John Shakespeare, William's father, began life as a tenant farmer, what we would call a sharecropper. He raised crops for others' use. He had the good fortune to marry the daughter, Mary, of local landowner named Arden. The Arden farm, Wilmcote near Stratford, survives to this day. It may look somewhat ramshackle, but this two-story farmhouse, built about 500 years ago in the traditional "wattle-and-daub" architecture of the Tudor age, is solidly constructed. Besides owning an imposing house, John Shakespeare's in-laws were distant relatives of the powerful Arden family of the English nobility. As the customary dowry in the marriage settlement, John Shakespeare was given a piece of land. Overnight John had moved up the social ladder to join the establishment.

John promptly rented his property out to other tenant farmers and moved into town to establish himself as a merchant in meat products and animal hides. His operation probably wasn't anymore elaborate than a stall in front of his house, such as we might see on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley. But it was a beginning. He and Mary had two daughters who died in infancy. William was the third child and the first to survive to adulthood.

John developed his skills and gained a reputation as a maker of fine leather gloves. His commercial success led to his being selected as a city official in Stratford. He rose through the ranks to become the mayor. (Stratford at this time had only about two hundred buildings.) Interestingly one of his tasks as mayor was to hire a group of actors to come to town to perform on some special occasion. John Shakespeare still had to sign official papers with an "X," but he had become a big frog in a small pond.

William was born in April of 1564, the sixth year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. He was baptized on April 26, so since the custom at that time was to baptize when the baby was three days old, Shakespeare's birthday was probably April 23, the feast day of St. George, England's patron saint.