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History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania with Biographical SketchesBy H. C. Bradsby, 1891If You Have Photos of People Mentioned on the Page, Send Them In For Inclusion |
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tendent of the Sunday-school. He is a Republican, and has held the following offices of public trust; town clerk, school director, Commissioner and assessor, and is now assistant assessor.
Frank H. Scott, farmer, Smithfield Township, PO East Smithfield, was born in Springfield, this County, April 20, 1847, a son of Orrin and Martha A. (Brown) Scott, the former a native of Vermont, and latter of Connecticut. They came to this County and 1843, and settled in Springfield Township. One son, A.O., was in the Civil War. Frank H. is the youngest in a family of three children. The father was a blacksmith, as well as a farmer, and Frank H. was reared on the farm, educated in the schools of the town, and adopted farming as his business. He was united in marriage, Dec. 1, 1869, with Pleiades, daughter all of Merit and Abigail (Kingsley) Wood; she is a sister of Francis Wood. Her great-grandfather was a Revolutionary soldier, and They trace their family genealogy back many generations. Mrs. Scott was born Nov. 9, 1849, the third in a family of five children, and the only daughter. There have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Scott two children: Ella L., born April 1, 1874, and Bessie M., born February 4, 1881. Mr. Scott is the owner of a fine farm, and is a part owner of other lands-400 acres in all. His principal interest thereon is dairying. He is a genial and pleasant gentleman, and has a wide circle of friends.
Winfield Scott, farmer, Montour Township, PO Monroeton, was born in Monroe, this County, May 2, 1814, (or 1844), and is a son of John H. and Catherine E. (Harris) Scott; in his father's family there were six children, of whom Winfield is the fourth. He was reared on the farm, educated in the common school, purchased the farm where Harvey Cummings now resides, lived there from 1868 to 1874, when he removed to his present home, and he has since given attention and energy chiefly to the cultivation of the soil. Mr. Scott was married, Oct. 1, 1867, to Miss Mary E., daughter of William V., and Julia (Griggs) Stevens, of Monroe, and they have three children: Stella M., born Sept. 6, 1869; Franklin L., born April 3, 1876, and John W., born February 15, 1879. Mr. and Mrs. Scott and their daughter are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he has been trustee fifteen years, and is also Steward; he is a Republican in politics, and has been town treasurer ten years.
Harry Scovell, retired farmer, PO Towanda, was born February 13, 1803, on the farm where he now resides, and is a son of Silas and Abigail (Harris) Scovell. His paternal grandfather, Elisha Scovell, moved with his family from Connecticut to Exeter, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in an early day, and from there the father of our subject came to Towanda in 1788, and soon after his marriage, in 1790, he removed to the farm now occupied by Harry Scovell, a part of which he cleared and improved, and where he resided until his death in 1824. His children were Phebe (Mrs. Nathan Stevens), Peter H., Harry, Celesta, Caroline (Mrs. H. S. Frazier), Silas J., Joseph J., and Abigail (Mrs. E. Rubin Deleng). On the death of his father, he succeeded to the homestead, where he was born and reared and has always resided. He cleared and improved a large part of the farm, which he has divided between his sons, John H. and Silas M. He was twice married; his first wife was Sarah Courtwright, by whom he had four children: John H., James, Amanda (Mrs. Francis Barnes) and Silas M. Harry Scovell resides with his youngest son, Silas M., who was born March 25, 1848, and married, in 1871, to Eva, daughter of David and Eliza (Smith) Walborn, of Sheshequin Township, this County, and has two children: Jennie and Jesse.
Samuel M. Seafuse, farmer, PO Bentley Creek, was born in Springfield Township, this County, June 24, 1869, a son of Horace and Sarah (Palmer) Seafuse, natives of Monroe and Tioga counties, respectively. Horace was a son of Solomon Seafuse, who removed from Monroe County, Pennsylvania, to this County in 1855, locating in South Creek Township, and what is known as "East Hill;" this was in the early settlement of the town which its inhabitants did not number half as many as they do now. Solomon Seafuse learned the carpenters trade, and which he worked in connection with his farm; his family consisted of eight children, four of whom grew to maturity. Horace, the father of Samuel M., was a farmer, and worked as such until his death, which occurred March 2, 1874, when aged but twenty-eight years. There were four children born to him, all of whom are living. Samuel M. Seafuse, who is the eldest in the family, was reared and educated at the common school, and so proficient did he become that he fitted himself as a teacher, and has taught four terms in South Creek and Ridge Berry Township's; has been studying medicine under Dr. Charles M. Hammond, of Bentley Creek, for the past two years, and is now a student of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of Baltimore, MD. He is a bright, intelligent young man, and bids fair to make his mark in life. On July 4, 1887, he married, in South Creek Township, Jennie, daughter of Walter and Maria Mason, and there have been born to them two children: Glen and Mary. In conjunction with his studies, Mr. Seafuse is working on his farm with his grandfather, Solomon Seafuse. He is a member of the International Fraternal Alliance.
W. C. Sechrist, attorney at law, Canton, is a native of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, and was born Jan. 27, 1858, a son of John and Harriet (Miller) Sechrist, natives of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, and Germany, respectively. His father was a farmer in early life, and is now in the employ of the Fall Brook Railroad Company, a position he has held for some time. Mrs. Sechrist died in 1881. W. C. Sechrist is the second in order of birth in a family of five sons and five daughters; he was reared and Tioga County until seventeen years of age, when he came to Canton and completed his education in the graded schools; read law with Capt. J. H. Shaw, was admitted to the bar in January, 1881, and has been practicing his profession there sense. He was married in Canton, in 1882, to Ella, daughter of J. W. and Lucy (Spaulding) Griffin, natives of this County. J. W. Griffin was a blacksmith by trade, but retired from his trade when about forty years of age, and was until his death extensively engaged in real estate transactions; he died in 1876, in his sixty-third year; Mrs. Griffin yet survives; she is a descendant of Ezra Spaulding, who was one of the four first settlers in the Township. Mrs. Sechrist, who is the youngest in a family of four children, was born in Canton, in January 1852, and is a member of the Disciple church. Mr. Sechrist is serving his seventh year on the borough school board; politically, he is a Republican.
H. C. Seeley, conductor on the Lehigh Valley Railroad, Sayre, is a native of Ridgebury Township, this County, and was born Nov. 12, 1848. His parents were John F. and Sally M. (Thompson) Seeley, natives of Orange County, New York, the former of whom was a farmer, and died in Ridgebury, this County, July 2, 1888, in his eightieth year. H. C. Seeley is the eighth in a family of nine children-six girls and three boys. Two brothers served in the Civil War, one of whom died of typhoid fever, near Cape Hatteras, and the other died several years after the close of the war from the effects of shell wound. Our subject was reared in Ridgebury, and received his education in the common schools. When he became of age he farmed two years, and then went on the Lehigh Valley Railroad, in 1872, as brakeman; was promoted to coal train conductor in 1877, and to a freight train conductor in the spring of 1844. He was married, in Athens, in April 1870, to Miss Mary E., daughter of Solomon and Sally (Taylor) Bosworth, the former a native of Athens, and the latter of Windsor County, Vermont. Her father was a farmer and died in Athens Township, this County, in March 1861, in his fifty-second year; her mother resides in Sayre. Mrs. Bosworth's uncles, Samuel and Benjamin, were soldiers in the War of 1812. Mrs. Seeley is the youngest in a family of eleven children, and was born in Athens Township, Nov. 13, 1853. To Mr. and Mrs. Seeley was born a son, Clair D. Seeley. Mrs. Seeley is a member of the Baptist Church. Mr. Seeley is a member of the Order of Railroad Conductors, Southern Tier Division, No. 10, Waverly, New York, and is also a member of the Iron Hall. In politics he is a Republican.
I R. Sellard, farmer and dairyman, of Canton Township, PO Grover, is a native of Canton Township, this County, and was born July 2, 1849. His parents were Ichabod and Harriet (King) Sellard, natives of Canton Township and Tioga County, P.A., respectively. Our subject's father, grandfather and great-grandfather all died in the house where Charles J. McKee now resides, about two and 1/2 miles south of Canton; it is probably the oldest house in the Township, and was built in 1818. The great-grandfather, James Sellard, was a native of Connecticut and removed to Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, from there to Tioga County, and settled in Canton Township in about 1812, on the old Sellard homestead. The grandfather, Stephen D. Sellard, served in the War of 1812, and died in May, 1852, in his sixty-fourth year. Ichabod Sellard was born March 24, 1821, and died Oct. 21, 1877. Mrs. Sellard died Jan. 22, 1888, in her sixty-first year. Our subject is the third in order of birth in a family of five children; he received his education in the common schools and attended the State Normal School at Mansfield, Pennsylvania, one year, and taught one term of school; he owns a well improved farm containing 132 acres; also a part of the old Sellard homestead. He married in Canton, in 1872, Louise, daughter of Samuel and Melissa (Bates) Fitzwater, natives of Bradford County. Mrs. Sellard is third in a family of ten children, and was born in Canton Township, in January 1854. To them were born a family of five children, as follows: Minnie, Belle, Helen, Daisy, and Mildred. Mrs. Sellard is a member of the Disciple Church. Mr. Sellard is a member of Grover Grange; politically is a Republican, and has served two terms as Township treasurer.
George W. Sexton, a farmer of Franklin Township, PO Powell, was born in Orwell Township, this County, March 1, 1839, and is a son of Jabez E. and Jeanett (Jilson) Sexton, both of whom were natives of Connecticut. His father was a son of William Sexton, who removed from the east to this County in 1813, at which time Jabez was six years of age. He located on a farmer of sixty-five acres in Orwell, and which he remained all of his life. Jabez lived on the same old homestead seventy-two years, having been born in 1807, and reared a family of nine children-two sons and seven daughters-six of whom grew to maturity, and five are now living. Our subject was reared and educated in Orwell at the common school, and has always followed farming as an occupation. At the age of twenty-three he attached himself to Co. D., 141st PVI, for the term of three years. He was wounded at the battle of Chancellorsville, and lost his right arm, for which disability he now draws a pension of $45 per month. Mr. Sexton is located on a beautiful farm on Towanda Creek, near the Monroe line; he is a general farmer, and, like others along that rich low land, pays attention to raising tobacco; is a member of GAR and is a Republican in politics.
A Delbert Shaw, engineer, PO Ulster, was born in Ulster, this County, July 9, 1837, and is a son of Norman and Mary Ann (Marshall) Shaw, and the grandson of Ebenezer Shaw. Norman Shaw was a farmer, and our subject was born and reared on a farm; he attended the common schools of Ulster and received a good English education. He worked on his father's farm until eighteen years of age, and then was employed on a boat on the North Branch Canal for eight years. He enlisted, in 1862, in the Twenty-fourth Independent Battery, and served until 1864, when he was discharged. He married Anna E. daughter of Martin and Nancy (Brigg) Thorp, and three children were born to them: Rosa, married to Charles Watkins; Charles, married to Kate Crawley, and May, married to Robert J. Wood. Mr. Shaw is a Republican in politics, and is a member of the G. A. R.
Uriah Shaw, farmer and carpenter, Ulster, was born in Sheshequin Township, this County, May 13, 1806, a son of Ebenezer Shaw, a native of Little Compton, Newport County, Rhode Island, who was born Sept. 5, 1771, and died at Sheshequin, Dec. 17, 1871, in the extremely advanced age of one hundred years and three months; he was the oldest Freemason in the state at the time of his death, and was buried by the Fraternity. Uriah Shaw, his grandfather, reached the age of eighty-four, and his grandmother Shaw (before marriage, Campbell), reached sixty-four years of age, while his grandfather Holcomb Shaw, was born in Barkhamsted, Litchfield County, Connecticut, March 17, 1783 and died a Sheshequin, April 10, 1868, age eighty-five; his father came to Sheshequin in 1786, when fourteen years old; his mother came to Ulster in 1794, being then eleven years old. His parents were married Feb. 26, 1801, among the earliest marriages of this County, and their family consisted of the following children: Laura, Harry, Uriah, Norman, Hiram, Matilda, and Ebenezer P. He and one sister, Mrs. Matilda Gore, are the only survivors. He received his early education at Sheshequin school, and the schoolhouse stood just across the road, and while attending school he would spend his noon recesses thrashing wheat with a flail, in his father's barn. He acquired a good education, for those days, and upon leaving school engaged in teaching, in Rome Township, three months, then for two Winters next in sucession taught school in Sheshequin in the house near his father's barn, but abandoned that after a few months, as his salary was but 9 dollars a month and board, "boarding around," and that was then considered ample pay. He next engaged as a member of the surveying corps, and assisted in making many surveys in this and adjoining counties, then turned his attention to farming and carpentering, which he followed more or less until June 30, 1868, when he was appointed mail messenger on the road between Ulster and Hornbrook; continued at this until May 29, 1872, when, in connection with his sons, Henry and Hiram, he opened the "Canal Grocery" in Ulster; for some time passed he has been carrying the mail to and from the railroad station and Post Office. He was married, Jan. 19, 1832, to Patience Lenity Segar, and to them were born eight children, viz: B.F. Ralph, Henry, Samuel, Anna, Cynthia, Hiram F., and Anna (deceased). What a young man he purchased the first lot laid out in Ulster; caught lumber and logs in the drift or the river, built him, a plank house, 40 by 18 feet, two stories, and as soon as it was partially completed moved in; this was the fifth house built in Ulster, and the building in which the second tavern in the Township was opened. In religious belief he is a Universalist, and a Republican in politics.
Henry Shaw, station agent, Ulster, was born Dec. 31, 1836, in Ulster, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, son of Uriah and Patience Lenity (Segar) Shaw. He secured a business education, engaged in the mercantile trade, in connection with his brother, B. F. Shaw, and opened a confectionery and bakery in Towanda, in 1860. In 1861 he purchased his brother's interests, and was alone for a time, when he sold out and purchased a canal boat, which he ran from Buffalo to New York, returning via Elmira, and from there to Baltimore. He was thus engaged two years, and then with his father and brother, Hiram, built and stocked the grocery store on the canal at Ulster, known as "Canal Grocery". The firm was U. Shaw and Sons; he continued in the grocery until the business was ruined by the abandonment of the canal, in 1871, and then secured the appointment for agent of the Lehigh Valley railroad, and has held that position to the present time. He has a beautiful home in Ulster, and has saved a fair competence from his gains in business. On Christmas Day, 1863,he was united in marriage with M. E. Smith, daughter of I. W. and Selestia A. (Arnold) Smith, a lady of English dissent. To them were born four children, of whom Hattie died in infancy, and Minnie, the wife of W. Ethel Shoemaker, also died; Lulu and Fred Harper live with their parents. The families are Universalists; in politics, Mr. Shaw is Republican. In the possession of Mr. Shaw is one of the first two clocks brought to Bradford County, which was brought by his grandfather, Ebenezer Shaw, about the year 1816; it is over seven feet high, and a sight of it carries us back to the old New England kitchen, where it occupied the post of honor and chimed out its music to the pitcher of cider and rosy cheeked apples.
Shepard. Among the most prominent families of Western Bradford were two sons of John Shepard, namely, Silas E. Shepard, D.D. (deceased), and Samuel W. Shepard, M.D., of Troy, representatives of the Shepard and Bonesteel families. John Shepard married Elizabeth Bonesteel; he was a son of John and Abigail (Eaton) the son of Daniel and Jane (Hosmer), the son of Daniel and Mary (Smedley), the son of John and Sarah, the son of Ralph and Thanks. Ralph came from England in 1635; died Sept., 11, 1693, age ninety years. John Milton Shepard, son of Silas E. Shepard, died June 1, 1853. He married, December 29, 1846, Matilda Willey Benton, who was born Aug. 14, 1824. Allen Benton, her father, was born June 9, 1792, married July 22, 1819; his wife, Deborah (Willey), was born February 1, 1797. Allen Benton died Sept. 12, 1879; Deborah (Willey) Benton died Aug. 23, 1867. Milton left one daughter, who married Rev. D. W. Hart, now of Wilton, Connecticut. John Shepard, who married Elizabeth Bonesteel, was born Dec. 26, 1780, died March 8, 1833. Elizabeth Bonesteel was born Nov. 26, 1781, died May 1, 1832. Their children were: Paul, born March 25, 1799, married Mercy Osborne, born May 13, 1800, died October 7, 1876. Silas Eaton, born February 2, 1801, died in Troy, Pennsylvania, Nov. 12, 1877; he married Nancy Lake in 1821; had three children: Catherine, John Milton, and Alma Wright. Luke, born March 19, 1803, died April 20, 1837, married Jerusha Boynton; his children were Manly and Jackson. John, born March 28, 1805, died in 1826. Millicent, born Sept. 5, 1807, died in 1826. Stephen A., born Oct. 4, 1809, died in 1888. Betsey. Shepard, born in 1812, died in Bay City in 1876.Lysander Curtis, born April 6, 1814. Daniel Bonesteel, born April 19, 1816, died in Bay City in 1875. Samuel W., born Sept. 24, 1818. Rosina, born Nov. 7, 1821, died in 1886.
Following is a genealogy of the Bonesteel family on the maternal side of the house: Nicholas Bonesteel, born in Germany about 1695, emigrated to Dutchess County, New York, United States of America, about 1720, died near Troy, New York, about 1788; was a farmer near Rhinebeck, New York; had five sons-Jacob, Philip, Nicholas, Jeremiah, and David-and several daughters; he had only one brother, David.
David, brother of Nicholas, came from Germany, and the descendants of the two brothers are a rare race, on both sides of the Hudson River, from New York City to Troy from 1700, now numerous in Ontario, Cattaraugus, and Niagara counties, New York, and in northern Pennsylvania.
Philip Bonesteel, born in Dutchess County, New York, 1753, thence removed, about 1755, to Florida, Montgomery County, New York, had eleven children, and died Sept. 17, 1848, age ninety four years; was with the Shakers at West Pittsfield, MA; he was forty-three years a Shaker, and was known as "Father Philip." He married, in 1775, Elizabeth Ray, born in Dutchess County, New York, 1754, married in her native County, died in Benton, Yates County, New York, 1814, age about sixty years. She had brothers, Matthias and Christian; sisters, Margaret (Stirzees), Mary (Pettit), Catherine (Roland). Their father, Christian Ray, born in Germany before 1700, emigrated to America about 1720 in a sailing vessel, the trip from land to land occupying eleven months, and buried one child at sea; settled in Dutchess County, New York; kept hotel on main thoroughfare, and often entertained General Washington. Himself and wife died just after the Revolutionary War. Wife unknown. The sons and daughters of Philip Bonesteel and Elizabeth Ray were Philip, second, married--- Roland, had a few sons and daughters, removed to Wisconsin. Elizabeth married John Shepard, children: Paul, Silas, Luke, John, Betsey, Lysander, Samuel, and Rosina, Stephen. John married three times, had twenty-two children, first family in Cattaraugus County, New York; second family, in Pennsylvania; third family, in Niagara, New York. Sarah married John Gay, descendants at or near Albion, Michigan. Luke married; very small family, in west. Amos married; very small family, Wisconsin. Mary married Benjamin Wood, eleven children. Anna married Samuel Carley and then George L. Carley; large family, Oswego County, New York. Nicholas married Mrs. Squire, then married Mrs. Fosdick; large family, Cattaraugus County, New York. Asenath, married Ebenezer Pettit; three daughters and one son, all dead, Livingston County, New York.
The children of Benjamin Wood and Mary Bonesteel: Elmira married John S. Bristol, both dead; one daughter and two sons. Mary Ann married Ezra Cornell (deceased), of whom Cornell College took its name; nine children, three sons and two daughters now living, at Ithaca New York. Lydia died unmarried. Orrin Squire married Mary I. Mitchell; married Julia Forbes; married Mrs. Anna Dodd; two daughters and one son, at Staten Island, New York. Merritt L. married Caroline B. Sage; no children; Micanopy, Florida. Emily married Jonathan Dunham; two daughters and one son, at Valley Springs, South Dakota. Harriet (deceased) married Jonathan Dunham. Caroline died unmarried. Norman B. married Anna Spencer; two daughters living. Otis Eddy married Olive A. Houtz; two sons living, Ithaca New York. Cordelia M. married Alonzo Chase; three daughters, Redfield, South Dakota.
Dr. Silas Eaton Shepherd, son of John and Elizabeth Shepard, was a native of Utica, Oneida County, New York, born of Puritan blood, and from the public schools was a student at the academy of Norwich, New York, and while at this school turned from the Congregational to the Baptist Church. He came to Shamokin, this state, as a teacher when eighteen, and the same year became a preacher and entered upon the long work of fifty-eight years that marked his course in life. He married in 1821, at Washingtonville, Pennsylvania, Nancy Lake; visited Canton in 1825, located there in 1827, and purchased a farm in Armenia; was regularly teaching at the church in Canton. At this time Dr. Alexander Campbell became known to the world, and Rev. Dr. Shepard accepted Campbell's theological views, and began that thorough course of studying Latin, Greek and Hebrew that soon made him a famous scholar. In 1828 he began preaching in Smithfield and other places and Western Bradford. In 1834 he removed to Auburn, New York, editing, the next four years, the Primitive Christian. While here he attacked the prison system and affected a revolution therein; returned to Troy in 1839, and practiced medicine four years as a homeopath. In 1843 he went to Cincinnati, and was present at Campbell's and Rice’s discussion; then returned to Troy and in conjunction with his son Milton preached in Canton, Granville, and Smithfield. In 1850 he was called to the pastorate of the Church of the Disciples on Seventh Street, New York, and was here eight years; while here he became a member of the American Bible Union for translating the Scriptures, and his translations rank unexcelled. The death of his son Milton recalled him to Troy, June 1, 1853; there he built the house now Hon. Delos Rockwell’s. In 1858 he made a tour of Europe, Egypt, and the Holy Land. On his return he spent 1861-62 as pastor of the Central Christian Church, of Cincinnati, when he returned to Troy and now divided his time between this place and New York, at work at the Bible Union, and lecturing. In 1864 he was candidate for State Senator on the People's tickets, and with his party was defeated. In 1865 he went to Indianapolis, and was pastor of the church in that place, and 1867 he took charge of the new Hiram College of Ohio-a self educated man at the head of a great institution of learning! He was now called to Troy by the illness of his wife, and again took up his abode and the work of preaching, and his pen was busy writing those strong and vigorous articles that marked the columns of the Christian Standard and the Christian Quarterly of which he was one of the founders, editing the latter many years; and of the good man gone it was said: "Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel?"
Dr. Samuel W. Shepard, was born in New Berlin, Chenango (then Broome) County, New York. When one-year-old his parents moved to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where he attended school from five until ten years of age; thence to Bradford County, attending school in Canton and Granville townships until fifteen years of age; thence traveled through Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Virginia, and returned in January, 1838, after nearly four years spent in the then "far west." He married Amanda, daughter of Scovil Bailey, of Granville, and settled on a farm; having studied medicine several years in various ways as Regular, Thomsonian, or Eclectic, he commenced the practice in a small neighborhood, and, in 1846, studying Homeopathy under his brother, Silas E. Shepard, M.D., who was in practice in Troy. His brother removing to New York City, Dr. Samuel took his practice in Western Bradford, and has continued with wonderful success until the present time; but now, being in his seventy-third year, he cares not to be burdened with the sick. In politics, he is always a Democrat. He has held all of the township offices, from school director to Justice of the peace, and was three years County auditors; in 1855 he was Democratic nominee for Representative, receiving every vote in Troy Township and borough, but a coalition of the Free-Soilers and Whigs defeated the Democrats. In religion he is a Disciple. Dr. S. W. Shepard and Amanda Bailey were joined in wedlock, September 2, 1838. She was a daughter of Scovil and Jerusha (Hail) Bailey, of Granville Township, formerly of Connecticut, and of this marriage were four children; the eldest, Jersuha E., born Oct. 27, 1841, married May 7, 1872, William J. Hillis, M.D., of Herrick, who died in 1888. She has three children-two daughters and one son. Lovinia, born Sept. 25, 1844, married H. M. Spalding, son of Andrew Spalding, of Canton; they have four children-one daughter and three sons. O’Meara, born in 1847, of Granville Centre, a farmer, has three sons, Earnest, Samuel, and George, of Granville Centre, and Philena, married to AM Wooster of Granville; they are now living in Troy. Mrs. Wooster has three sons, making thirteen grandchildren, all healthy and understanding the principles of homeopathy. The Doctor has but one brother now living, out of eleven children-eight sons and three daughters. The brother, Lysander Curtis Shepard, Esq., was born in April 1814, and never remembers of being confined to the house one day by sickness. He has lived in Fallbrook, Tioga County, Pennsylvania, about thirty-five years, except six years in Raleigh, North Carolina. When in Fallbrook he held the office of Justice of the peace the entire time while there. He has three sons and one daughter living, having lost two daughters. The Doctor’s relatives are very numerous on the maternal and paternal sides, living in every State of the Union.
Morris Shepard, ex sheriff, Towanda, and one of the most prominent farmers of Bradford County, has been County Commissioner and turned over the office of sheriff to his successor. He was born April 18, 1838, in Wells Township, where is his find farm, a son of Nathan and Jane (Case) Shepard, natives of New Jersey and of English and Scotch descent, respectively. His parents were agriculturalists who came to Bradford County in 1836, and located in Wells Township on their farm, where the father died in 1862, and reared a family of six children, all of whom grew to their majority. Our subject, who is the third in order of birth, and was on the old homestead working as a farmer's boy, and attending the schools in about their average way and manner, commenced life for himself with no other hope or ambition than that of being a good farmer. But his neighbors found him out in time, and by their suffrage made him County Commissioner, serving a term with distinguished credit, and returned to his farm and private life; but in 1887 they again called on him to stand for sheriff, and he was elected. His farm is 186 acres of choice land in a high state of cultivation; the whole the proud product of his own energy and patient toil. He was married in Wells Township, May 10, 1862, to Mary Jewell, daughter of Rev. Joel Jewell, minister of the Presbyterian Church, and to this marriage have been born children as follows: Charles N., Perry, (died age three years) and Orpha May. The family worshiped at the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Shepard is a member of Trojan Lodge, No. 306, F. and AM, Troy, Pennsylvania, and is a staunch Republican.
O’Meara Shepherd, farmer, PO Granville Centre, was born in Granville Township, this County, March 30, 1847, a son of Dr. Samuel W. and Amanda (Bailey) Shepard. His maternal grandparents Scovil and Jerusha (Hale) Bailey, natives of Connecticut, were pioneers of Granville, where they settled in 1801. The subject of this memoir was reared in Granville, received the public school education and learned the carpenter’s trade, which he followed ten years. In 1878 he located in LeRoy Township, where he was engaged in farming five years, and has occupied his present farm in Granville Township since 1883. He married, Nov. 24, 1869, Jennie, daughter of William and Roselta M. (Fitzgerald) Bunyan, of Granville. Mrs. Shepard's father, who was a native of Melrose, Scotland, a carpenter by trade, settled in Granville about 1838, and cleared the farm on what is known as Bunyan Hill where he died there. His wife was a native of New York, and by her he had eleven children: Mary (Mrs. John Jackson); Ann (Mrs. S. C. Wright); William; Silas (killed at the battle of Fort Johnson, July 3, 1863; he was in Co. E., 52nd regiment PVI); Andrew; Frank; Margaret (Mrs. Newton Landon); Jeanette (wife of the subject); Effie (Mrs. J. W. Duart); George L., and Alice (Mrs. Dayton Saxton). Mr. and Mrs. Shepard have three sons: Ernest N., Samuel W., and George B. Mr. Shepard is a highly respected citizen.
Robert B. Sheridan, foundryman, Athens, is a native of the city of Cork, Providence of Munster, Ireland, where he was born in October 1840, and is a son of Robert and Hanora (Shanahan) Sheridan, natives of Ireland. His father was a mechanic, and worked in the dockyards, and died in 1849, in his forty-second year, and his widow is now a resident of Towanda. When the son was nine years
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