To forget one's ancestors is to be a brook without a source, a tree without a root.

Charles Sheppard was born in Chichester, Sussex, England on 26 Aug 1853.  He was my great-grandfather Alfred's brother and my paternal great-uncle.

This is part of a collection of photographs which originally belonged to his daughter, Nellie Fisher Sheppard. She was, of course, sister of Charles and my great-grandfather Alfred.  After Nellie's death,  one of her close friends in Wem, Shropshire, where they lived, had sent them to my  uncle, John Sheppard who lived in England.  He  had known his cousin Nell, and had visited her in Wem and regularly kept in touch.

We are most grateful to John's widow Valerie, and my cousin Kathleen (Sheppard) Henry in England, who sent them to us.  Because of what had been written on the backs of the photos all those years ago, they were crucial in helping us to trace the origins of the Sheppards.