Sophia Shepherd

Born: 1807 Breckinridge Co., KY

Married 1st: 11 Jan 1824  Perry Co., IN

Husband 1st: William S Blanchard b. Bet 1800 - 1810        d. Abt. 1828 Vermillion Co., IN                                                           probate record Aug/1837  Perry Co., IN (see below)

Probate Order Bk 1 Vermillion Co., IN Hiram Shepard, brother to Benjamin Sheaprd and Sophia Shepard Blanchard is Administrator to an "insolvent Estate."

Married 2nd: 28 June 1832  Vermillion Co., IN

Husband 2nd:

William Doss

FATHER

John Shepherd

MOTHER

Lucretia Patterson 

CHILDREN with WILLIAM BLANCHARD

1. Amy Blanchard  b. Abt 1827

2. John D. Blanchard  b. 08 Jan 1828

3. Lucretia Blanchard b. Perry Co., IN

CHILDREN with WILLIAM DOSS

1. Benjamin Doss   b. 1833

2. Nancy Doss  b. 1835

3. Mary Doss  b. 1836

4. Loona Doss  b. 1842

5. Anna Doss  b. 1845

A photograph of Lucretia Blanchard Sexton ended up in the photo album belonging in Grace Shepard.  The album had been filled with many Shepard relatives by Grace's grandmother, Eliza Johnson Shepard   It was through this photograph that we determined that Benjamin Shepard was the son of John Shepard. 

Sophia was the youngest of the Shepherd children. Her father died when she was about one or two.  In 1815 when Sophia would have been about eight, her mother Lucretia Patterson Shepherd married James G. Jones in Perry Co., IN.  Sophia and her brother Ben went with their mother to Indiana.  Then in 1824 Sophia married William Blanchard in Perry Co., IN.  She had at least three children between then and 1828.  She appears to have been living with her three children and her brother Ben Shepherd in 1830 in Vermillion Co., IN  William Blanchard is not in any census. Sophia remarried in Vermillion Co., IN in 1832 to William Doss and had five more children.

The Perry Co., IN Probate Record Abstracts list the following"

16 Aug 1837 "Zophar Blanchard, gdn minor heirs of William Blanchard; Amy, Lucretia and John - under 14 yrs."
17 Aug 1837 "Jonathan Noyes, gdn minor heir of Amy Noyes (alias Amy Blanchard). William Noyes, sole heir of May who was heir of William Blanchard. (C-187. 16 Nov 1837: Catherine, widow of Wm. Blanchard.) (Perry County License - 17 Oct 1817: Jonathan Noyes and Amy Blanchard.)

Catherine, widow of Wm Blanchard is her mother-in-law, the mother of her first husband, William Blanchard.  Catherine Blanchard is listed as head of household in Perry Co., IN in the 1820, 1830, 1840 and 1850 census.  It appears she was a widow before 1820.  Sophia remarried in 1832 well before the settling of this estate for William Blanchard. 

See biographical note on her son-in-law, Abel Sexton, regarding her move to Vermillion County.