Rachel Shepherd

     Rachel Shepherd married Bennett Bryan.¹ Her will was probated on 3 February 1791 in Sussex County, Delaware. Son James Bryan administered her estate.²
     
     RESEARCH NOTES: Regarding Rachel, i have more questions than answers. I have found nothing that proves she was a Shepherd, and it appears that it is an assumption by researchers based on the Christian name of her oldest son. That seems a reasonable guess considering that Shepherd is an unusual given name, but where is the proof that she was the mother of all Bennett's children? I am currently leaning toward the notion that Rachel was a second wife, and it was Bennett's first wife who was probably a Shepherd and mother of Charity, Comfort and Shepherd. The following, in my opinion, sets those three apart:

• Charity and Comfort, given names with moral significance, were popular among Puritans and Quakers. While the other children, excluding Shepherd, were given popular names, none had moral significance.


• A popular custom in New England and Virginia was the use of surnames as given names. This was probably a popular custom in Delaware as well, but if not, it could be a clue to origin of their forebears. The other sons were given common names.


• Bennett appears to have slighted Charity in his will. The most common scenario in such a case is that property, real or personal, had been previously settled on the slighted individual or individuals. A guess is that Charity was the oldest child, and that she inherited personal property from her mother that equaled the difference.


• In the case of a sole executor or administrator, the oldest son is most commonly named or chosen. Shepherd administered his father's estate; James administered his mother's.


• There appears to have been considerable tension between Shepherd and at least some of his younger brothers and sisters.


• When Bennett died in 1787, Comfort had eight or nine living children. Apparently none of her sisters were married in 1787, so Comfort was probably much older. At least three of the unmarried sisters were adults, however, but perhaps younger than would be expected had Rachel been the mother of all the children.


• Apparently Rachel Bryan, the daughter, was still unmarried in December 1791, and there is reasonable certainty that at least three children were younger. If she was the Rachel Brien who married William Michael on 14 February 1797 in Allegany County, Maryland, her marriage occurred some thirty years after her sister Comfort's marriage to Thomas Cordrey II.

Rachel Bryan was mentioned in her husband Bennett Bryan's will dated 28 October 1787 in Cedar Creek Hundred, Sussex County, Delaware. She shared equally in the land with sons Shepherd and Jonathan, her one-third to go to James when her interest ceased.¹