Doyle/Sheppard/Massyn

[Kinsy]

Am trying to trace my mother's family. Her father was John Edgar Doyle and her mother was  Violet (Vicky) Gwendoline Sheppard - married 1921.

My great grandfather was John Joseph Fitzpatrick O'Doyle and I think his wife was Swedish.

My other great grandparents were William Henry Halse Sheppard and Louisa Jacoba Massyn - married 1898.

Can anybody help please?

[braw]

The Transvaal (TAB) archives has the following reference for Jacoba Louisa Sheppard ( born Massyn)
Source: Tpd
Volume:2/122
Reference:63/1919
Desc: Illiquid Case,Divorce.Jacoba Louisa Sheppard...........
So it looks like she divorced William in1919.

There are two references to William Henry Halse Sheppard,the one dated 1948 and the other 1953
 and these also refer to divorces

[braw]

There are further references:

Source:Mhg
Reference:44792
Desc:Sheppard,AA.Violet Gwendoline Dorothy Augusta Olive Constance
Date:1920

and

Source:Mhg
reference:274/50
Desc:Doyle, John Edgar
Date:1950

[Kinsy]

Thanks, braw

[chat9]

I am related to you via Jacoba Louisa Massyn and William Henry Halse Sheppard. She had a daugher Dorothy May Sheppard who is my great-grandmother. Do you have any information on the rest of the siblings or any photos/documents of the family.

The other siblings were: Olive Constance Sheppard
                                     Neville Sheppard
                                     Harry (or Henry possibly) Sheppard
                                     Claude Sheppard
Thanking You

[Kinsy]

My sister has Louisa Massyn's old Bible and sent me this list of the Sheppard children from it:
Claude Henry Kenneth Sheppard  born  3rd July 1899
Violet Gwendaline Sheppard  born 15th June 1901
Neville Reginald Sheppard May 1903
Dorothy May Sheppard    1905
Olive Sheppard 1907
Henry William Halse Sheppard  15 Dec 1907 - otherwise known as Babs, the apple of his mother’s eye. He was a real womaniser and married several times - so not sure whether the divorces referred to above are his or his father's. One of his children by one of his wives was put up for adoption and adopted by an Afrikaans family and his name was changed to theirs. Schalkwyk, I think? This is vague, it could have been one of his children’s children.
When my sister started teaching in 1968, she had a Neville Sheppard in her class who was the son of my mom’s cousin. She also had a girl called Viv or Val Bonfiglio who was also the daughter of one of my mom’s cousins. Maybe you know them?

[chat9]

Hi,

Thanks for the information. Its so wonderful to hear from someone researching the same family! What a wonderful photo.. Do you have any photos of Henry Sheppard and their children? I will ask my gran about those names and see if she knows them.

Dorothy May Sheppard (born 26/04/1906 in Pretoria) married James Ernest Shelton and had Hazel, Gavin and Graham. Unsure of what happened to the other Sheppard siblings.
I have found out that Henry Sheppard's parents were Annie Susan Halse (family originally from Cornwall, England) and Charles Fred Sheppard. Henry was born 11/6/1879 in Pretoria. Hope this is correct. Do you know who Louisa's parents were? I have arranged to get photographs of the archive documents concerning the family and will get these to you when I recieve them. attached find a photo of Dorothy and Louisa.

Kind Regards

[Kinsy]

Thanks so much for the info and lovely picture. It's great to find someone researching the same family. My sister has a box of my mom's old papers and am waiting for her to check through them to see if there's any more info, or any photos - I am in UK and she is in SA, so it may take a while before she does it. I have a photocopy of a photo of young Louisa but it is too dark to scan, so am waiting to see if my sister unearths the original.

Violet (called Vicky, b.15/6/1901, Natal) was my grandmother - married John Edgar Doyle 11/6/1921 and had Joan Cynthia, Melville John and Colin Malcolm. I remember your g/gran from when I was young - when she and Vicky and Olive got together they would have such a ball, laughing and gossiping and thoroughly enjoying themselves.

My mother gave me a book called "Sunrise to Evening Star" by Marina King - her life in SA (1856 to abt 1930) Cape to Natal and Tvl by ox-wagon, Zulu troubles, Boer war, gold rush etc. My mom said some of the people MK wrote about were our relatives, so I read it from cover to cover but couldn't find any surnames I recognised. Will you ask your gran whether she knows the book and who the relatives were?

[Kinsy]

Have found Annie Susan Halse (b.8/8/1841 Aliwal North, Cape) and her family. Look her up on www.familysearch.org

Bye for now