We did not know much about my Uncle Irving as the family lost contact with him for 35 years. There are two stories about how they lost contact. One was that there was a falling out between he and his mother and the other was just a mishap. But the main part was the same.... that he left to sea, he was in the Navy, and when he returned the family had moved with no forwarding address.
The good thing is how we found him again. My brother ordered a book called "The Shapleigh, Shapley, Shappley Families" by Brian Berry. In the back of the book was listed all the names and addresses of those still living at the time of the printing of the book. There were two Irving J Shapleys. My brother gave our Mother both phone numbers and she called the first one asking if he was the son of Benjamin Harrison Shapley, when he said yes, she told him she was his sister. This was around 1980. In April of 1981, Irving came out to California from Pennsylvania for a family reunion to meet all his family. There were about 30 immediate families consisting of siblings and their descendants. He came back out again in summer 1983 to the annual family reunion held at Irvine Park, Irvine, Orange, California. He passed away the following December of prostate cancer.
He had two estranged sons of which he never saw after his divorce from his wife. It is unknown if he married again. In November 2012, I was sent a message by a person who was looking for his real father. He did his research and added two and two and found me through Find-a-Grave. Although he was not the son of Irving James Shapley, his older two brothers were. I will not put their names here for private reasons. But now the family knows who they are and I have a photo of them.
******** ©Copyrights *******
These are my family photos that I have in my possession by bequeathment in will or I photographed them (where applicable). You may NOT re-post them on any other web site nor publish them without my written permission. You may, however, copy them for your own personal, offline, home use ONLY. The tombstone photos of the originators are also included with these copyrights.
The good thing is how we found him again. My brother ordered a book called "The Shapleigh, Shapley, Shappley Families" by Brian Berry. In the back of the book was listed all the names and addresses of those still living at the time of the printing of the book. There were two Irving J Shapleys. My brother gave our Mother both phone numbers and she called the first one asking if he was the son of Benjamin Harrison Shapley, when he said yes, she told him she was his sister. This was around 1980. In April of 1981, Irving came out to California from Pennsylvania for a family reunion to meet all his family. There were about 30 immediate families consisting of siblings and their descendants. He came back out again in summer 1983 to the annual family reunion held at Irvine Park, Irvine, Orange, California. He passed away the following December of prostate cancer.
He had two estranged sons of which he never saw after his divorce from his wife. It is unknown if he married again. In November 2012, I was sent a message by a person who was looking for his real father. He did his research and added two and two and found me through Find-a-Grave. Although he was not the son of Irving James Shapley, his older two brothers were. I will not put their names here for private reasons. But now the family knows who they are and I have a photo of them.
******** ©Copyrights *******
These are my family photos that I have in my possession by bequeathment in will or I photographed them (where applicable). You may NOT re-post them on any other web site nor publish them without my written permission. You may, however, copy them for your own personal, offline, home use ONLY. The tombstone photos of the originators are also included with these copyrights.
We did not know much about my Uncle Irving as the family lost contact with him for 35 years. There are two stories about how they lost contact. One was that there was a falling out between he and his mother and the other was just a mishap. But the main part was the same.... that he left to sea, he was in the Navy, and when he returned the family had moved with no forwarding address.
The good thing is how we found him again. My brother ordered a book called "The Shapleigh, Shapley, Shappley Families" by Brian Berry. In the back of the book was listed all the names and addresses of those still living at the time of the printing of the book. There were two Irving J Shapleys. My brother gave our Mother both phone numbers and she called the first one asking if he was the son of Benjamin Harrison Shapley, when he said yes, she told him she was his sister. This was around 1980. In April of 1981, Irving came out to California from Pennsylvania for a family reunion to meet all his family. There were about 30 immediate families consisting of siblings and their descendants. He came back out again in summer 1983 to the annual family reunion held at Irvine Park, Irvine, Orange, California. He passed away the following December of prostate cancer.
He had two estranged sons of which he never saw after his divorce from his wife. It is unknown if he married again. In November 2012, I was sent a message by a person who was looking for his real father. He did his research and added two and two and found me through Find-a-Grave. Although he was not the son of Irving James Shapley, his older two brothers were. I will not put their names here for private reasons. But now the family knows who they are and I have a photo of them.
******** ©Copyrights *******
These are my family photos that I have in my possession by bequeathment in will or I photographed them (where applicable). You may NOT re-post them on any other web site nor publish them without my written permission. You may, however, copy them for your own personal, offline, home use ONLY. The tombstone photos of the originators are also included with these copyrights.
The good thing is how we found him again. My brother ordered a book called "The Shapleigh, Shapley, Shappley Families" by Brian Berry. In the back of the book was listed all the names and addresses of those still living at the time of the printing of the book. There were two Irving J Shapleys. My brother gave our Mother both phone numbers and she called the first one asking if he was the son of Benjamin Harrison Shapley, when he said yes, she told him she was his sister. This was around 1980. In April of 1981, Irving came out to California from Pennsylvania for a family reunion to meet all his family. There were about 30 immediate families consisting of siblings and their descendants. He came back out again in summer 1983 to the annual family reunion held at Irvine Park, Irvine, Orange, California. He passed away the following December of prostate cancer.
He had two estranged sons of which he never saw after his divorce from his wife. It is unknown if he married again. In November 2012, I was sent a message by a person who was looking for his real father. He did his research and added two and two and found me through Find-a-Grave. Although he was not the son of Irving James Shapley, his older two brothers were. I will not put their names here for private reasons. But now the family knows who they are and I have a photo of them.
******** ©Copyrights *******
These are my family photos that I have in my possession by bequeathment in will or I photographed them (where applicable). You may NOT re-post them on any other web site nor publish them without my written permission. You may, however, copy them for your own personal, offline, home use ONLY. The tombstone photos of the originators are also included with these copyrights.
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