Our Family Gallery

  The Shore Family

John Shore is our earliest Shore family relative known to have come to America, in 1832.

Our Family Gallery has a separate page for John Shore and his wife Mary Ann (Brandenburg) Shore, and their children.

This page is about John Shore's other relatives, some who came to America and others who remained in England.

John Shore had a brother and sister-in-law in England:  Thomas and Mary (Haines) Shore.  They had nine children.

We have letters in our family written from Thomas and Mary Shore, and we have found public records for them.  These are shown on their section of this page.

An 1843 letter from Thomas and Mary Shore mentions that John and Thomas had a sister.  No more information about her has been found yet.

John Shore to America

Family records show that John Shore came to America in 1832.

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 letter indicates that John Shore left England in April of 1832.  (It is shown below on this page.)

A U.S. Government publication, "Index to Records of Aliens' Declarations" shows that John Shore filed his Declaration of Intent for U.S. citizenship at the Court of Quarter Sessions in Philadelphia, on 6 October 1834.  Typically in those times, the Declaration was filed about two years after the entry into the U.S.

He was a skilled cabinet-maker.  Where he lived and how he earned his living in those early days after landing in Philadelphia, we do not know.  We have not found any family records for those years.

Next in our family records:  two years later on 4 November 1836, John Shore wrote a poem and signed it at Cats Creek, Ohio.  In the four years from April 1832 when he arrived at Philadelphia, to November 1836 when he wrote the poem, he had come to a boat landing on the Ohio River.  That was a fresh new area where adventurous people traveled into the expanding United States (Ohio was the 'northwest' of the country).

Just fifteen months after writing the poem, John Shore married Mary Ann Brandenburg in Erie County, Ohio on 14 February 1838 (Valentine's Day).  They had four children.  Three survived to adulthood.

In November 1836 they were 150 miles apart.  In February 1838 they were married.  How they met, how and where they came to know each other, are not recorded in our family.

All of our family today is descended from their marriage.

Who Else Came to America?

We have records showing that John Shore's nephew Alfred Thomas Shore came to America in 1858.  He began a furniture and upholstering business, but the country was heading toward its Civil War.  He returned to England in 1864-1865.  Details are shown below in his section of this page.

Items found in our family raise the possibility that other Shore family members might have come to America:

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 the family can 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 empty envelopes are in our family, addressed to John Shore's family in Illinois.  One is postmarked 1 October 1857 from Warminster, England.  Others are postmarked from New York and Illinois.  They all have the same handwriting.  The envelopes are empty; whatever their contents were is not known.

The U.S. postmarks show a day and month, but do not show the year of mailing.  Those series of U.S. postage stamps were issued from 1857 to 1861.  We do not know where the letters were written.

Letters with U.S. postmarks do not prove that the person who wrote them was living in the U.S.  Sometimes a letter written in England was handed to someone who would be sailing to America, and the letter was mailed after arrival.

...  Example:  Read the 1843 letter above.

Here are the envelopes.  We do not know what they contained:

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

  Thomas and Mary (Haines) Shore

Thomas Shore is a brother of John Shore.  He was born about 1798 and married Mary Haines, born about 1796.

Thomas and Mary were both born in Warminster, Wiltshire County, England.  We do not have information about their parents or early lives.

They were married on 26 July 1819 at St Denys parish in Warminster.

Thomas and Mary had nine children:

• William Thomas (born 3 Oct 1821, baptized 20 May 1825, died 1857)
• John (c.1822)
• Henry and Louisa Sarah (twins, born c.1823)
• James (born 30 Oct 1827, baptized 16 Nov 1827)
• Samuel (born c.1831)
• Charles (born 29 May 1832, died 27 Dec 1845)
• Alfred Thomas (born c.1834)
• Mary Elizabeth (born c.1837)

These documents have been preserved in our family:

• William:  We have an 1850 letter from William, in military service in Ireland, to his uncle John Shore in America.  William Thomas Shore has a separate area on this page, below.


• Charles:  An 1849 letter from Mary Shore in England to her brother-in-law John Shore in America mentions that Charles died in 1845; he was 13 years of age.  The letter is shown below.


• Alfred:  Alfred came to America in 1858, setting up trade as a furniture maker and upholsterer.  We have a letter from him.  Alfred Thomas Shore has a separate area on this page, below.

Family Life

Thomas Shore was a Cabinet Maker and Upholsterer, moving his family, home and shop from Shaftesbury in Dorset County, to Frome in Somerset County, and then to Trowbridge and Westbury in Wiltshire County.

Their son Henry was baptized 4 May 1823 at Trinity Parish in Shaston, Dorset County.

For some reason Henry's twin sister Louisa Sarah was not baptized at that time.

Their daughter Louisa Sarah and son William Thomas were baptized together 20 May 1825 at St. Peter Parish in Shaston, Dorset.  ('Shaston' is another name for Shaftesbury.  It is less than 15 miles from Westbury in Wiltshire County.)

Their son James was baptized 16 November 1827 at the Independent Congregational Church in Warminster, Wiltshire County.

Letters of 1843, 1849 and 1850 written to John and Mary Ann Shore in America from Thomas and Mary Shore in England describe the family's life there.  They mention many of the Shore family's names and give news about the family.

The letters describe a difficult life for the family, with crops failing and business suffering.  They ask for help in coming to America.

In 1857 their son William Thomas, their firstborn, died at age 36; he was buried at Westbury on 21 December 1857.  Details of his life are shown on this page.

In 1858 Thomas Shore moved his family from their home and shop in the Westbury Market Place.  He has taken them to live temporarily in a public house and has entered a bankruptcy hearing.  By 1860 he has returned his family to their home and shop, and has turned the business over to his son James.  James is now shown in the census records as head of the household, caring for his father and mother.  Details of James' life are shown on this page.

In 1858 their son Alfred Thomas Shore came to America.  He returned to England about 1864-1865.  Details of his life are shown on this page.

Census Records and Photographs

U.K. Census records show Thomas and Mary Shore's family in the years 1841 to 1871:

U.K. Census Records    Zoom to see them at full size.

Here are modern photographs showing the family's home and shop where they had lived in 1861 and 1871:

Westbury Photographs    Zoom to see them up close.

Here are two photographs showing the Westbury Marketplace.  One is old (date unknown); the other is modern.  The Shore family's home and shop are just to the right of the Town Hall near the center of each photo:

Westbury Marketplace    Zoom to see them up close.

Here is a 1909 view of the marketplace.  The family no longer lived there in 1909.

Postcard:  Front   Back

Here is another view from about 1950.

Photograph:  Marketplace

Below are images from the life of Thomas and Mary Shore.  Their descendants in England might have records, letters, and photographs from our family in America.

They are our Family.
Please Help us to learn about them.

1843 Letter to John Shore Page  1  2  3  4 Text	1849 Letter to John Shore Page  1  2  3  4 Text	1850 Letter to John Shore Page  1  2  3  4 Text	Please help.	Please help.
Marriage and First Child	4 May 1823 Henry Baptism (1)	4 May 1823 Henry Baptism (2)	20 May 1825 William and Sarah Baptism (1)	20 May 1825 William and Sarah Baptism (2)
20 May 1825 William and Sarah Baptism (3)	16 Nov 1827 James Baptism	1858 London Gazette 1   2   3	1869 Thomas Shore Death Record	1869 Thomas Shore Burial Record

  William Thomas Shore (John Shore's Nephew)

Two men in our family have the same name:  William Thomas Shore.

• (1)  William Thomas Shore (1821-1857):  John Shore's nephew.  He is the son of John's brother Thomas Shore and Mary Shore.


• (2)  William Thomas Shore (1846-1898):  John Shore's son.  Our family is descended from his marriage to Ianthe Talbott, and they have their own page in our Family Gallery.

This part of our Family Gallery is about (1) William Thomas Shore, John Shore's nephew.

He was born 3 Oct 1821 and baptised 20 May 1825.

William Thomas Shore (1821-1857) was a British soldier.

An 1843 letter written by his mother mentions that he had joined the 62nd Regiment of Wiltshire Militia Foot, and had served in "Bengal in the East Indies".  Her letter is reproduced above on this page.

The Regiment:   The '62nd Regiment of Foot' fought in ferocious battles.  In India it sustained heavy losses in 1845 at Ferozeshah.  In 1848 It was reassigned to Ireland, where William wrote a letter in 1850 to his uncle and aunt in America.  The regiment fought also in the Crimea in 1853-1856, taking heavy casualties in 1854 at Sevastopol.

For more information about the regiment's history, search for terms like "62nd Regiment of Foot", "Battle of Ferozeshah", "Crimean War", and "Siege of Sevastopol".

On 29 June 1850, William wrote a letter to his uncle and aunt John and Mary Ann Shore in America.  He was a British soldier on duty at Mullingar, County Meath, Ireland.  It is a poignant description of the battles and his wounds (he had been wounded three times by "shots" in one battle and received a medal).

In his 1850 letter he mentions that he still has 10 more years to serve in his military service.  He died 7 years later.  We do not know whether his death was from a combat wound or from an illness.

His regiment also served in Canada.  A record titled "Royal Hospital Chelsea Pensioner Registers of Soldiers Who Served in Canada 1743-1882" shows he received a medical pension on 24 March 1857.

William Thomas Shore died in 1857, at age 36.  He was buried on 21 December 1857 at Westbury, Wiltshire, England.

Please Help us to learn about our family.

1850 Letter to John Shore Page  1  2  3  4 Text

Please help.

Please help.

1857 William Thomas Shore Hospital Zoom

1857 William Thomas Shore Death Zoom

  James Shore (John Shore's Nephew)

James Shore was born 30 Oct 1827 and baptized 16 Nov 1827.  He headed the family's cabinet making business from about 1860.

His parents Thomas and Mary Shore lived with him until their deaths.  Several of his sisters also lived in the home and worked in the family's shop.

The 1881 census shows him living at 31 Campden Street, London.  He is unmarried.  His occupation is "Cabinet Maker".  His sister Sarah lives with him, and her occupation is "Mantle Maker".

Voter registrations show him living at the same address in London.

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1861 James Head of Family Westbury

1871 James in Westbury

1881 James in London

Voter Registrations 1  2  3

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  Samuel Shore (John Shore's Nephew)

Samuel Shore continued the family's tradition of cabinet making.  He married Elizabeth (maiden name unknown), and they had six children.

The 1911 census shows Samuel and Elizabeth living at 27 Prospect Place, Trowbridge, Wiltshire, where they had lived for at least 30 years.  He is 81, and Elizabeth is 83.  His occupation is "Retired Cabinet-maker".  Their daughter Ada Maria is living with them.

Please Help us to learn about our family.

1861 Samuel in Bristol	1871 Samuel in Trowbridge	1881 Samuel in Trowbridge	1891 Samuel in Trowbridge	1901 Samuel in Trowbridge
1911 Samuel in Trowbridge	Please help.	Please help.	Please help.	Please help.

  Alfred Thomas Shore (John Shore's Nephew)

The manifest for the ship "Calhoun" shows Alfred Shore as a passenger.  The ship sailed from Liverpool, docking at New York on 18 May 1858.

The complete passenger list is shown in the images below.  She carried 466 passengers:  2 "Cabin Passengers", and 464 passengers on "Upper Deck" and "Lower Deck".  Two passengers died while on the voyage.

Alfred Shore is passenger 141, on page 3.  He is 23 years old; his occupation is "Carpenter".

Two business advertisements show Alfred Thomas Shore as a cabinetmaker, furniture maker, and furniture restorer.  One advertisement shows his business in Warminster, Wiltshire, England.  The other shows his business in Burlington, Iowa.  The images are shown below.

The 1860 U.S. Federal Census shows Alfred Shore living in Chicago.  He is 25 years of age; his occupation is 'Upholsterer'.

A letter and a poem ("The Evergreen") are written from Alfred Thomas Shore to his cousin, John Shore's daughter Louisa Cedelia Shore.  The poem describes that tree as a symbol of love.

The fact that Alfred was living in Chicago after his arrival in America may explain the envelopes in our family that were addressed to our Shore family from there.  (The envelopes are shown higher up on this page.)

Note:  Another Alfred Shore lived in Iowa during the same years as our family's Alfred Shore.  He is not our family member:  the name is a coincidence.

Information is provided here to help future researchers to avoid a 'blind alley' when searching for our family.  The person has the same name, but is not our relative.  Alfred Shore -- of Another Family

Alfred Shore returned to England in about 1864-1865.  America was in its Civil War (1861-1865).  If Alfred had not yet received his citizenship, he could not serve.  With the country at war, homes and families were severely disrupted.  Earning a living as a furniture maker and woodcarver would have become difficult.

Records from England, from 1866 and later, show him married and rearing a family.  Two wives are identified in the records.

The 1871 UK Census shows Alfred Shore married to "Julia A." (maiden name unknown), of Ireland.  The census shows three children.  Birth records show the children:  Alfred E. (born 1866), William H. (1868), and Frederick (1869).

Curiously, an 1870 marriage record (8 December 1870) shows Alfred Shore being married on that date to "Marie Louise Ullrich", of Germany.  He is shown as a 'Bachelor', not 'Widower'.

Census records from 1881 onward show Alfred and Marie married and having three children.  Birth records show the children:  Louisa M. (born 1871), Arthur P. (1872), and Frank C. (1875).

The eldest child of his earlier marriage (Alfred E., born 1866) is living with them.

The youngest two children of that marriage (born 1868 and 1869) are no longer shown.  It is not known what became of Julia A and the youngest two of their children.

As the children grew, all continued in the family tradition of woodcarving, cabinet and furniture making, and upholstery.  In the 1911 UK Census, Alfred's profession is listed as "Dealer in Antique Furniture".

Today's descendants of Alfred Shore in England might have letters, photographs and records of his stay in America, as well as items received from our family.

Please Help us to learn about our family.

18 May 1858 Ship "Calhoun" Passengers Page  1 2  3 4   5   6 7   8   9	Business Advertisement (England) Front  Back	Business Advertisement (America) Image	1860 US Federal Census	Poem and Letter to Louisa Cedelia Shore Front  Back Text
Return to England
1871 Alfred and Julia in Kensington	1881 Alfred and Marie in Long Ditton	1891 Alfred and Marie in Bath	1901 Alfred and Marie in Westminster	1911 Alfred and Marie in Buckingham
1866 Alfred Edwin Shore Birth	1868 William Shore Birth	1869 Frederick Shore Birth	Please help.	1901-1911 London Residence
1870 Marriage to Marie	1871 Louisa M. Shore Birth	1872 Arthur P. Shore Birth	1875 Frank C. Shore Birth	1874 Louisa and Arthur Baptism

Alfred Edwin Shore (born 1866) married Jessie Jane Grantham.  Two of their sons, Alfred George Shore and William Valentine Shore served in the Hampshire Regiment during World War I.

William (soldier ID 200066) survived the war.

Alfred (soldier ID 200022) was killed in battle against the Ottoman Empire forces in Mesopotamia.  He is interred at the Basrah Memorial in Iraq.

His memorial reads:

In Memory of Company Quartermaster Serjeant Alfred George Shore
200022, 1st/4th Bn., Hampshire Regiment
Birth May 1888 • Winchester, Hampshire, England
Death 31 July 1916 • Mesopotamia

Here is a photograph of the Memorial.