This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: SHEARS, SHAW, BECKWITH, PICKERD, SHEPARD Classification: Biography Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/kFB.2ACE/4298 Message Board Post: These are the parents/grandparents of most of the SHEARS families in St. Joseph and Kent Counties in Michigan. Ashtabula Co., OH It is said that John and Andrew SHEARS came as indentured servants from Bowinemouth, England near Dorset in the south coast area. Andrew stayed in New York and John came down the St. Laurence and settled in the Ohio River area. The earliest known SHEARS was John, who was a farmer in Sheffield Twnshp, as was his brother Cyrus. The 1860 Census shows that all members of John's family, including him, were born in Ohio, although another record shows that he was born in New York in 1819. John married Melinda SHAW on 23 February 1841 in Ohio. Melinda was born on 25 May 1824 and was about 17 when she married John. Records show that they had seven sons and that Minerd served in the Civil War and died at Andersonville. Melinda was the daughter of Andrew SHAW and Martha BECKWITH. The 1874 Atlas of Ashtabula County Surveys shows the land ownership and acres owned by the occupants. The SHEARS and SHAW families had adjoining properties in Sheffield Twnshp. The survey shows an A. SHEARS owning 25 acres in the s.w. quadrant of section 38 and 65.82 acres in section 40, which borders the T.B. SHAW farm of 36.12 acres. T.B. SHAW also owned 40 acres in the top portion of section 40 and also owned 59.72 acres in sectio! ns 33 and 34. A Wm. W. SHAW is shown as owning 189 acres in Conneaut Twnshp. In the south part of the city of Ashtabula, the survey shows a P.SHEARS as having residence. In Dorset Twnshp., a P. SHEARS and Jane SHEPARD owned 435 acres and a B. SHEARS and a J.B. SHEPARD had 230 acres. John and his family moved to Plainfield Twnshp., Grand Rapids, Michigan around 1875. It is thought that the farm might have been left to his son Adelbert. John was about 56 at the time of the move. Lumbering was a big business in Michigan at that time and that was the reason for him to move from Ohio. He died two years later on 14 March 1877 and is buried in the Plainfield Cemetery. Transcribed from Genealogy Papers compiled by Donna Shears, by Krysti Boughton