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Shore Family, Originating from Petersburg, Virginia Updated March 25, 2005

This Shore Family originated with John Shore, M.D. (about 1725-1804), who emigrated from England (probably from the Sheffield area of southern Yorkshire) to Hanover County Virginia in the mid 1700s. He married Elizabeth Smith, daughter of John Smith and Sarah Massie. Dr. and Elizabeth Shore lived near the old town of Newcastle, on an estate called "Clifton." The couple had a total of nine children. Little is known about five of those children: Mary, Joseph, William, Townsend and Samuel. More is known about the remaining four children, Thomas, Sarah, John Shore, Jr. and Henry. Thomas became a noted merchant in Petersburg, Virginia and built and estate he called Violet Bank. Sarah married Foster Webb of New Kent County and had numerous children including Condrad and Major John Shore Webb. Henry Smith Shore, Esq. (1768-1832) settled in Richmond and married Martha Bickerton Winston. John Shore Jr., M.D. (1756-1811) moved to Petersburg, Va. and married Anne Bolling, daughter of Robert Bolling III. This Dr. Shore was Mayor and Controller of the Port of Petersburg at various times. At the request of Pres.-elect Thomas Jefferson, he helped successfully test and promote in America use of the experimental process of smallpox vaccination developed by Dr. Jenner of England. Several of Dr. John Shore Jr.'s sons -- William Shore, Robert Shore, and Henry "Edwin" Shore -- became medical Drs. and relocated, as did their father later on, to Nottoway County, Va. His second son Thomas (1791-1848) married Mary Harriott Bolling (his second cousin), daughter of Alexander Bolling Jr. and Mary Pryor. Thomas was appointed Postmaster of Petersburg. Postmaster Thomas' oldest son, John Shore III, M.D. (1819-1905), relocated with his wife, parents, and several younger siblings, to St. Louis, Missouri in 1842, where he helped found the St. Louis Board of Health and was a city council member for a time. He first married Martha Peyton Branch and, after her death, married Theodosia Harrison Powell, originally of Lexington, Kentucky. (Family members say that Theodosia was actually a Harrison but was adopted by the Powells). Dr. John Shore III's only surviving son, Robert Edwin "Lee" Shore I (by Theodosia) married Nannie North Reynolds, Daughter of John W. Reynolds and Amanda W. Barnes, in 1888. "Lee" Shore, a railroad supervisor, relocated his family to Idaho in about 1904, and to Seattle a couple of years later. R.E. Lee & Nannie Reynolds Shore had four children; John "Jack", Robert E. L. Jr., Elmer and Nancy "Nan". Most of the many descendants of Lee and Nannie Reynolds Shore still live in the Northwest. Robert Jr. married Irma Gertrude Cory (originally of Lebanon, Indiana and daughter of Percy Gursh Cory) after World War I, and relocated to Portland, Oregon. Their oldest child, Robert III (1921-1985), was my father. I am interested in hearing from those who may be of the other descendant lines from the immigrant Dr. John Shore, related maternal lines mentioned earlier, long-lost family members of my own line, or anyone with an interest in, or information about, this line of Shores. I am in contact with a number of distant cousins and researchers of the immigrant Dr. John Shore I's descendant lines and have a good deal of information that may be helpful to descendants and interested researchers. I am particularly interested in information about the immigrant Dr. John Shore of Clifton, especially his U.K. ancestry. I am also very interested in the circumstances of the adoption by the Powells of Theodosia Harrison Powell Shore and her Harrison ancestry. But even if this line of Shores is not of interest to you, be sure to check out the wide range of information available in the Shore Family Forum at http://genforum.familytreemaker.com/shore/

Robert L. Shore Honolulu, Hawaii United States rshore@hawaii.rr.com
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