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.
