MAJOR-GENERAL AMOS SHEPARD.
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��MAJOR GENERAL AMOS SHEPARD.
��BY REV. SILAS KETCHUM, WINDSOR, CONN.
��Jonathan Shepard, of Coventry, Connecticut, a farmer of English descent, married Love Palmer, of Stonington, and to them were born seven sons and three daughters. He subsequently married Polly Underwood, probably in Connecticut, by whom he had one daughter.
His sons were Jonathan, Oliver, Na- thaniel, Amos, Simeon, Joshua and Roswell. In this order are they given by Rev. Seth S. Arnold, in his Histori- cal Sketches of Alstead, and in a mem- orandum, in the hand of Gen. Amos Shepard, 1777, and this is probably the order of their birth. His daugh- ters, by Love Palmer, were Prudence, who married John Ladd, of Coventry ; Anne, who married Silas King, of the same town, neither of whom resided in New Hampshire ; and Love, who mar- ried (after April 24, 1788) Daniel Morley, of Alstead, and had daughters, Love, Percis-Scott and Anne ; and sons, Daniel and Nathaniel.
Jonathan (Jr.) married Hannah Ben- jamin, of Hartford, Conn., was a shoe- maker by trade, and had six sons ; among them Elisha, Ralph, Amos and Levi ; and one daughter.
Oliver married, in November, 1775, Zerviah Hatch, theirs being the first marriage in Alstead between parties both belonging in town. They had two sons ; one of whom was William ; and two daughters. He was a captain, probably in the Revolutionary war ; certainly not in the militia reorganized in 1 791 ; represented Alstead in the Provincial Congress at Exeter, 1775; and nine years in the legislature ; and died August, 1S30, M. 87.
Nathaniel married Lois Marvin ; no issue.
Amos is the subject of this sketch.
Simeon married Rachel Brooks, and
��had four sons ; among them Gardner, Luke and Roswell; and four daughters.
Joshua married Lucy Farnsworth, and had three sons, Cadwell, Chauncey, and Joshua ; and four daughters.
Roswell is said (by Arnold) to have died in minority. He died in 1776. He left an estate which was divided among his brothers and sisters. This estate was the proceeds of the lot of land, deeded 15 January, 1777, to his brother Amos (vid. infra), which was conveyed to him by deed from his father, 24 June, 1774, for ^"5, as per record in Cheshire County, Lib. B, Fol. 460.
Alstead is thought to have been first granted under the name of Newton, but that, the conditions of the grant not being fulfilled, the charter was for- feited. It was chartered under its present name in August, 1 763, by Gov. Benning Wentvvorth, .and settlements commenced soon after. It is well known that the peculiarly exposed and unprotected condition of these towns, in the western part of the state, pre- vented or retarded for some years their settlement and growth. But in 1 771, Alstead had twenty-five families of actual residents, and ten other men improving their land with the intention of becoming such. Nevertheless, the terms of the charter not having been fully complied with, the inhabitants petitioned Gov. John Wentworth and His Majesty's Council, "13 Jeneuary, 1772," for an extension of time.
Jonathan Shepard, Senior, came from Coventry, Connecticut, to Alstead in 1 768, and soon after, probably the next year, removed a portion of his family thither. Of his seven sons, Jonathan and Amos married in Connecticut ; Roswell died unmarried ; all the rest married in Alstead, where all became
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