Person:John Shepard (18)

John Shepard's Date of Birth

There is obvious disagreement over the birth date of John. The records of the church^S5 presumably give the children in birth order, making John born before Sarah (whose birth was recorded in 1655). This is confirmed by the will of Rebecca's brother Thomas Greenhill, dated 16 Jul 1653 (Manwaring, p. 1:119), which names "Rebeckah Shepherds two children, John and Rebeckah Shepherd". Assuming Savage^S2 is converting 1657 of the Cambridge VRs^S3 to the modern equivalent of 1658, these two sources both appear to be the same, and both probably represent a misreading of the original record. Not seeing the original record, we can only guess that the actual digit could be either a 1, i.e., 1651/52 (especially a continental style one), or a 2, i.e., 1652/53. Paige^S4 goes with the first, Shepard^S1 goes with the second. Either one places his birth nicely in the gap between Rebecca and Sarah.

"Not all of the … children [of John² Shepard] had their births entered in the vital records of Cambridge, but the birth of Sarah is entered as 5 Mar. 1655 [i.e., 1655/6], and that of John is entered (if we trust the printed record) as 22 Jan. 1657 [i.e., 1657/8], which Savage [Gen. Dict.] renders of course as 1658. But Paige in his History of Cambridge (1877), while agreeing as to other stated dates of the children, gives the birth of John as 22 Jan. 1651/2, which implies that he read the entry as 1651 rather than as 1657. This enabled him to follow the careful Mitchell as to the order of birth of the first four children, and a study of Mitchell's entries shows that he was in the habit of listing the children by age, regardless of sex. In view of this, and considering how easy it is in reading some of the old scripts to mistake a '1' hooked at the top for a '7', the editor has decided to follow Paige and Mitchell rather than Savage and the more recently printed vital records. This conclusion, indeed, is virtually proved by the [16 July] 1653 will of Mrs. Shepard's brother, Thomas Greenhill, which named "her two children, John and Rebeckah Shepherd," showing that John was born before 1653."^[6]

The Estate of Deacon John Shepard of Hartford

"Probate Records. Vol. XII, 1732 to 1737. Page 359.

Shepherd, Deacon John, Hartford. Invt. £557-00-07. Taken 7 April, 1736, by Benjamin Catling and John Skinner, Jr. Will dated 1st August, 1728.

I, John Shepherd of Hartford, do make this my last will and testament: I give to my wife, besides the joynture I gave her at marriage, 20 loads of wood a year, yearly, during her naturall life or so long as she remaineth my widow, to be paid by my executors hereafter named. I give to the children of my son John Shepherd, late of Milford decd., £30, that is to say, to his eldest son John £10, and to his daughter Rebeckah £5, and to his daughter Abigail £5, and to his son Timothy £5, and to his daughter Hannah £5, to be paid by my executors hereafter named. I give to my son Samuel my lot called the wood lott, containing three acres; and my swamp lott in the south meadow, containing two acres and a rood; and also I give to my son Samuel the 1-2 of my tools. I give to my grandson John, the eldest son of my son Samuell Shepherd, my now dwelling house, shop, barn and orchard, and two acres of land at home, he paying £80 to his father, my executor, only the widow is to have her part of it during her life. I give to my son Joseph a piece of land called my lower lot, neare home, containing foure acres and a half; also I give to my son Joseph my lot at the Sands in the south meadow, containing 2 1-2 acres, and my tools. Also, I order my executors to pay to him £30. I give to the children of my daughter Hannah, besides what she formerly received, £15, that is to say, to her eldest daughter Jane £5, and to her son Charles £5, and to her daughter Hannah £5. Also, I give to Mehetabell £5. I give to my son Samuell Shepherd, after my just debts are paid and funerall charges discharged, all the rest of my moveable estate. And I likewise constitute, make and ordain my son, Samuell Shepherd, and Thomas Richards, to be my sole executors.

John Shepherd, LS.

Witness: Jonathan Butler, Thomas Burkett, Elizabeth Wyllys.

Court Record, Page 46—6 April, 1736: Will now exhibited by Samuel Shepherd and Thomas Richards, executors. Proven.

Page 45—6 April, 1736: John Shepherd of Milford, son of John Shepherd decd., appeals from the judgement of this Court in the approbation of this will of the sd. John Shepherd of Hartford decd., unto the Superior Court at Hartford, 2d Tuesday of September next."^[7]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} Shepard, James; Ann Elizabeth Bontecou Shepherd; and Naman Sheppard. Descendants of Edward Shepard, Cambridge, Mass. (1639). (Boston: David Clapp & son, 1878)
   7.

   John Shepard, s/o John, b. 22 Jan 1653, died between 1 Aug 1728 (will) and 6 Apr 1736 (proved), m. (1) 12 May 1680 Hannah Peck, m. (2) Mary (Benton) Bigelow.

2. ↑ Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England: Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co, 1860-1862)
   4:74-75.

   JOHN, Cambridge, prob. br. of Edward, m. 4 Oct 1649 , Rebecca, d. of Samuel Greenhill, had ... John, 22 Jan. 1658 ...
   
   JOHN, Hartford, s. of John of Cambridge, m. 12 May 1680, Hannah, d. of Paul Peck, wh. d. bef. Dec. 1695; and he m. third w. 18 May 1712, Mary Bigelow, wid. of Jonathan, was deac. and d. 1736. His wid. d. 23 Dec. 1752. By his first w. he had John, b. 1 Nov. 1681; Samuel, 2 Feb. 1684; Hannah, 29 Jan. 1688; Joseph, 29 Apr. 1689; and by sec. w. whose name is not found, had Timothy, 7 June 1697, wh. d. young; and Rebecca, 20 May 1698. By ano. acco. Rebecca was b. 20 May 1695, and Timothy, 7 June 1698; and both d. young.

3. ↑ Baldwin, Thomas W. Vital Records of Cambridge, Massachusetts, to the Year of 1850. (Boston: Wright & Potter Printing Co., 1914-15)
   1:638.

   Shepard, Jno, s. of Jno and Rebecca, [born] Jan. 22, 1657.

4. ↑ Paige, Lucius Robinson. History of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1630-1877: With a Genealogical Register. (Boston, Massachusetts: H. O. Houghton, 1877)
   654.

   Shepard, s. of Edward, m. Rebecca Greenhill 4 Oct 1649, and had ... John, b. 22 Jan 1651-2 ...

5. ↑ Sharples, Stephen Paschall. Records of the Church of Christ at Cambridge in New England, 1632-1830: comprising the ministerial records of baptisms, marriages, deaths, admission to covenant and communion, dismissals and church proceedings. (Boston, Massachusetts: Eben Putnam, 1906)
   15.

   List of Members in the Church of Cambridge [undated records apparently recorded in 1658]
   John Shepard (Son of Edward Shepard beforenamed) & his wife both in full Comm.
   Their children Rebecca, John, Sarah, Violet } all borne & baptized in this Church.

6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5} Shepard, Gerald Faulkner, and Donald Lines Jacobus. The Shepard Families of New England. (New Haven [Connecticut]: New Haven Colony Historical Society, 1971-1973)
   2:3, 9-11.
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5} Shepard, Deacon John, Hartford, in Manwaring, Charles W. A Digest of the Early Connecticut Probate Records. (Hartford, Conn.: R. S. Peck & Co., 1904-06)
   3:197.