"This work 26 is a genealogy and history of the related families of John Van Meter, Thomas Shepherd and John Duke: settlers between 1730 and 1750 of the Northern Neck in the Valley of Virginia; conspicuous figures in the formative period, as their descendants have been in later developments, of Frederick and Berkeley Counties in what is now western Virginia."--Foreward.

This work is a genealogy and history of the related families of John Van Meter, Thomas Shepherd and John Duke, all of whom settled in the Northern Neck of Virginia between 1730 and 1750. The descendants of each played a prominent role in the settlement of

Excerpt from A Genealogy of the Duke-Shepherd-Van Metre Family: From Civil, Military, Church and Family Records and Documents "Pride in descent from men of the type of our early colonists, is held to be entirely consistent with our democratic institutions. They were the pioneer Americans, men who under great discouragements and with vast labor, planted strong and deep the foundations of our commonwealths. It is worth while to make this fact plain. . . . hence, the spirit of preserving the memory of the great though humbly worked-out deeds of our ancestors in the gloomy obscurities of the colonics in their forest days." Boston Transcript. "The very base of family feeling is respect for the past, for the best possessions of a family are its common memories. . . . We must learn again to value our domestic traditions. A precious care has preserved certain monuments of the past. So antique dress, provincial dialects, old folk-songs, have found appreciative hands to gather them up before they should disappear from the face of the earth. What a good deed to guard these crumbs of a great past - these vestiges of the souls of our ancestors I Let us do the same for our family traditions, save and guard as much as possible of the patriarchal - whatever its form." From Rev. Chas. Wagner's Simple Life. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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This volume covers the 3rd Generation of Descendants, 2nd Generation of Descendants, 1st Generation of Descendants, Generation of Peers, and the 1st Generation of Ancestors. Larry has been working on his genealogy for several years and has amassed a substantial amount of information about the Duke Family of Group 2. His collection consists of paper documents, electronic documents, information stored in online databases, and a plethora of information gathered from family members he met online while on his quest for the truth about his family. Jennifer Ann Hatfield, a professional genealogist with 30 years of experience, is credited with igniting Larry's interest in family history and research. After years of arduous work, his family history was finally ready to be released into the public domain. "I believe our gateway ancestor to be William Ducke (Duke), who was born in 1620 in England," writes the author. William most likely came from Devonshire, England, and landed in Warrosquyouke County, Virginia (later known as Isle of Wight County), according to historians. William was sponsored by businessman Justinian Cooper, who sponsored and received land grants for dozens of immigrants to IOW Virginia during the colony's early history. In 1637, William is believed to have made the actual voyage on "The George." In Isle of Wight County, near the Old Cypress Swamp, William Ducke established his home. John Duke, who was born in 1640, was the first group 2 ancestor to be born in colonial America. He married Elizabeth King, and the Duke line of Group 2 was officially "born."

Vol 1 905p Vol 2 961p.