(updated 11/10/2011)

The Main Dare-Sheppard Family Database now contains almost 118,500 names and includes large groups of these families:

Dare, Sheppard, Moore, Williams, Bates, DeVault, Adams, Allen, Ayars, Bacon, Bateman, Brown, Davis, DuBois, Elwell, Fithian, Friend, Hall, Harris, Hitchner, Johnson, Lippincott, Lore, Mulford,  Ogden, Page, Parvin, Powell, Reeves, Robbins, Sayre, Sharp, Smith, Stratton, Thompson, VanMeter, Westcott, & Wood families:

Please Note:  Since we are now tracking many family lines including those we have not yet connected to, the main database may include some persons not yet linked to me or you. 

***If you take advantage of all of our research, please do me the courtesy of contributing some data that is not yet in the database?     That is all I ask. Thanks!      Please share with your family? 

And corrections (with sources) are welcome!

One more footnote - because of recent availability of old documents on line, some folks have used old disproved data as if it was a "new" source, when it actually was mistaken and has been proven to be false.  Please be careful to compare older books to this database, since hundreds of researchers worked on this data over the last 88 years to make sure it was correct!  Books don't have the luxury of being able to be corrected.  This includes Dare books published in 1939, as well as 1994-2000 which had errors too (imagine that?  :)

A note about the long delay.  Converting 118,000 names from one program to another, generates a lot of garbage.  At the rate it is going, it will probably be mid-2012, before I will feel right about allowing database downloads.  There is just too much data cleanup that still needs to be done.  I apologize for the delay! 

Send me an email with any specific questions you may have.  I will send descendant or ancestral trees by email, since they don't have as much garbage on the page!
  
Since GED format is more universal, and can be opened by a variety of family tree programs, I will continue to export Family Tree Databases to GED format for this page.  

So that I can publish directly to this web site, the database is now in LEGACY Family Tree format.  You can download a free copy of this software from www.LegacyFamilyTree.com

You will find that various Family Tree Software programs do not play well with each other, and it is getting worse each year.  Exporting to GED format also does weird things with text formatting, which thrills me no end, so please don't think I put all those spaces (and other corrupt data) in the GED file on purpose!  Even fact labels get changed when exporting to GED.  It is something I can't do anything about. 

I currently recommend the Legacy Family Tree for beginning researchers.  It's autocorrect and ability to find counties, really save a lot of time.  Only programmer type personalities seem to be able to manage "The Master Genealogist" program.  It has a HUGE and TIME CONSUMING learning curve.  Their motto seems to be, lets make this program as complex and difficult as possible!

Family Tree Maker (my once upon a time, long-time friend)

Frankly since Ancestry.com took over FTM, it has gradually become less and less user friendly, and I no longer recommend it for beginners.