GEORGE B. SHEPHERD. This gentleman is one of the prosperous farmers and successful merchants of Stone County, Missouri, and has resided here since 1871, coming thither from the vicinity of Terre Haute, Indiana He was born in Floyd County, Kentucky, August 31, 1832, and was a son of David and Lucretia (Hale) Shepherd, both of whom were natives of Lee County, Virginia They were among the early pioneers of the Blue Grass State, and made their settlement at the head of Licking River where they improved a farm, and where the father also followed the-calling of a stone mason and did considerable contracting in this line in Louisville and other large cities of Kentucky. He died in that State when nearly one hundred years old, having been a Henry Clay Whig throughout life. He became possessed of a considerable amount of worldly goods and was the owner of a good farm and mill, which at the time of his death came into the possession of his children, who are named as follows: Abram, John, Benjamin, Dicey, Elizabeth, Bryce H., Jacob, David, George B. and Polly. John, Bryce H., George B. and Polly are the surviving members of this family. After the death of their mother the father took a second wife and by her had two children who are now living on the old homestead in Kentucky. The parents were members of the Christian Church and were highly esteemed in the section in which they resided. The paternal grand-father, Jonathan Shepherd, has a brother William, who was a colonel in the Revolutionary War, and was a participant in the battle of Bunker Hill. The maternal grandfather, Benjamin Hale, was of English descent, but a native of this country.
The subject of this sketch was but a lad at the time he left home and settled in Indiana and became a well-to-do tiller of the soil in the Hoosier State. In that State he married his first wife in 1855, she being Catherine Howk, by whom he had two children: Zilpha A., who married and died many years ago; and George M., who lives in Texas. The mother of these children died in Indiana. In 1861 Mr. Shepherd enlisted in the Forty-third Indiana Volunteer Infantry as a member of Company A, and served throughout the war, the last two years being a member of the veteran service. He was a participant of thirteen important engagements, among which may be mentioned Helena and Saline River, and was in a number of small battles and skirmishes. After the war he returned to Indiana where he tilled the soil until 1871, when he came to Stone County, Missouri, and purchased a farm which he has since increased to 260 acres, a portion of which is in the White River bottom and on the James River. He has been the proprietor of his present mercantile establishment since 1875, and in this as in his farming operations he has been successful. He is a prominent man of his section; has always been a stanch Republican in politics; has held the position of county judge for the south part of the county; has held the office of justice of the peace for ten years, and held the office of postmaster of Radical for sixteen years under both Republican and Democratic rule. Mr. Shepherd was married to his present wife, Mrs. Elizabeth (Bowman) Cox, in 1872, widow of Alexander B. Cox, who died shortly after the close of the war. She is a daughter of J. G. Bowman who was one of the early pioneers of Stone County, and was a man who became noted for his great strength, it being told of him that he at one time killed a female panther that sprung at him, with one blow of his fist. Mr. Bowman was killed by bushwhackers during the war, and though he was a Union man in principle he took no part in the great conflict. He was a man of wealth, but much of his property was destroyed during the war, his house being burned and much of his personal property carried away. Mrs. Bowman was a Yoachim and was said to be the first white woman to locate in Stone County. Her father, Jacob Yoachim was the first settler of the County, and located on White River at the mouth of the James. By her first husband, Mr. Cox, she became the mother of three children: Frankie, wife of James Taylor; J. T., and Jeanette, wife of Baker Clark, of Texas. She had borne Mr. Shepherd six children: Nancy J., wife of 0. B. McMonigle, of Stone County; James W., Henry C., May, Florence, and Grant U. S., who died young. Mr. Shepherd’s brother David lived in Stone County before the war, during which time he raised a company of Home Guards. He was a soldier of the Mexican War and died at Linn Creek, Missouri
