Researching William Shear
Explore the detail of William Shear using the links below. We hope you find this information useful!
![]() | Did you know that in the 1881 UK census there were 147 people with the Shear surname? In that year Shear was ranked number 3432 for popularity in the UK. |

The name William means "resolute guardian" and is of German origin.
Records of William Shear on Ancestry
Ancestry is a major source of information if you are filling out the detail of William Shear in your family tree. With over 30 billion records and 100 million family trees to search, Ancestry is one of the key websites to visit to help you trace your family tree back in time. Free trials are normally available and are a good way to fill out a lot of your tree quickly.
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Ancestry.com Global records search results for William Shear. |
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Ancestry.com US records search results for William Shear. |
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Ancestry.co.uk UK records search results for William Shear. |
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Ancestry.ca Canadian records search results for William Shear. |
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Ancestry.com.au Australian records search results for William Shear. |
DNA
Sometimes you can run into a brick wall in your tree and you just don't have enough evidence to make that next step back in time. A DNA test can sometimes help to make a link to a particular family name if you find you share common DNA with people who have the same or similar surnames as each other. If you are lucky then you may get a match within a few generations and discover some Shear ancestors. Additionally, the modern DNA test can give you a breakdown of your ethnic mix - you may be surprised at the results!
Have you reached a brick wall in your Shear Tree?
Birth, Death and Marriage Records for William Shear and the Shear Family Tree
Birth, Death and Marriage records are often the best method of making the links to the Shear Genealogy that will form part of your family tree. Although records vary from country to country, they are normally the most formal record of a person's relations. From the sources listed below it will be possible to locate a birth record and, from that record, a birth certificate may be obtainable which is likely to list the names of the parents, therefore taking you back another generation. A marriage certificate may also list the names of the respective fathers of the bride and groom which may then help you to find them earlier in life on a census record enabling you to fill out more detail in the Shear family tree.
Search Parish Records for William Shear at Find My Past.
Explore for the UK registered births, marriages and deaths of William Shear using the FreeBMD database.
Study Genealogy Bank for William Shear records.
Explore MyHeritage for William Shear information.
Explore the LDS Database for records about William Shear.
Research the Shear surname using fold3 Military Archives and view images of original Shear Military records.
![]() | Did you know that there are currently 195 people with the Shear surname in the UK? Shear is now ranked number 3859 for popularity in the UK. |
Shear Family History Databases
Another way to build your tree quickly is to use the research other people have already done. This can help to confirm or refute your own deductions - however, be wary of taking this data at face value as other researchers may not have been as meticulous as you. Always try to back up deductions with some definitive sources rather than relying too heavily on others.
Explore the WikiTree database for user contributed records for William Shear.
Study MyTrees for information on the Shear family and people looking to contact living Shear relations.
Explore One Great Family for Shear records submitted by people who are already researching the Shear Family Tree.
Find William Shear from Ireland on findmypast.ie
Shear Forums
There are a number of forums which are dedicated to rearching particular surnames. These can be good places to share your findings and also to tap into the knowledge that others may already have. These can sometimes be a good way of finding living relations as these tend not to show up on the other sources of information for privacy reasons.
Research the Shear surname using Genealogy.com forums .
![]() | Did you know that there are currently 3038 people with the Shear surname in the USA? Shear is ranked number 156 for popularity in the USA. |
Miscellaneous Shear Databases
Search the Ellis Island Database for information on William Shear. This database contains over 25 million immigration records detailing passengers arriving in the United States of America.
Some Famous People called William Shear
William Shear
William Albert Shear (born 1942) is Trinkle Professor Emeritus at Hampden-Sydney College, Virginia. He is a spider and myriapod expert who has published more than 200 scientific articles primarily on harvestman and millipede taxonomy.
He was born in Coudersport, Pennsylvania, completed his undergraduate work at College of Wooster, masters at the University of New Mexico, and PhD at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University under the supervision of Herbert Walter Levi.
While at Harvard, Shear completed a revision of the millipede family Cleidogonidae and reclassification of the order Chordeumatida. He is an expert in Paleozoic arthropods, and has published several papers on fossil millipedes, centipedes, and spiders. A number of species are named after him, including Hypochilus sheari Platnick, 1987 and Brachoria sheari Marek, 2010.
Shear is a lifetime appointee as Senior Scientific Associate at the Virginia Museum of Natural History and is a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History and Museum of Comparative Zoology.
He lives in Farmville, Virginia, and is an avid iris gardener and Godan (fifth degree black belt) in Shōrin-ryū Shōrinkan traditional Okinawan karate.
Source: William Shear, Wikipedia, The Free EncyclopediaOther names that sound a bit like Shear
Family names can get corrupted over time, particularly where literacy was not as good. The following list contains some names that have similar sounds so you may want to also look at one or two of the more likely possibilites.
Saar Saer Sahara Sahr Sahre Sara Sarah Sare Sarow Sarr Sarra Sarre Sauer Saur Saura Sawer Sawrey Sawyer Sayer Sayre Scara Scarah Scare Scarr Scarrah Scarre Scarrow Schaar Schauer Scheer Scheier Scher Scherr Scherry Scheuer Scheyer Schier Schiro Schirru Schoer Schohier Schor Schora Schorah Schorr Schory Schrah Schrei Schuaer Schur Schura Schure Schurr Schuur Schweer Schwier Sciara Sciarra Scior Scohier Scorah Score Scorey Scurr Scurrah Scurrey Scurry Scury Sear Seary Seear Seer Seerey Seery Seher Sehr Serio Serr Serra Sery Sgro Shaer Share Shari Sharr Sharrah Sharrai Sharrow Sharry Shauer Shawyer Sheara Sheer Sheere Sher Shera Shere Sherr Sherrow Sherry Shewery Shewry Shier Shira Shirah Shire Shirey Shore Shorey Shorie Shorr Shory Shour Shower Shree Shroy Shry Shura Shurey Shury Shyer Shyre Sier Siere Sierra Sieur Sire Sirey Siria Sirr Skara Skarr Skirrow Skuhry Skurray Skurrie Skurry Skury Soar Soeiro Sor Sorah Sore Soreau Sorey Soria Soro Sorrie Sorro Sorrow Sory Sower Sowrah Sowray Sowrey Squair Squeri Squier Squire Squyer Sr Suero Sughrue Suhar Suhr Suire Sura Sureau Surr Surrah Sury Swar Sware Swayer Swier Swire Swor Swoyer Swyer Swyre Syer Syre Syrie Szura





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