The story of the Garland, Shavers, and Hubbard families begins in the rich but turbulent soil of DeKalb, Texas, and the surrounding region in the mid-1800s. Like so many Black families of that era, our ancestors carried surnames inherited from the slaveholders who once claimed ownership over their lives. But what those names could never contain was the extraordinary strength, faith, and determination that would define every generation that followed. From James and Ruth Garland who raised a remarkable family against the harshest of odds to the branches that grew into the Shavers and Hubbard lines, this family refused to be defined by the circumstances of its beginning.
In the decades following emancipation, our ancestors faced a world that placed every imaginable obstacle before them poverty, systemic injustice, and the constant threat of violence that shadowed Black life in the post-Reconstruction South. And yet, generation after generation, they rose. They filled classrooms as educators, served their country in uniform, argued justice in courtrooms, healed their communities as medical professionals, and built lasting institutions through their churches and civic leadership. Each achievement was not only a personal triumph it was an act of defiance and an inheritance passed forward to their children.
Today, as descendants gather in reunion, we celebrate more than a family tree. We celebrate a living testament to what is possible when a people refuse to surrender their dignity, their ambition, or their love for one another. The names on these pages Ruth, James Polk, Smithie, Emmaline, Iverson, Lorenzo, Zilphia, and so many more whose stories are woven just as deeply into our family tapestry are not just history. They are the foundation beneath every step we take today.