Santa
Clara County
Biographies
ARTHUR E. SHEPARD
Although for the past fourteen
years a resident of the Santa Clara valley, where he has gained considerable
prominence as a fruit grower, Mr. Shepard is an Ohioan by birth, and was born
in Ashtabula county December 19, 1851. That county was also the birthplace of
his father, Capt. Richard Shepard, who during his early manhood was a sailor on
the Great Lakes. In 1856 he took up his residence in Green Lake county, Wis., and spent over one year in farm pursuits in
the vicinity of Dartford, but sea life had superior
attractions for him and the following year he returned to the lakes and for a
time was captain of a sailing vessel, with residence at Buffalo. In 1858 he was
induced to abandon life on the water permanently, and returning to his
Wisconsin farm he followed agricultural pursuits there for a number of years.
In 1866 he removed to Minnesota and for twelve years followed farming near
Mankato, being highly successful as an agriculturist. In 1878 he came to
California and for a while lived in retirement in Alameda, but subsequently
moved to Fresno and it was in the latter place that he died. By his marriage
with Miss Rowena Stratton, a native of Kingsville, Ohio, seven children were
born, five sons and two daughters, Arthur E. being the eldest.
Educated in the rural districts of
Wisconsin, Arthur E. Shepard was the recipient of but a limited education and
in his youth assisted his father on his farm. In 1871, at the age of twenty, he
left his home to enter upon his own career, and taking up one hundred and sixty
acres of land in Republic county, Kans., near Concordia,
he engaged in stock-raising for a number of years. It was not until 1890 that
Mr. Shepard disposed of his interests there and came to California, soon
afterward purchasing a forty acre vineyard in Fresno county,
six miles north of Selma, and one mile west of Del Rey. Here for five years he
continued to reside, and in 1895, he moved to San Jose for the purpose of
educating his children. The ten-acre fruit ranch upon which the family now
reside is located two miles southeast of San Jose, on McLaughlin avenue, and was purchased in 1900. By his marriage in
Belleville, Kans., Mr. Shepard was united with Miss Ida Corbett, born in Essex,
Essex county, N.Y., and four children blessed their
union, Orson, Alice, Volette, and Earl, the latter
now deceased. In addition to being a successful farmer, Mr. Shepard possesses a
great deal of natural mechanical ability, and in partnership with Jasper Scott,
who resides on St. Mary’s street in San Jose, he perfected a bolt-holding
device, upon which he obtained a patent December 12, 1903. This has proved to
be a very useful article and its sale has materially increased the bank account
of Mr. Shepard. In his political views he is a Prohibitionist.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: History of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast
Counties, California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 915-916. The
Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Cecelia M. Setty.