Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/526

496 pearing on the town-records as Sheple. Several of his ancestors held local offices, one of whom, Joseph, was a member of the State convention of 1788, where he opposed the adoption of the constitution of the United States. John entered Harvard in the class of 1806, but left before graduation, studied law and practised in Rutland and Fitchburg. Mass., served in the legislature, was a member of the con- vention for amending the state constitution, and in 1S25 went to Maine, where he formed a partner- ship with his brother Ether. For many years he was reporter of the decisions of the supreme court of Maine, and he published " Maine Reports " (Hal- lowell. 1836-'49). His brother. Ether, jurist, b. in Groton, Mass., 2 Nov., 1789; d. in Portland, Me.. 15 Jan., 1877, after graduation at Dartmouth in 1811', studied law at South Berwick, was admitted to the bar in 1814, and began to practise in Saco. He was a member of the legislature in 1819, a delegate to the convention that framed the constitution of Maine in 1820, and U. S. district attorney for that state from 1821 till 1833. He had removed to Portland about 1821. He was elected a U. S. sena- tor as a Democrat, serving from 2 Dec., 1833, till 3 March, 1836, when he resigned, having been chosen a justice of the supreme court of Maine, of which he was chief justice from 1848 until 1855. In 1856 he was appointed sole commissioner to revise the statutes of Maine. He received the degree of LL. D. from Waterville (now Colby University), in 1842, and from Dartmouth in 1845. While serving on the bench he furnished the materials for twenty- six volumes of reports, and published " The Re- vised Statutes of Maine" (Hallowell, 1857), and " Speech in Congress on the Removal of the De- posits," in which he vindicated the course of President Jackson (1857). Ether's son, George Forster, soldier, b. in Saco, Me., 1 Jan., 1819 ; d. in Portland, Me., 20 July, 1878, was graduated at Dartmouth in 1837, and, after studying law at Harvard, began practice in Bangor, Me., in 1840, but in 1844 removed to Portland. From 1853 till 1861 he was U. S. district attor- ney for Maine, during which period he ar- gued important cases in the U. S. supreme court. In 18GO he was a delegate at large to the National Demo- cratic convention in Charleston, and at- tended its adjourned session in Baltimore. He was commissioned colonel of the 12th Maine volunteers at the beginning of the civil war, and participated in Gen. Benjamin F. Butler's expedition against New Orleans, commanding as acting brigadier-general a brigade at Ship Island, and at the capture of New Orleans he led the 3d brigade. Army of the Gulf. On the occupation of that city he was appointed military commandant and acting mayor, and assigned to the command of its de- fences, resigning in June, 1862, when he was ap- pointed military governor of Louisiana, serving until 1864. On 18 July, 1862, he w:is made briga- dier-general of volunteers. After the inauguration of a civil governor of Louisiana, Gen. Shepley was placed in command of the military district of east- ern Virginia, became chief of staff to Gen. Godfrey Weitzel, and for a short time during the absence of that officer commanded the 25th army corps. He continued with the Army of the James to the end of the war, entered Richmond on 3 April, 1805. and was appointed the first military governor of that city. Resigning his commission on 1 July, 1865. he declined the appointment of associate judge of the supreme court of Maine, but in 1869 accepted that of U. S. circuit judge for the first circuit of Maine, which office he held until his death. Dart- mouth gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1878. His decisions are reported in Jabez S. Holmes's " Re- ports " (Boston. 1877).

SHEPPARD, Farman, lawyer, b. in Bridge- ton, N. J., 21 Nov.. 1823; d. 3 Nov., 1893. After graduation at Princeton in 1845 he studied law, and in 1848 was admitted to the bar of Philadel- phia, where he had since practised. He was dis- trict attorney in 1868-'71, and again in 1874-'?. In the latter term he gave special attention to the prompt despatch of criminal cases during the Cen- tennial exhibition of 1876. By establishing a mag- istrate's court on the exhibition grounds, he suc- ceeded in having offenders arrested, indicted, tried, and sentenced within a few hours after the com- mission of the offence. This rapid proceeding was popularly designated " Sheppard's railroad," and it entirely broke up the preparations of the crimi- nal class of the country for preying upon the thou- sands of daily visitors to the exhibition. For sev- eral years he had been a trustee of Jefferson medical college, a member of the American philosophical society, and an inspector of the Eastern state peni- tentiary in Philadelphia. Mr. Sheppard was the author of " The Constitutional Text-Book : a Practical and Familiar Exposition of the Consti- tution of the United States" (Philadelphia, 1855), and an abridged and modified edition of the same, entitled "The First Book of the Constitution" (1861). He had also contributed to the " Vocabu- lary of the Philosophical Sciences," edited by Prof. Charles P. Krauth, D. D.

'''SHEPPARD. John Hannibal''', author, b. in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England, 17 March, 1789 ; d. in Boston, Mass., 25 June, 1873. In 1793 his parents settled in Hallowell, Me. He was educated at Harvard, which he left in his junior year, but in 1867 the university placed his name among the graduates of 1808. He studied law. was admitted to the bar in 1810. and practised in Wiseassett, Me. From 1817 till 1834 he was register of probate for Lincoln county, and in 1842 he settled in Boston, Mass. He was an early and efficient member of the New England historic-genealogical society, its librarian in 1861-'9, and contributed to its " Regis- ter." The degree of A. M. was given to him by Bowdoin in 1830, and by Harvard in 1871. In addition to several masonic and antiquarian ad- dresses, he was the author of occasional poems, of " Reminiscences of the Vaughan Family " (Boston, 1865), and " The Life of Samuel Tucker, Commo- dore in the American Revolution " (1868).

SHEPPARD, Moses, philanthropist, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1771 ; d. in Baltimore, Md., 1 Feb., 1857. He was early thrown upon his own resources, owing to the forfeiture of the property of his father, Nathan Sheppard, who adhered tot he mother country during the Revolutionary war, and entered the employ of John Mitchell as a clerk. In a few years he was made partner, and after the death of Mr. Mitchell conducted the business alone, from which he retired in 1832. Mr. Sheppard took an active interest in the question of American slavery, in common with the Society of