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 The Shore Family
John Shore is the earliest of our Shore family relatives known to have come to America. Our Family Gallery has a separate page describing the lives of John Shore and his wife Mary Ann (Brandenburg) Shore, and their children.
This page is devoted to John Shore's other relatives. It is about those relatives who came to America, and the others who remained in England.
Letters show the Shore family living in the southwest of England, in Somerset (Somersetshire) and Wiltshire: letters mention the towns of Frome, Warminster, Westbury, Trowbridge, and Devizes. They are a family of furniture craftsmen: cabinetmakers, 'joiners', furniture makers and restorers. This was also John Shore's trade after he came to America.
Here are pages from 1841-1901 census records for Shore families in Devizes, West Lavington, and Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England.
 Click below for census records.
1841 (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
1851 (1) (2)
1861 (1) (2) (3a) (3b) (4) (5)
1871 (1) (2) (3)
1881 (1) (2) (3)
1891 (1) (2)
1901 (1) (2) (3)
It is possible some of the people in these census records are relatives of our family. After several generations, their descendants today could be living near that area.
The Question: Who Came to America?
Immigration records show that John Shore came to America in or before 1834.
A letter written in 1843 to John Shore in Illinois, from his brother and sister-in-law in England, mentions "the boy that was born the month after you left ... is 11 years old the 29 of May." That indicates John Shore left their area about April of 1832. (The letter is among those reproduced below.)
Currently we do not have any shipping or other records to show whether he shipped from there to America at that time, or perhaps moved to another part of England.
A U.S. Government publication, "Index to Records of Aliens' Declarations" shows that he filed his Declaration of Intent for U.S. citizenship at the Court of Quarter Sessions in Philadelphia, on 6 October 1834. Two years later, a poem he wrote shows him at Cats Creek, Ohio on 4 November 1836. John married Mary Ann Brandenburg in Erie County, Ohio on 14 February 1838. They had four children (three survived past childhood). Our family is descended from their marriage.
For several years the question remained unanswered: Who else came to America?
Some items found in our family raised the possibility that other Shore family members might have followed John Shore to America.
Here are the items that added to our family's "unsolved mystery":
Letters to John Shore from England Several letters are written to John Shore in Illinois, from his brother Thomas Shore and sister-in-law Mary Shore in England. One written in 1843 describes the family's life. Two letters, in 1849 and 1850, implore John's help so that the family may purchase passage from England to America. They ask for funds to pay a ship's captain, and say that the money will be paid back in full after the family comes to America. Here are the letters:
 1843 Letter from Shore Family: Page 1 2 3 4 Text
 1849 Letter from Shore Family: Page 1 2 3 4 Text
 1850 Letter from Shore Family: Page 1 2 3 4 Text
Bank Money Draft, Dollars to Pounds Sterling Three documents from 1851 show that John Shore sent 23 Pounds Sterling (his cost: 117 Dollars) to his brother Thomas Shore in England. A letter (30 June 1851) from a banker to John describes how it can be done. Another document shows a table of currency exchange rates. The third document (25 July 1851) is a receipt from the banker to John Shore for the funds. Here are the three documents:
 1851 Money draft to Thomas Shore: Letter Table Receipt
Here are transcripts of the Letter and Receipt.
Envelopes with Postmarks Several envelopes have been found, addressed to John Shore's family in Illinois. One is postmarked 1 October 1857 from Warminster, England (John Shore's birthplace). Others are postmarked from New York and Illinois. They all have the same handwriting. The envelopes are empty; whatever their contents might have disclosed is unknown. The U.S. postmarks show a day and month, but do not show the year of mailing. Here are the envelopes:
 Envelopes -- England and USA
Letter from Albertus Shore to Jesse Shore Albertus and Jesse are John Shore's grandsons. A letter from Albertus to Jesse (1918) reads, "I have heard father speak of his father having a bro start from England, to land somewhere down the coast there." It refers to a brother of John Shore, and mentions North Carolina. Here is the letter:
 1918 Letter from Albertus Shore: Page 1 2 3 Text
Finding Some Answers
A letter with a poem has been found in the family, written to John Shore's daughter Louisa Cedelia Shore from Alfred Thomas Shore. In addition to the poem, two business advertisements have been kept in the family in America for generations. They show Alfred Shore as a cabinetmaker and furniture restorer. One of them shows his business in Warminster, Wiltshire, England. The other shows his business in Burlington, Iowa. Here are the images:
 Alfred Shore (England): Front Back
 Alfred Shore (America): Image
After finding these items, it was possible to search immigration and shipping records for his name. Now we have a ship's passenger list showing Alfred Shore sailing from Liverpool on the ship "Calhoun", arriving in New York on 18 May 1858. He is age 23; his occupation is "Carpenter". Here is one page from the passenger manifest, showing his name:
 Ship "Calhoun": Alfred Shore (Line 141)
The ship's complete passenger list, with all the details of the ship's passage, is shown below in the information for Alfred Shore.
We also find him in Chicago, Illinois in the 1860 U.S. Federal Census. His occupation is Upholsterer:
 1860 Census: Alfred Shore (Line 5)
Other Family Members
The reference to another relative in Albertus Shore's 1918 letter to his brother Jesse Shore (shown above) suggests that other Shore family members came to America.
15 Apr 2006
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