My Genealogy Hound

John Allen Shepard, farmer and stock raiser, was born In Vermilion County, Ind., in 1828, and is a son of Hiram and Linda (Markham) Shepard, who were born, reared and married in Kentucky, the latter event taking place in 1816. They resided on a farm in their native State until 1826, then moving to Indiana, where the father worked at the blacksmith’s trade until 1832. They then returned to Kentucky, and eventually became the owners of a fine farm of 400 acres, but sold out and came to Arkansas in 1859, where he died in 1868. His wife died December 3, 1849. They became the parents of six children, only three of whom lived to maturity: James, Rhoda J. and John A. The latter was reared on a farm and learned the blacksmith’s trade of his father. In 1851 he was married to Mill Frances Wilson, and after farming in his native State until 1857 moved to Randolph County, Ark., and engaged in farming. His wife was born in Virginia, and died in 1861, being a daughter of James Wilson, who was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and the mother of five children, all of whom are dead. In 1862 Mr. Shepard joined the Confederate army, and was on active duty, under Gen. Price, until the close of the war. He then returned to his farm in Randolph County, and in connection with his agricultural labors worked at his trade. In 1865 he was married to Mary S. Killcrese, of Randolph County, and in 1870 came to Washington County, and has since been a farmer of the county. He has 175 acres of land, with ninety acres under cultivation, on which are good buildings and a nice orchard. Mrs. Shepard was born and reared in Mississippi, and is the mother of nine children: Celert, wife of James Graham; Ben, John, Clyde, Quincy, Hiram, Lambert, Everett and Mary. The family are members of the Missionary Baptist Church.