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The Wiley Family Reunion Trip to Georgia.
Our family oral history began with our fraternal grandparents;
William Joseph Shepherd, and Mary Lou (Wiley) Martin, who told many stories about their lives growing up in rural, Georgia. Grandfather was born in 1880, in a house built on the Shepherd's Plantation Quarters, located in Florence Township, Stewart County, Georgia. The location was on the Northeast side, to right on Shepherd's Road. Grandmother was born to parents, Lucy Wiley, who married Clark Martin. She was the first child, born in the state of Alabama, raised in Omaha, Georgia. The family was inspired by our grandmother's brother, Uncle Joe Martin to come to the annual Wiley Family reunion, on July 4th, 1992. This was our first serious pursuit of our ancestors. Our sister Barbara organized our trip. My tape recorder was ready for interviews. To honor g-grandmother Lucy Wiley (whom I was told by my grandparents was given the Lucy) was very personal to me.
We arrived in Atlanta, Georgia where we spent two days site-seeing. The Atlanta tour included all things MLK. We also viewed (at the Westfield, Muesum), an enactment of the "Battle of Shepherd's Plantation, 1836". On the second of July, we drove to Columbus, Georgia, stayed at the Holiday Inn. Columbus, we remembered is where our grandfather found work (at age 16), at a Turpentine factory, and part-time of Colonel William Shepherd and his mother Anne.
A Picnic was held at the Florence Arena Park. Family members represented from Flordia, Lumpkin, Columbua, and Savannah, Georgia, New York, and Iowa.
The highlight of our trip was the meeting of the two oldest living descendants, Beatrice Wiley, and Patrick Brook Shepherd.
The family drove to Lumpkin, Georgia for an arranged trip to visit Patrick and his wife Annie (Daniels) Shepherd. Grandfather's father, Prince Shepherd (1857), was the older brother of Patrick's father, Patrick Shepherd, Sr. (b. 1859).
Grandfather's mother was Frances (Evans) Jackson, who married Prince her first husband. According to Grandfather, he and his "whole" younger brother Everette Shepherd was the only children born to his mother Frances, who married a second time to William John Marshall who was born in Georgia.
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