Mary Millicent Byers

THE SHEPPARD FAMILY - VIEW FAMILY TREE David Sheppard and Kesiah Wilson were two of four slaves Loyalist Edmund Fanning brought with him to Prince Edward Island. Edmund Fanning settled in Nova Scotia after the War of Independence. In 1786, Fanning came to St. John’s Island and replaced Walter Patterson as the Island’s second Lieutenant Governor. In 1805, Fanning officially stepped down, but lived in Charlottetown until 1813, when at that time he returned to London. David and Kesiah were married by the time they came to PEI. They had five children and their oldest child Anna Maria was definitely born by the time they arrived with Edmund Fanning on PEI in 1786. Their next, child, Benjamin, was probably born on PEI as he was baptized in Charlottetown in 1789. Although his date of birth is not documented, in looking at the other children of David and Kesiah, they were all follow a pattern of having been baptized within a few months of being born. In the Baptismal records of their children, Kesiah’s name was spelled a variety of ways: Chesiah, Kupy, Kipsy, Kissy, and Kelly. The exact date of when the Shepard family to the eastern end of the Island is uncertain. David and Kesiah’s last child Mary Millicent Sheppard was baptized in Charlottetown in 1803. Their son, Benjamin, has his three eldest children baptized in Charlottetown as well. The baptismal record of Benjamin’s third child, Mariah, however, documents that although she was baptized in Charlottetown in 1815, she had actually been born in Lot 49. Benjamin’s forth child, Benjamin Matthias was baptized as an adult at St. Joachim’s church in Vernon River on the 25 November 1842 and was listed as a “convert.” This indicates that the Sheppard family were initially Anglican, but with the move to the country, they converted to Catholicism as that was the church available to them at that time, in that area. After 1813, Benjamin had moved East, which coincides with the date Edmund Fanning left PEI. Although documentation has never been obtained, it has always been said that Fanning set the Sheppard family up on a farm in the country. It would be safe to assume that this was probably something Fanning saw to in 1813 before leaving PEI for good. As there are no baptismal records for Benjamin’s other four children, it can be estimated that the Sheppard family probably moved East to the Cardigan area circa 1813. Churches were not as plentiful or as well established in the rural areas of the Island at this time and documentation of families prior to the census returns beginning in 1841, is often limited. David and Kesiah Sheppard had five children, but only one son. Their son Benjamin is responsible for the continuation of the Shepard family name on PEI. Benjamin and his wife Mary Ellwood had at least nine children. Their children had at least four to ten children each. Two of David’s grandsons, Edmund and Frederick Sheppard, married Clow sisters from England, Eliza and Lydia respectively. Edmund and Eliza had ten children in total: three boys and seven girls. These “seven Shepard sisters” all married and had large families of their own. Charlie Ryan, a well known Black Islander, is a descendant of one of these seven Shepard sisters. Some of David and Kesiah’s descendants have been traced as far as six to seven generations. The Sheppard family is unique in that majority of the descendants of David and Kesiah (Wilson) Sheppard remained on PEI. This accounts for their descendants constituting over fifty percent of the Black community on PEI today. Her children with William Byers I: William Byers II (1813 – 1890), Benjamin Byers (1822 – ), Robert Byers (1825 – ), & Edmund Byers (1827 – ) Surnames appearing within the descendants of David Sheppard and Kesiah Wilson: Binns, Byers, Casford, Conoghan, Coyle, Crawford, Cudmore, Dorion, Drover, Farrell, Foley, Gallant, Gauthier, Hartinger, Head, Hennessey, Hines, Hughes, Johnson, Livingston, Manue, MacAulay, McBeath, McDonald, McIssac, McKay, McIntyre, McKeigan, McKenna, MacLean, McNeill, McQuarrie, Patterson, Pitrie, Robinson, Russell, Ryan, Saunders, Sheeren, Sigsworth, Stanley, Trainor, Underhay, Valentine, Walsh, Whitlock, Wilson, Woodward. "It appears that she and her step-daughter, Sarah Godfrey, had an altercation some months ago (in 1870), when Sarah shied a brick at the step-mother’s head, and so well directed was the blow, that the latter never recovered from its effects. She sunk into a lethargic state from which death only relieved her on the 4th inst. The jury, having heard the evidence adduced, and the opinions of medical men, returned a verdict that “the deceased Mary Byers came to her death from a blow of some blunt instrument inflicted by Sarah Godfrey, under great provocation.” A warrant of commitment, on a charge of wilful murder, was thereupon issued by the Coroner: but up to the present time, the accused has succeeded in evading the officers of the law." Children: Benjamin Sheppard b: 22 MAR 1789 in Prince Edward Island, Canada, Catherine Sheppard b: 4 JUL 1791 in Prince Edward Island, Canada, Anna Marie Sheppard b: 13 FEB 1794 in Prince Edward Island, Canada, Kesiah Sara Sheppard b: 4 APR 1799 in Prince Edward Island, Canada, Mary Millicent Sheppard b: 23 JAN 1803 in Prince Edward Island, Canada.

* Note: Sheppard name also spelled with one p.