Thankslord (Perkins) Shepard (abt. 1612 - abt. 1693)

Born about 1612 in England

Wife of Ralph Shepard — married 21 May 1632 in London, England

Descendants

Died about 20 Aug 1693 at about age 81 in Malden, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay [uncertain]

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Thankslord (Perkins) Shepard migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

Genealogical Error Alert: Thankslord is not the daughter of of Thomas Lord and Dorothy Bird. See Research Notes below for details.

Thankslord (Perkins) Shepard was born in Northamptonshire, England.

Thankslord Perkins was born in about 1612 in England.^[1] She married Ralph Shepard in London, England in 1632.^[2] The couple had at least seven children over the next twenty-one years. Their oldest daughter, Sarah, was born in England and traveled with them when they immigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635 when she was only three-years-old.^[3][4] The younger children were all born in Massachusetts.

As they immigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635, Ralph Shepard and his wife Thankslord (Perkins) Shepard are included in the New England Historic Genealogical Society's Great Migration Study Project. A biographical sketch is published in Anderson, Great Migration, 1634–35^[3], 6 (2009): 262-268 (AmericanAncestors.org subscription web site, Ancestry.com subscription web site), and followed by this WikiTree profile, as we don't know of any subsequent peer-reviewed research on this family.

• Born 1611 or 1612, as she immigrated aged 23 (enrolled 30 Jun 1635).

• Married Ralph Shepard 21 May 1632 at London, St. Bride.^[2]

• Immigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635 aboard the Abigail with her husband, 'Ralph' aged 29, and daughter, 'Sara' aged 2, settling at Watertown.^[3][4]

• Removed to Dedham in 1637.

• Removed to Weymouth in 1639.

• Removed to Malden by 1650.

• Removed to Concord by 1666.

• Died after 28 March 1675, when she acknowledged a deed^[3] and probably before 29 May 1681, when her husband conveyed property in a deed which does not name her.^[1]

Research Notes

Correct Identity

She was identified as Thankslord Perkins, not Thanks Lord, in The American Genealogist.^[5] This identity is followed in Anderson, Great Migration, 1634–35^[3], 6 (2009): 262–269, Ralph Shepard.

Parentage

Until she was identified as Thankslord Perkins in TAG^[5], 67 (1992): 29, some claimed in error that she was the daughter of Thomas Lord and Dorothy Bird. She was not the daughter of Thomas Lord and Dorothy Bird.

Birth Date

No source is available for her birth date except about 1611^[3] or 1612,^[1] but the following unsourced claims have been made:

• 30 Jun 1609 in Towchester, Northamptonshire,England
• 20 June 1612 in Bread Street Ward, London, England^[6][7]. Reviewing the parish registers of the four churches in the ward, such a baptism is not found: Hallows, Bread Street Parish, [https://archive.org/details/registersofstmil42stmi/page/12/mode/2up St Margaret Moses. Baptisms in the registers St Mildred Bread Street Parish, and St John the Evangelist, start in the 1650s.
• 30 Jun 1612 in Northamptonshire, England

Marriage

"Source: British FHL film #380154, Marriage record reads Thankslorde Perkins, listed as a spinster not a widow. FHL US/CAN Book 974 D2thj pp. 275-282, includes a copy of Thankslorde's signature. Lord is part of given name. Spouse: Ralph SHEPARD. Ralph SHEPARD and Thankslord PERKINS were married on 21 May 1633 in St Bride's, London, Middlesex, England.^[2]

The woman who married Ralph SHEPARD in St. Bride's Church, London was Thank-the-lord PERKINS, not Thank-ye LORD (the letter often mistaken for a y was actually a combination letter called a thorn, it stood for th). Their 21 May 1633 marriage record, complete with copies of their signatures, appear in a book by John Brooks Threlfall called __ Twenty-Six Great American Colonists To New England & Their Origins___.^[8] This matter has been discussed in other genealogical publications as well. She was consistently referred to as Thanklord or Thankslord SHEPARD in Massachusetts records. "Lord" was part of her given name. It was very common for staunch Puritans of that time to name their children thusly.

Even if the marriage record hadn't been found, it is evident that she was not a LORD. Thank-the-lord's name doesn't fit the naming pattern in the LORD family, which didn't use Puritan names. She isn't mentioned in the will of Dorothy (BIRD) LORD, nor are any SHEPARD grandchildren mentioned, despite the fact that this will is very detailed and carefully written and did include other grandchildren. There was no known association between the LORD family of CT and the SHEPARD family of MA, despite the fact that the LORD family, from all appearances, was very close-knit.

Thank-the-lord was born ca 1612, yet there is no room for her among the children of Thomas and Dorothy (BIRD) LORD, who were married in February 1611 and had children born/baptized in January 1612, September 1614, and November 1616 (among others). The parish registers for Towcester, Northamptonshire (where the LORDs lived) includes the baptisms for the other LORD children but nothing for a child with a name even remotely resembling Thank-the-lord. And the registers are complete, not missing entries in this timeframe. Even if the 1612 date for Thank-the-lord is off a bit, it doesn't fit.

Death Date

One secondary source gives her death in the range of 1666 to 1681.^[1] However, she is known to have acknowledged a deed at the end of Mar 1675,^[3] narrowing the range to 1675 to 1681. At the end of May, 1681, her husband conveyed property in a deed which does not name her so she is presumed dead before that date.^[1] No more specific source is available for her death date, but the following unsourced claims have been made:

11 Sep 1681 Malden, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^[7]

1687 in Malden Middlesex County, Massachusetts

20 Aug 1693 in Malden, Middlesex County, Massachusetts

The current death date on the profile is 20 Aug 1693 with no source. - Jeff Gentry, 27 May 2022.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} Gerald Faulkner Shepard, compiler, and Donald Lines Jacobus, editor, The Shepard Families of New England: Volume 1, Ralph Shepard of Dedham (The New Haven Colony Society, New Haven, Conn, 1971), page 1
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} "England, Marriages, 1538–1973 ," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NJPN-GZT : accessed 18 Sep 2012), Ralph Sheaphearde and Thankslorde Perkins, 21 May 1632; citing reference , FHL microfilm 380154.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6} Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634–1635, 7 vols., (Boston, Mass.:New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1999–2011)6 (2009): 262–269 AmericanAncestors.org
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Tate, S., Ed. (1999). Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild: Abigail. Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild. https://www.immigrantships.net/v2/1600v2/abigail16351008.html
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Penny G. Douglass, "Thankslord Perkins, wife of Ralph Shepard of Dedham, Massachusetts", The American Genealogist, 67 (1992): 29 subscribers$.
6. ↑ FamilySearch https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/9KZP-2DX Accessed 27 May 2022.
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} Find A Grave: Memorial #70683819
8. ↑ Threlfall, J. B. (1993). Twenty-six Great Migration Colonists to New England & Their Origins. United States: J.B. Threlfall. https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/265824/

• Backus, Mary. The New England Ancestry of Dana Converse Backus (Salem, Mass., 1949). Pages 157-158.
• Pope, Charles Henry. The Pioneers of Massachusetts (Boston, Mass., 1900) Pages 411-412.
• http://newenglandgenealogy.pcplayground.com/f_102.htm#79