I finally heard back from Dr. Shepherd, the gentleman who matches Grandfathers yDNA. He sent me a small packet of the research that had been done on his family, all of it by paid researchers. I sent him a couple of questions that he has done his best to answer, now I can start digging deeper into my own research on this line.

All we know right now, is that his ancestor John Shepherd was born in New Jersey about 1783ish. No parents are known and no idea where in New Jersey. We might just have to wait for a few years for more Shepards to have their DNA tested before we can continue the quest. At this time we still don’t know where in Europe the surname originated for this line. It could very well be English. Only time will tell.