Today is a big day for me. Something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time, ever since I discovered Marie Shockey’s genealogy books in my Mom’s closet. I learned that my father’s side of the family migrated from Germany to the U.S. in September of 1739, arriving at Philadelphia Harbor on the Snow Molly.
Johan Christofel Schaake (sp) had lots of sons. They were farmers, mostly, fought in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, and my line, eventually, arrived in Oklahoma before it was a state. My great grandfather, John Wesley Shockey (the name apparently “Americanized”) had 14 kids, one of them my grandfather, Porter Dewey Shockey (great names back then. My maternal grandfather was Parker Alton Norton!)
I had heard of a town in Virginia called Shockeysville. It is about a 90 minute drive outside Washington, D.C. Today, we are driving out there to see. I’m weirdly excited. There’s a Methodist Church, a Facebook Page, and a page on Wikipedia. It’s not weird that there’s a Methodist Church. My great grandfather was named for John Wesley, the founder of the church.
More to come.
In case you were wondering . . .