FANNIE JOSEPHINE B. CARVER

Fannie was born in Ruggles Township in 1830 when it was still considered to be in Huron County, Ohio. Today,  Ruggles, in the region known as the Firelands, is in Ashland, County and adjacent to Huron County. It is named for Almon Ruggles, a surveyor. 

In 1850, Fannie was living with her parents in Ruggles. On the 13th of March, 1852 Fannie  married Daniel G. Huffman in Ashland City. Their first child was born in Ohio but their other children were born in West Union, Fayette, Iowa, as follows:

20 Nov 1852    John I.
  6 Dec 1856     Fannie
15  Oct 1858   Susan P.
             1860    William
  26 Jul 1860      Anna

Fannie Josephine died on the 15th of April in 1871 and was buried at the Forest Home Cemetery in Hicksville, Ohio.  She was only 41 years old.

FANNIE JOSEPHINE B. CARVER
BORN: 06 Dec 1830 in Ruggles, Ashland, OH
MARRIED: 13 Mar 1852 in Ashland, Ashland, OH
DIED: 15 Apr 1871 in Hicksville, Defiance, OH
BURIED:  Apr 1871 at Forest Home Cemetery in Hicksville, Defiance, OH
SOURCES: Federal censuses of 1840-1870; Record Collection: "Ohio, County Marriages 1789-2013" FamilySearch.org; Booklet of Shepard/Huffman Genealogy by Mary Kirsch and her son, David Kirsch.

DANIEL G. HUFFMAN

Great grandfather Daniel G. Huffman was born in Clear Creek Township in Ashland County, Ohio. From the book, "History of Defiance County", page 299, published 1883, Hicksville Twp. section, it says:

" D.G.Huffman, born in Ashland Co., December 9, 1829, was the 8th of 10 children of Abraham and Margaret (Cuppy) Huffman. His father was the second person who settled in Clear Creek Twp., Ashland Co., in May, 1813."

 Clear Creek's splendid hunting and fishing opportunities, and for several years the maple sugar season, attracted a few of the Indians to the community each springtime. Sprott's Hill (pictured below) is an Indian mound, an important archaeological site and a burial ground of natives who lived supposedly during the glacial period in what is now Clear Creek, Ohio. See Wikipedia

In the 1850 census of Ashland County, Ohio, Daniel is living with his parents and is a school teacher, possibly in the school that his father donated land for in the early years of settling the area. On the 13th of March 1852, Daniel married Fannie J. B. Carver in Ashland. They had the following children:

1852 John I. born in Ohio
1856 Fannie Josephine born in West Union, Fayette, Iowa and so were the next three children...
1858 Susan P.
1859 William
1860 Anna P.
Fannie Josephine, our ancestor, lived until 1930. The other four children died in Hicksville, Defiance County, Ohio before their 30s. Their mother also died in that same time period of 1871-1882. After reading some newspaper articles about Defiance County during this time, it seems as though there was an epidemic of typhoid fever that may have been the cause of these deaths.

When the family lived in West Union, Fayette, Iowa in 1860 , Daniel was a merchant with $1,000 in real estate and $1,000 in personal estate. In the 1870 Federal census, the family is living in Washington, Defiance, Ohio and Daniel is a farmer. The family evidently moved to Hicksville before April 1871 because mother, Fannie J. B. Huffman, died on the 15th of April 1871 in Hicksville. Daniel joined the Hicksville Odd Fellows Lodge in 1872 for probable much-needed companionship.

In the 1880 Federal census, Daniel is widowed and living in Hicksville, Defiance, OH with two daughters, Fannie J., age 23, a milliner, and Annie, age 19. (Annie died in February 1881.) Daniel is listed as being in the lumber business.

"[Mr. Huffman] was a consistent Christian and for years had been a member in high standing in the M.E. church. Universal regret is felt at his death. Although he had more than his share of the sorrows of life, none but his intimate friends ever heard him complain of his lot, although he often said that but for the sunshine there was he would certainly have to give way to the darkening shadows which had hovered over his life. His high moral and Christian character enabled him to bear up under more affliction than is usually allotted to man. " A quote from the book entitled "Biographies of Defiance County, Ohio" published in 1880.

Huffman, Daniel G. died 29 Nov 1887, age 57 in Hicksville, OH. He was born in Ashland Co., OH. Cause of death, heart disease. Residence: Hicksville, Defiance, OH (from the Defiance Probate Court, Record of Death)

"Daniel G. Huffman died at his home on Smith Street last Saturday morning at one o'clock, from heart disease, after an illness of a few days. He was aged 57 years, 11 months and 17days." [Daniel's obituary from an unknown newspaper of Hicksville, OH.]

DANIEL G. HUFFMAN
BORN: 9 Dec 1829 in Clear Creek Twp., Ashland, OH
MARRIED: 13 Mar 1852 in Ashland, Ashland, OH
DIED: 29 Nov 1887 in Hicksville, Defiance, OH
SOURCES: Federal Census of 1820-1880; Book: "Biographies of Defiance County, Ohio" pub. 1880; Record of Daniel's Death from Defiance Probate Court; Book: "History of Defiance County"; Shepard/Huffman Genealogy booklet by Mary Kirsch and her son, David Kirsch, descendants of the D. G. Huffman family.

RUTH LARRISON

Ruth was born in Salem, Ohio which is a city in northern Columbiana County and southern Mahoning County, Ohio, a border city. Her birthdate was 1 August 1831.  In Ruth's childhood, Salem had a population of about 250 people. Two sections of the city are now designated National Register historic districts: the "Salem Downtown Historic District" and Sugar Tree Alley, designated 1995), and the "South Lincoln Avenue Historic District" (designated 1993), which includes several of the town’s monumental and architecturally distinctive homes. But Ruth's parents didn't remain in Salem for very long, even though it seems like it would have been a pleasant city.  When Ruth was four years old, the Larrison family was located in Iowa. Ruth had nine siblings, one was born in Indiana, another born in Iowa, and all the others were born in Ohio.

As I mentioned in John Shepard's biography, Ruth and John were married in 1855 or 1856 in Adams County, Ohio and had three children, all born in Iowa:

Oct 1856 Jessie S.

Jun 1858 Charles G., our ancestor

Nov 1860 George

Ruth's three children married and had families. So, she had about 12 grandchildren living close to her in her senior years, in Hicksville, Defiance, Ohio. Ruth died in Hicksville at age 72 and 3 months and is buried there at the Forest Home Cemetery.

RUTH LARRISON

BORN: 1 Aug 1831 in Salem, Columbiana, OH

MARRIED: abt. 1855 in ,Adams, OH

DIED: 24 Nov 1904 in Hicksville, Defiance, OH

SOURCES: Federal Census 1850-1900; Ohio County Marriages 1789-2013; Death Record from Defiance Courthouse;  Shepard Genealogy Booklet written by Ruth's descendants, Mary Shreffler Kirsch and her son, David Kirsch.

JOHN WESLEY SHEPARD

Today we begin to study the eight great grandparents of the Shepard Family History. Great grandfather, John Wesley Shepard, spent most of his life on the Ohio/Indiana border. He was born in Oxford, Butler County, Ohio in 1835 on the southwestern edge of Ohio. Oxford had a population of 750 people that year. 

 In the 1850 census there was a John Wesley Shephard, age 15, living with the Brown family in Oxford. There was also a woman named Hannah Shephard in the same household. It is possible that Hannah's maiden name was Brown and that she was living with her parents and was John's mother. Next, we know that John married Ruth Larrison in Adams County, Ohio sometime in 1855 or 1856.  Adams County is a few miles southeast of Butler County but this new couple set off for Iowa soon after their marriage.

Baby daughter, Jessie S., was born on  the 16th of October 1856 in Burlington, Des Moines, Iowa. But the Shepards did not stay there long. Their first son, Charles G., our ancestor, was born in New London, Henry, IA in June 1858, and the second son, George, was born in November 1860 in New London.  While living in New London, John was listed as a plasterer in the 1860 census with $100 in real estate and $50 in personal estate.

We next find John as a private in the Indiana E 13th Regiment, Infantry, age 29, who served as a soldier in the Civil War from 12 Nov 1864 to 5 Sep 1865. (He may have wanted to serve for a longer period of time but he and his family were evidently in the process of moving from Iowa back to the Indiana/Ohio border c. 1861.)

The Shepard family is listed in Newville, Dekalb, Indiana in the 1870 census, very close to the northern Ohio border in what was called the Tustison neighborhood. John is a farmer with $800 in real estate and $100 in personal estate. Before 1880, however, the Shepards had moved a few miles eastward, over the border, to Hicksville, Defiance, Ohio and remained there until 1904.  Their home was on Spencer Street. John was a grain buyer, age 45. In 1900 his occupation is either weight master, or some people think the census says wright master. My theory is that if he was still associated with grains, then he was probably still involved with weighing these products in 1900.

On John's death certificate his occupation is clerk. He died on the 25th of January in 1903 in Hicksville, Ohio, age 67, 5 months, and 28 days.

JOHN WESLEY SHEPARD
BORN: 28 Jul 1835 in Oxford, Butler, OH
MARRIED: 1855 or 1856 in , Adams, OH
DIED: 25 Jan 1903 in Hicksville, Defiance, OH
SOURCES: U.S. Federal census records 1840-1900; marriage and death records of John W. Shepard; birth records of John's children; Shepard History Booklet compiled by Mary Shreffler and son, descendants of John W. Shepard.