizabeth Sheppard, born circa 1535 in Wavendon, Buckinghamshire, England. Her husband, whom she married probably circa 1558, was BARNARD TURNEY, born circa 1531 in Hollingdon, near Soulbury, Buckinghamshire, England, died July 1612 in Hollingdon, Soulbury, Buckinghamshire, England, buried 12 July 1612 at Hollingdon, son of John and Alice Turney. Elizabeth and Barnard had four sons and a daughter. After her death, Barnard remarried to ELIZABETH MEADE, from the village of Bragenham in Soulbury, Buckinghamshire, died 1625, with whom he had a daughter.
In her 1936 study, pages 136-139, Helen Turney Sharps provides these remarks on Barnard's life:
"Barnard Turney was eldest son of John Turney by his second wife, the widow Alice Gurney. He lived at Hollingdon in Soulbury, where he was prominent to the end of his long life. He was born about 1531, and was buried at Hollingdon 12 July 1612. He had older half-brothers, about whom our knowledge is deficient because of the loss of the will of his father, John Turney. Barnard Turney is stated to have married twice: first, to Elizabeth Sheppard, daughter of John of Wavendon; second, to Elizabeth Meade of Bragenham in Soulbury, who died in 1625."
Barnard's will is dated 25 Nov. 1611 at Hollingdon in Soulbury and was proved 14 Nov. 1612, four months after Barnard's death. Sharps abstracted the will as follows:
"Abstract of the will of Bernard Turney of Holindon in Sulbery dated 25 Nov. 1611, proved 14 Nov. 1612. Unto the pore people in Sulbery & Holindone 40 s. to be geven unto them at my buriall. To Thomas Turney my sonne my house lands & leases in Sulbery. Unto Inocente Turney my sonne twoe steares & one cow bullocke. Unto Barnett Turney my sonne one two yeere old sterebulocke. Unto John Turney my sonne one little stere bullocke. Unto Joan my daughter one cow-buloke. Unto Alice my daughter one cowe. Unto all my childrens children iij s. 4 d. a peece. Unto all my servants that doe dwell with me att my decease iij s. iiij d. a pece. Unto Barnett Web iij s. iiij d. Residue to Eliz. my wief & Thomas Turney my sonne whome I make my sole executors. Witnesses: Jo: Cripps script, Thomas Turney. [Archdeaconry of Bucks, Register 1611-12.]"
Sharps' sketch of Barnard's life concludes with this list of his children:
Children by first wife:
Thomas, b. say abt. 1560.
John.
Barnard, settled in Wavenden, m. and left issue.
Innocent, of Surcott (or Southcott), later of Great Brickhill and Linslade.
Joan or Alice, probably m. Edmund Stevens of Southcott (d. 1603), who called Barnard Turney his father-in-law in his will.
Children by second wife:
Alice or Joan, m. Lawrence Buckner of Soulbury. [This surname is now usually spelled in that region in the form "Bunker."]
The five children of Barnard Turney and his first wife Elizabeth were as follows:
-- THOMAS TURNEY, born circa 1560 in Hollingdon, near Soulbury, Buckinghamshire, England.
-- JOHN TURNEY, born circa 1562 in Hollingdon, near Soulbury, Buckinghamshire, England.
-- BARNARD TURNEY, born circa 1564 in Hollingdon, near Soulbury, Buckinghamshire, England.
-- INNOCENT TURNEY, born circa 1566 in Hollingdon, near Soulbury, Buckinghamshire, England.
-- JOAN TURNEY, born circa 1568-70 in Hollingdon, near Soulbury, Buckinghamshire, England, married twice.
Sheppard Genealogy Resources:
Mindrum Family History, with information on Elizabeth Sheppard. We Relate: Elizabeth Sheppard. Elizabeth (Sheppard) Turney, information from New York Beginnings family tree. Parishes: Wavendon, British History Online. GEN-UK-I: Wavendon