John Shepherd

AMERICA THE GREAT MELTING POT

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Direct descendant is highlighted in red

John Shepherd

see FAMILY TREE

Born: Abt. 1768 Menallen, Adams, PA

Marriage 29 Feb 1795 possibly in Missouri

Died: Abt. Jan 1810 Breckinridge Co., KY

FATHER

Solomon Shepherd

MOTHER

Margaret Blackburn

WIFE

Lucretia Patterson

CHILDREN

1. Hiram Shepherd
    b. Abt. 1796 New Madrid, MO
    m. 7 Aug 1817 to Linda Candice (Dicey) Markham in Breckinridge Co, KY
    d. After 1868 Arkansas

2. Solomon Shepherd
     b. 01 Jan 1800 Breckinridge Co., KY
    m. 5 Jan 1821 to Nancy Pate in Breckinridge Co., KY
    m. 31 May 1847 to Pleasant Smith in Audain Co MO
    d. 17 Aug 1866 Rall Co., MO

3. John Shepherd
    b. 25 Nov 1802 Breckinridge Co., KY
    m. Jul 1831 to Tennessee McComas in Putnam, IL
    d. 14 Mar 1883 Union Hardin, IA

4. Sophia Shepherd
    b. 1807 Breckinridge Co., KY
    m. 11 Jan 1824 to William E Blanchard in Perry, IN
    m. 28 Jun 1832 to William Doss in Vermillion Co., IN
    d. May 1863 Vermillion Co., IN

5. Benning (Ben) Shepherd
    b. 29 Oct 1808 Breckinridge Co., KY
    m. 28 Jul 1835 to Eliza Johnson in Vermillion Co., IN
    d. 11 Apr 1897 Vermillion Co., IN

John Shepherd
by Susan Brooke
Nov 2020

John was born about 1768 in Menallen, PA to Irish Quaker parents.  Solomon Shepherd and his wife Margaret along with their nine children were mentioned several times in the Quaker records.  The children were always listed in the same order with Jane as the oldest and John as the oldest son, giving us the idea he was born about 1768.  Another sister Rebecca had been  disowned and therefore not listed. In 1783 when John was fifteen, the family transferred to the Westland Meeting which was in Washington County, PA. (1) Their certificates were held at the Hopewell Meeting but finally received at Westland in 1787.
John was a young man by then and probably involved with the defense of the families in that area.  In 1784 Pennsylvania had forced the New York Iroquois to give up their claims in the area, but some continued to attack the white settlers along the western border of the state.  We also know he was involved with a woman for at least two years because in 1790 when he was about twenty-two he was disowned from the Quaker Meeting at Redstone for "fornication."  The woman involved had left town by the time of the formal complaints. (2)
So, John was twenty-two and disowned from the Quaker church.  His older sister Rebecca had already been disowned in 1783 for marrying out of unity.  Maybe the family was not too stunned by his outing.  In the next few years all of his siblings were also disowned from the church for varying reasons.
In 1790 there is also a record of he and his father and brother Solomon putting down money on lots in Fredericktown, PA.  However, John did not follow through on developing that land.   Instead, he left the area and joined the rangers in Belpre, Ohio.  Only his brother Solomon was in Fredericktown in the 1791 tax lists.
In Belpre John moved into house # 12 where he lived with Benjamin Patterson and his family and others.  He earned five shillings a day or about .84 cents a day. He and the other rangers covered about 30 miles every day looking for rogue Indians. (3) One of his other roommates was Benoni Hurlburt who was killed by the Indians in 1791.  There was also an outbreak of smallpox and one of Benjamin Patterson's sons died.
It was while working as a ranger that he met Lucretia Patterson, daughter of Benjamin Patterson.  She was about thirteen when he moved into the cabin.  John and his future father-in-law served as rangers for at least three years.  But then they moved west.  We know they were in New Madrid, Missouri by 1795 when John Shepherd and Lucretia Patterson married.  Their marriage was recorded in a bible and then recorded in a book by Margaret Smith. (4) Their first son Hiram was born in Missouri.
We don't know how long they stayed in Missouri.  However, by 1800 John Shepherd was paying taxes in Breckinridge County, KY. and he signed a bartered loan which later turned up in his estate, preserving his signature. (5) John Shepherd died about January 1810 when he was about forty-one. Listed in the estate inventory were a bible and other books.  His wife Lucretia was paid for the boarding of two of the infants of John Shepherd.  "1st One year & three months old (Benning) for one year & six months at 50 cents per week." (6) It appears Lucretia was being paid for the one year and three months since the death of her husband.

Sources

1. US Quaker Meeting Records 1681-1935 US Quaker Meeting Records 1681-1935 Swarthmore College; Swarthmore, Pennsylvania; Minutes, 1780-1835; Collection; Baltimore Yearly Meeting Minutes; call Number: RG/B/M 461 2.1

2. Westland Monthly Men's Meeting 1785-1811, Box -48, pg. 112 as found in the collections of Friends Historical Library Swarthmore College "Redstone preparative Meeting complains of John Shepherd, for neglecting the attendance of our Religious Meetings, he likewise having for about two years been charged with committing Fornication and refusing to go with the Overseers to the Woman until she was gone out of the Parts in order to clear himself, etc.

3. Williams History of Washington County, Ohio 1788-1881 pg. 510
4. Bible record from folder found in Breckinridge Library

(5) The bill of sale was found in the estate papers and has the signature of John Shepherd. DAted 18 Apr 1800 Breckinridge

(6) In the Inventories and Sales Bills. 1810-1812 Shepherd John Estate Breckinridge County Court, Shepherds John, Inventories, Appraisements & Sale Bills 1812 box 1 folder 5. John Shepherd's funeral cost was $11.00. A wall was built around Mr. Shepherd's grave for $7.00. The estate was small, only about $161.00 sterling. The inventory listed "bible and other books."

Observations on the parentage of John Shepherd

1. Two of his children, John and Ben Shepherd, say in the 1880 census that their father was born in PA

2. By 1773 his father, Solomon Shepherd, was living on the frontier of Pennsylvania.
Immigration of the Irish Quaker in PA 1682-1750 pg. 183 "In a journal of 1773 (by John Parish) were Joseph & Anthony Blackburn and Simon & James McGrew, living between the two Sewicklys; Solomon Shepherd and his brother John, located near Fort Ligonier, -- all from Menallen."

3. John Shepherd was disowned from the church in 1790, was in the process of acquiring land in Fredericktown, PA, but disappeared from the records in PA

4. The John Shepherd that showed up in Belpre, OH in 1791 had come from the "frontier"
History of Belpre, by C. E. Dickinson, 1920 pg. 41 "The men who served at Belpre, but not all at the same time, two or three being a proportion for each garrison, were Cornelius Delano, Joel Oaks, Benjamin Patterson, Joshua Flechart, Georghe Kerr, John Shepherd, and James Caldwell. The first two were New England men; the other five had ben brought up on the frontier."

5. His first son was named Hiram after the brother of his wife, Lucretia Patterson. The second son was named "Solomon," after his father.

6. There are several DNA matches to this family. Below are a brief sample.