Lt. Colonel Samuel G. Shepard (1830-1917)
An enterprising farmer; one of eight children; born January 28, 1830, in Wilson County, Tennessee to John and Frances (Graves) Shepard. John Shepard was of Scottish descent, a teacher by profession and a farmer. He died in 1835 of cholera. Frances Graves Shepherd was of French origin and died in 1860. Samuel was named after his grandfather, Samuel, a Revolutionary War soldier who was present at Cornwallis’s surrender at Yorktown. The elder Sam Shepard had voted for Washington as president and he last voted for Henry Clay.
Samuel enlisted in Company G, 7th Tennessee, and was appointed as Captain. He was appointed Major on July 9, 1862, and after Hatton’s death was appointed lieutenant colonel He led his men in twenty battles, including Gettysburg.
Samuel married Martha Major (born 1845) on Aug 3, 1865. They had four children, and they lived on 300 acres as well-to-do farmers. A Democrat and a Freemason, he was selected as one of Wilson County's representatives to assist in the revision of the Tennessee State Constitution in 1870. In 1872, he was elected state representative and also ordained as a Missionary Baptist minister in both Wilson and Rutherford Counties. He died on June 6, 1917 and his body is buried at Cedar Grove Cemetary, Wilson County, Tennessee.
Adapted from Goodspeed's History of Wilson County, originally published in 1886.
Last updated October 29, 2005.