Sacramento
County
Biographies
FRED A. SHEPHERD
There are few men in Sacramento
County who are better known than ex-Sheriff Fred A. Shepherd, who has been long
and prominently connected with the public interests of this section of the
state, and at all times has maintained a reputation for reliability and
fidelity to duty that is indeed commendable.
He is a man of straightforward purpose, plain and unostentatious in
manner, and yet of such sterling worth that all who know him hold him in the
highest esteem.
Mr. Shepherd is a native of
Massachusetts, his birth having occurred in New Bedford, that state, on the 10th
of April, 1831. He is a representative
of some of the oldest and most prominent families of New England, his early
ancestors being among those who aided in founding the colonies and in shaping
the events which form the colonial history of the nation. The first of the name of whom we have record
was Daniel Shepherd, of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, who was married December 21,
1686, to Mary Brice, and their children were Daniel, born in 1688; Virtue, born
in 1689; Nathaniel, born in 1692; John, born in 1695; and Freelove,
born in 1697. The father was a member of
the Society of Friends, and for many generations the family was connected with
that religious organization. John
Shepherd, son of Daniel, was one of the early settlers of Dartmouth,
Massachusetts, and was married January 4, 1719 to Dorcas Wing, of Sandwich,
Massachusetts, by whom he had five children, Deborah, David, John, Jemima and
Abner. The last named was born in
Dartmouth September 25, 1732, and was married June 16, 1763, to Hannah Gifford,
a daughter of William and Elizabeth Gifford.
Abner Shepherd, Jr., the only son of
Abner and Hannah Shepherd, was born in Dartmouth March 20, 1764, and was
married May 29 1788, to Apphia Mott, a daughter of Abner and Rachel Mott. He died December 25, 1837. Abner and Apphia (Mott) Shepherd were the
grandparents of him whose name heads this sketch, and their children were Willia, born April 24, 1789; David, born July 15, 1790; Meribah, born November 19, 1794; James, born September 8,
1796; Joseph, born October 14, 1798; Hannah, born in 1801; John, born November
30, 1805; Eliza, born September 22, 1807; Cabel, born
August 20, 1809; and Sarah A., born August 26, 1812. The eldest son of this family, William
Shepherd, married Phebe Rogers, of New York, and their only child was William,
of Fly Creek, who died in 1894. His
children were James E., Adelaide B., Irene E. and James E.
The ancestry of the Mott family, to
which Mrs. Apphia Shepherd, grandmother of our subject belonged, can be traced
back to Adam Mott, who was born in Cambridge, England, in 1596, and his wife
Sarah, who was born in 1604. With their
children, John, Adam, Jonathan, Elizabeth and Mary, they sailed from London in
the ship Defense in 1635 and settled at Roxbury, Massachusetts. In 1638 they joined a colony and went to
Rhode Island, obtaining from Chief Miantonomah a
beautiful island, which they called the Isle of Rhodes. There the little company of not more than
twenty people made a settlement. William
Coddington was elected governor and Philip Sherman,
secretary. They formed a covenant with
each other to obey the laws made by the majority and to respect the rights of
conscience. The town which they founded
is now called Portsmouth.
Jacob Mott, son of Adam, married
Joanna, a daughter of Rev. Giles and Joan Slocum. Her father was a famous preacher in those
days, having a widespread reputation as a minister. He and his people all withdrew from the
Baptist Church and joined the Society of Friends, in which Mr. Slocum became a
distinguished minister. Unto Jacob and
Joanna Mott were born the following children:
Hannah, Mercy, Sarah, Elizabeth, Jacob and Samuel. The father died in Portsmouth November 15,
1711. The Mott and Slocum families were
both faithful adherents of the Society of Friends and the principles inculcated
by their teachings are still manifest in their descendants, although most of
them have since affiliated with other religious denominations.
Jacob Mott, a son of Jacob and
Joanna Mott, was born in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, December 13, 1661, and died
February 17, 1736. For thirty-five years
he was a minister in the Friends Church, was also one of the proprietors of the
town of Dartmouth, Massachusetts, and his name is on the confirmatory deed
signed by Governor Bradford, Miles Standish and others. He first married Cassandra Southwick, and
after her death wedded Rest Perry, a daughter of Edward Perry, of Sandwich,
Massachusetts. His third wife was Mary,
daughter of John and Dorcas Easton, of Newport, Rhode Island. The children of the first union were Jacob,
Adam, Joseph, Elizabeth and Joanna. A
daughter, Mary, by the second wife, was the mother of General Nathaniel Greene,
and like the mother of Washington she left such a deep impress on the character
of her son by her noble teaching that he became one of the most distinguished
men of the Revolutionary period.
In Sewell’s “History of the Peoples
called Quakers,” appears the following record of the Southwick’s: “Lawrence Southwick and Cassandra, his wife,
members of the public church at Salem, and an ancient and grave couple, having
entertained Christopher Holder and John Copeland, were committed to prison and
sent to Boston, where, Lawrence being released, his wife was kept seven weeks a
prisoner, and then fined forty shillings for owning a paper of exhortation
written by the aforesaid Holder and Copeland.
These dealings so affected many inhabitants that some withdrew from the
public assemblies and met by themselves quietly on the first day of the
week. They were fined five shillings a
week and committed to prison. The first
whose lot this was were the aforesaid Lawrence and
Cassandra Southwick, and their son Josiah, who being carried to Boston were all
of them, notwithstanding the old age of two, sent to the house of correction
and whipped with cords in the coldest season of the year, and had taken from
them the value of four pounds, thirteen shillings, for not coming to
church. I have already made mention of
Lawrence and Cassandra Southwick and their son Josiah, of whom more is to be
said hereafter; but first I will speak of Daniel and Provided, son and daughter
of the said Lawrence and Cassandra. These
children, seeing how unreasonable their honest parents and brother were dealt
with, were so far from being deterred thereby that they rather felt themselves
encouraged to follow their footsteps and not to frequent the assemblies of such
a persecuting generation, for which absence they were fined ten pounds, though
it was well known they had no estate, their parents being already brought to
poverty by their rapacious persecutors.
To get this money the following order was issued in the general court of
Boston: “Whereas, Daniel Southwick and
Provided Southwick, son and daughter of Lawrence Southwick, absenting
themselves from the public ordinances, have been fined by the courts of Salem
and Ipswick, pretending they have no estates, and
resolving not to work, the court upon a law, which was made upon the account of
debts, in answer to what should be for the satisfaction of the fines, resolves,
that the treasurers of the several counties are and shall be fully empowered to
sell the said persons to any of the English nation at Virginia or at Barbados,
to answer the said fines, etc., (signed) Edward Ransom, secretary. Wherefore Edmund Butler, one of the
treasurers, to get something of the booty, sought out for passage to send them
to Barbados for sale, but none were willing to take them or carry them, and a
certain master of a ship, to put the thing off, pretended that they would spoil
all the ship’s company. To which Butler
returned, ‘No, you need not fear that, for they are poor, harmless creatures,
and will not harm anybody.’ ‘Will they
not so?’ replied the shipmaster, ‘and will you offer to make slaves of such
harmless creatures?’ Thus Butler,
frustrated in his wicked intentions, and the winter being at hand, sent them
home again to shift for themselves until he could get
a convenient opportunity to send them away.”
Thus did some of the ancestors of our subject suffer in the days when
most horrible persecutions were perpetrated in the name of law and Christianity.
Adam Mott, a son of Jacob and
Cassandra (Southwick) Mott, was born in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, April 12,
1692, and was married, December 18, 1718, to Apphia, daughter of Thomas and Hepzibah Hathaway, of Dartmouth. His wife was a lineal descendant of Francis
Cooke, who came over in the Mayflower in 1620.
His wife was named Hester. They
had a son John, who married Sarah, daughter of Richard Warren, one of the
Pilgrims of the Mayflower. Sarah,
daughter of John and Sarah Cooke, married Arthur Hathaway, and they had a son
John, who also had a son John; and the last named, was the father of Thomas
Hathaway, whose daughter Apphia was married, December 18, 1718, to Adam Mott,
son of Jacob Mott.
Adam and Apphia Mott had a son Adam,
who was born July 16, 1739, and married February 23, 1762, to Rachel, daughter
of William and Abigail Rider. Adam and
Rachel Mott were the parents of a daughter Apphia, who became the paternal
grandmother of our subject. She was born
May 31, 1767, was married to Abner Shepherd May 29, 1788, and died December 24,
1856, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, well advanced in years, and fully prepared
for the life to come. The following is
the marriage certificate of the paternal grandparents of Fred A. Shepherd:
“Abner Shepherd, of Dartmouth, son
of Abner Shepherd, in the same town, in the County of Bristol and state of
Massachusetts Bay, deceased, and Hanna, his wife, and Apphia Mott, daughter of
Adam Mott, of the town, county and state aforesaid, and Rachel, his wife,
having declared their intentions of take each other in marriage, before several
monthly meetings of the people called Quakers, in the county aforesaid,
according to the good order used among them, their proceedings used among them,
their proceedings after due enquiry and deliberate consideration thereof, were
allowed by said meetings; they appearing clear of all others, and having
consent of parents concerned. Now these
are to certify to all whom it may concern that for the full accomplishing of
their said intentions, this twenty-ninth day of the fifth month, in the year of
our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, they, the said Abner
Shepherd and Apphia Mott, appeared at a public assembly of the aforesaid people
and others, at their meeting house in Dartmouth, and he, the said Abner
Shepherd, taking the said Apphia Mott by the hand, did openly declare as followeth: Friends—I
take this my Friend, Apphia Mott, to be my wife, promising through divine
assistance, to be unto her a loving and faithful husband until it shall please
the Lord by death to separate us. And the said Apphia Mott did then and
there in like manner declare as followeth: Friends—I take this my Friend, Abner
Shepherd, to be my husband, promising through divine assistance to be unto him
a loving and faithful wife, until it shall please the Lord by death to separate
us. Or words of the
like import. And the said Abner Shepherd and
Apphia Mott, as a further confirmation thereof, have hereunto set their hands,
she after the custom of marriage assuming the name of her husband.” Then followed signatures of
the contracting parties and over thirty witnesses.
On the maternal side Fred A.
Shepherd is a representative of the Sherman family, and their line can be
traced back to Henry Sherman, of Dedham, in the county of Essex, England, to
which place he probably removed from the county of Suffolk, as he bore the
Suffolk coat of arms. The Christian name
of his wife was Agnes and she died in 1580.
He died in 1589. Their son Henry
married Susan Hills and died in 1610.
Samuel, the son of Henry and Agnes Sherman, was born in 1573, and died
in Dedham, England, in 1615. His wife’s
Christian name was Phillis, and their son Phillip was
born in Dedham February 5, 1610, married Sarah Adding, and died in Portsmouth,
Rhode Island, in 1687. In 1634 he
immigrated to New England and settled in Roxbury, Massachusetts. During the Anne Hutchinson trouble he took
the popular side, but as Governor Winthrop finally prevailed, he with others
found it convenient to immigrate to Rhode Island. In Providence they met Roger Williams, who
advised them to purchase the island of Aquetnet, now Rhode Island, of the
Indians. The purchase was consummated
March 24, 1638, and on the 1st of July they established a regular
government with William Coddington as governor and
Phillip Sherman, secretary. After this
the latter often held offices in the colony.
He was a man of intelligence, wealth and influence and was frequently
consulted by those in authority. The
early records prepared by him still remain in Portsmouth and show him to have
been a neat and skillful penman, as well as an educated man. After he immigrated to Rhode Island he left
the Congregational Church and joined the Society of Friends. He had thirteen children, of whom John was
born in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, in 1644, and married Sarah, a daughter of
William Spooner. He settled in South
Dartmouth, followed farming and blacksmithing and died there in 1734. Their son Philip was also born in Dartmouth,
and the Christian name of his wife was Hannah.
They had seven children, as follows:
John, born in 1699; Jabez, born in 1700;
Stephen, born in 1703; Henry, born in 1705; Ichabod,
born in 1708; Deborah, born in 1710; Abraham, born in 1713. The last named was married in 1737 to
Susannah Delano, and their son Phillip, who was born August 5, 1739, was
married December 12, 1758 to Marry Russell, daughter of Caleb and Rebecca
Russell. The children of this union were
Caleb, Gamaliel, Ichabod,
Susannah, Rufus, Lydia and Mary Eunice.
Ichabod
Sherman was the maternal grandfather of our subject. He was born May 13, 1764, and wedded Mary Wrightington, by whom he had the following children: Henry, Mary, Eunice, Patience, Susan and
Nancy. The following ancestral history
of the Wrightington’s has been secured. Robert Wrightington,
son of Robert and Margaret (Ward) Wrightington, was
married in 1723 to Abigail Tew, and was one of the
early settlers of Dartmouth, Massachusetts, where he purchased the land at the
head of the Acushnet, including the land on which the village of the same name
was built. Their son Henry was born
September 9, 1728, and his wife’s name was Mary. They were the great-grandparents of Mr.
Shepherd. Their children were George,
Mary, Abigail, Patience and Anna. The
father of this family enlisted in the Continental army as a member of a company
from Dartmouth, in Colonel French’s regiment, General Sullivan’s brigade, and
went into camp at Winter Hill March 13, 1776, the year in which American
independence was declared, an independence that was maintained by force of arms
through an eight-years war and has resulted in the establishment of the
greatest republic on the face of the globe.
Now taking up the history of the
family to which our subject belonged, we note that his father, David Shepherd,
was born July 15, 1790, in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, and died April 30, 1857,
in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He was a
master mariner and sailed many years from the port of New Bedford. During the War of 1812 he was captured by the
enemy and held as a prisoner of war in Dartmouth Prison, England, until peace
was restored. He wedded Mary Eunice
Sherman, who was born January 26, 1797.
They were the parents of seven children, of whom Fred A. was the third
in order of birth. An uncle of our
subject, William C. Brown, who married Eliza H. Shepherd, was a master mariner
and died in De Verde Islands, while master of the schooner California.
Fred A. Shepherd also followed the
sea for many years, shipping before the mast at a very early age. However, he resolved to abandon “a life on
the ocean wave” for inland pursuits, and landed at San Pedro, California,
having made the trip “around the Horn” in the bark Eureka, from Boston. He came at once to Sacramento, and resided in
the vicinity of Mormon Island, where he was engaged in mining until 1869. In that year he took up his abode in the city
of Sacramento, and in 1873 was elected city assessor by the largest majority
ever given any candidate for any office for many years in Sacramento. He acceptably filled the position for five
consecutive terms, discharging his duties with marked ability. After serving for ten years in that office he
became deputy county assessor under James Lansing, and also served under John
T. Griffiths in the same office. He was
deputy tax collector during Sheriff Drew’s last term and was registry clerk in
the county clerk’s office when the last two great registers were made. He knows more about land of this county, the
values thereof and the improvements that have been made thereon than any other
man in the county. His official duties
have brought him a wide acquaintance and his sterling qualities have gained him
the friendship of many and the respect of all with whom he has been brought in
contact.
On the 19th of April,
1865, Mr. Shepherd married Mrs. Lucy A. Outten, nee Cantlin,
who was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, January 14, 1848. By her former marriage she had two
children: Nellie M., who was born in
Mormon Island, California, April 27, 1866, and is now the wife of General
Charles N. Post, assistant attorney general; and John M., who was born at
Mormon Island September 1, 1861, and assumed the name of Shepherd. Unto our subject and his wife have been born
the following children: Susie S., who
was born in Natoma Valley, California, June 11, 1866, was married in 1887, to
John B. Lewis, and died September 9, 1886; George F., born in Sacramento August
2, 1874, was married September 2, 1896, to Minnie Flint; Eunice the youngest,
was born in Sacramento December 28, 1880.
The mother of this family was called to her final rest April 19,
1896. Early in the evening of that day
she went to the depot to meet her daughter Eunice, who was returning from
Wheatland, and while at the station was taken ill. She was at once brought to her home in a
carriage, but soon passed away, the cause of her death being heart
disease. She was a most estimable woman,
a devoted wife and mother and the news of her demise was received with sorrow
wherever she was known. Mr. Shepherd is
regarded as one of the leading citizens of Sacramento, and is a social, genial
gentleman who has many friends. In
manner he is frank and outspoken, deceit being utterly foreign to his
nature. A contemporary writer has
said: “He has fewer enemies than any
other man who has held office for so many years in Sacramento.” His official career has ever been marked by
the utmost fidelity to duty, and over the record of his life there falls no
shadow of wrong or suspicion of evil.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 774-780. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2011
Gerald Iaquinta.