Her Name Was Kat

My mother, Kathleen Shope, was a direct descendant of the Shope Family dynasty. John George Shope was the first recorded Shope to come to America. He came on the ship The Loyal Judith on or around September 3, 1738. This German ancestor of the North Carolina Shope family settled in Lancaster County, Penn. Only two children are known from this union: John George, Jr. Born 3/13/1756 and Phillip Shope. They both married sisters-John to Sarah Gragg and Phillip to Elizabeth Gragg. There are more than eight thousand descendants from this dynasty, and my mother was one of them. She was always proud of her heritage.