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FIRST SHARES BANCORP, INC.

Exhibit 31.1

I, Jerry R. Engle, Chief Executive Officer, certify that:

1. I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-QSB of First Shares Bancorp, Inc.;

2. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a
material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements
made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not
misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in
this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition,
results of operations and cash flows of the small business issuer as of, and
for, the periods presented in this report;

4. The small business issuers other
certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining
disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e)
and 15d-15(e)) for the small business issuer and we have:



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| | (a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the small
business issuer, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known
to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period
in which this report is being prepared;                                       
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| | (c) Evaluated the effectiveness of the small business issuers
disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our
conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and
procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on
such evaluation; and                                                                                                                                  
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| | (d) Disclosed in this report any changes in the
small business issuers internal control over financial reporting that
occurred during the small business issuers most recent fiscal quarter
(the small business issuers fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an
annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to
materially affect, the small business issuers internal control over
financial reporting;

5. The small business issuers other certifying officer and I have disclosed,
based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial
reporting, to the small business issuers auditors and the audit committee of
the small business issuers board of directors (or persons performing the
equivalent functions):



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| | (a) All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design
or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are
reasonably likely to adversely affect the small business issuers
ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information;
and
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| | (b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
other employees who have a significant role in the small business
issuers internal control over financial reporting.                                                                                               

Date: August 14, 2003

/s/ Jerry R. Engle
Jerry R. Engle
President and Chief
Executive Officer