HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



481 



by the Friends in 1779 for taking the oath 

 of allegiance to the United Colonies, and 

 refusing to acknowledge his sorrow there- 

 for. His wife Catharine having died, he 

 married (second) on April 23, 1801, Phebe" 

 Scott, who survived hjm, dying at the 

 residence of Thomas Smith, in Buckingham, 

 4 mo. 18, 1832, at the age of ninety-four 

 years, three months and four days. His 

 daughter Rachel married Joseph Burgess, 

 of Buckingham, 2 mo. 6, 1786. Joseph mar- 

 ried Sarah, daughter of John Carlile, 

 March 24, 1788. Margaret married Isaiah 

 Michener, 3 mo. 5, 1789; Jonathan mar- 

 ried out of meeting and was disowned in 

 1798; and Mary married Mechack Miche- 

 ner, March 30, 1793. 



Joseph Shepherd, grandfather of the sub- 

 ject of this sketch, as above stated, mar- 

 ried Sarah Carlile in 1788. By the will of 

 his father the Buckingham farm was de- 

 vised to the two sons, Joseph and Jonathan, 

 they paying the legacies to the daughters 

 and a dower to their stepmother. In 1820 

 they partitioned the farm between them, 

 Joseph getting the western half, fifty-seven 

 acres. He died in 1821, and the farm de- 

 scended to his eldest son, Cornelius, the 

 father of the subject of this sketch, who 

 spent his whole life thereon. The children 

 of Joseph and Sarah (Carlile) Shepherd 

 were : Elizabeth, married William Car- 

 min ; Rachel, married William Jones ; Re- 

 becca; Cornelius; John; Benjamin; and 

 Joseph. 



Cornelius Shepherd, the eldest son, was 

 bom on the old homestead in 1797, and 

 died there in 1881. With the exception of 

 a few years prior to the death of his grand- 

 father, when his parents resided in New 

 Britain, his whole life was spent on this 

 farm. In politics he was a Democrat, and 

 took an active part in the councils of his 

 party. He served one term as director of 

 the poor. In religion, he conformed to the 

 principles of the Friends, whose meetings 

 he and his family attended. He was a 

 member of Doylestown Lodge, I. O. O. F., 

 and was an active and influential man in the 

 community. He married Jane, daughter of 

 Eli and Rachel (BradshawO Fell, who was 

 born 2 mo. 12, 1809, on an adjoining farm, 

 and a descendant of one of the oldest fami- 

 lies in the neighborhood, an account of 

 which is given in this work. She was a 

 granddaughter of Seneca and Grace (Holt) 

 Fell, great-granddaughter of John and 

 Elizabeth (Hartley) Fell, and great-great- 

 granddaughter of Benjamin and Hannah 

 (Scarborough) Fell. 



Cornelius and Jane (Fell) Shepherd were 

 the parents of eleven children, seven of 

 whom grew to maturity, viz. : Joseph, born 

 7 mo. 6, 1828, now living in Philadelphia; 

 Elizabeth, born 9 mo. 25, 1829, widow of 

 Robert Long, now living with her son, 

 ^Varren S. Long, at Doylestown; Martha 

 / nn, born 2 mo. 8, 1833, widow of Robert 

 A -mstrong, now living at Lock Haven, 

 I msylvania ; Carlile ; Cornelius, born 

 I lo. 20, 1837, an eminent physician of 

 31-3 



Trenton, New Jersey, died 1902 ; Sarah 

 Jane, born 8 mo. 9, 1840, unmarried, living 

 with her brother Carlile; Watson F., born 

 12 mo. 28, 1843, a lawyer at Pottsville, 

 Pennsylvania. Jane (Fell) Shepherd died 

 7 mo., 1889. 



The subject of this sketch, born 10 mo. 

 19, 1834, was reared on the old homestead 

 and acquired his education at the public 

 schools. He has never followed any other 

 vocation than that of a farmer except that 

 he taught school a part of a term as a 

 substitute for an uncle. He remained on 

 the homestead until 1883, from which time 

 until 1902 he farmed in Buckingham as a 

 renter. In the latter year he purchased his 

 present farm of thirty-five acres. In poli- 

 tics he is a Democrat ; he was elected in 

 1892 to the state legislature and served one 

 term. He is a member of the Presbyterian 

 church of Doylestown, of which he has been 

 an elder for thirty years. He has been the 

 superintendent of the Sabbath school at 

 Friendship School for thirty years. He 

 married in 1867 Hannah B. Overholt, 

 daughter of Samuel and Mary Ann (Pick- 

 ering) Overholt, of Chester county, Penn- 

 sylvania. She died in April, 1888. Mr. and 

 Mrs. Shepherd were the parents of three 

 children — Harry W., deceased; Wilmer S., 

 now in the stationery business in Philadel- 

 phia ; and Laura P., wife of Robert Mc- 

 Neal}', in the employ of the Easton Electric 

 Railway Company. 



HENRY C. SHEPHERD, of Bucking- 

 ham, was born in that township, and is a 

 son of John Carlile, and Elmina (Shaw) 

 Shepherd. On the paternal side he is a 

 descendant of the family mentioned in the 

 preceding sketch, being a grandson of 

 Joseph and Sarah (Carlile) Shepherd, and 

 great-grandson of Cornelius and Katharine 

 Shepherd, who migrated from Baltimore 

 county, ]\Iaryland, to Buckingham in 1775. 



John C. Shepherd, the father of the sub- 

 ject of this sketch, was born on the old 

 homestead in Buckingham, and in early life 

 learned the trade of a shoemaker and fol- 

 lowed that occupation in Plumstead town- 

 ship for several years. In 1850 he pur- 

 chased the farm of 126 acres in Bucking- 

 ham, nowr owned by the subject of this 

 sketch, where he resided from that date 

 until his death in 1883. He was an active 

 worker in the Democratic party, and served 

 one term as coroner of the county, 1855- 

 1857. He was for many years a trustee 

 of the Hughesian Free School, and ^Iso a 

 director of the public schools. In religion 

 he was a Friend. His wife. Elmina Shaw, 

 was a daughter of Aaron and Susanna 

 (Brown) Shaw, and was born in Plum- 

 stead township, May 4, 1814, and was mar- 

 ried to John C. Shepherd, April 4, 1838. 

 She died April 29, 18S6. 



The pioneer ancestor of this branch of 

 the Shaw family was John Shaw, a native 

 of England, who settled in Northampton 



