David Shepard (October 23, 1744 – December 12, 1818) was an American doctor, a member of the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...

, a

Minuteman Minutemen were members of the organized New England colonial militia companies trained in weaponry, tactics, and military strategies during the American Revolutionary War. They were known for being ready at a minute's notice, hence the name. Mi ...

, and surgeon in the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

. He was an early proponent of inoculation to prevent smallpox. Shepard was present at several key battles of the American Revolution, usually acting in a medical capacity, as a military surgeon.

Biography

Early life (1744–1761)

David Shepard was born in

Westfield, Massachusetts Westfield is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, Hampden County, in the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts, United States. Westfield was first settled by Europeans in 1660. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield metrop ...

, to John and Elizabeth (Noble) Shepard, their eighth child of nine.

Yale college (1762–1769)

A Front View of Yale College and the College Chapel New Haven printed by Daniel Bowen

Shepard attended Yale at a time when the student body was caught up in the rebellious spirit of the 1760s. The students stopped going to classes and prayers and generally abused the tutors, who resigned. They would frequently speak against the

British Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremacy ...

in chapel, and petitioned the Corporation with their grievances, insisting on the removal of the disciplinarian president

Thomas Clap Thomas Clap or Thomas Clapp (June 26, 1703 – January 7, 1767) was an American academic and educator, a Congregational minister, and college administrator. He was both the fifth rector and the earliest official to be called "president" of Yale Co ...

. Things at the college had become so difficult the Corporation ordered an early spring vacation, and David Shepard was one of the few undergraduates that returned. Despite the reduced student body, things continued this way until the end of the term. Commencements were usually celebrated with copious amounts of alcohol, despite the students resolving to drink no "foreign spiritous Liquors any more."A letter from Roswell Grant (Yale 1765) to his father, Capt. Ebenezer Grant, in Stiles, ''History,'' p311. The diary of one of Shepard's classmatesJoseph B. Wadsworth (Yale 1766) records on September 9, 1766—the day before commencement—that they were examined for their degrees in the afternoon, but only after getting "Liquer (sic) in readiness for Commencement." Shepard graduated (B.A.) that September at what would be Yale president Thomas Clap's last commencement before resigning, Friday, September 10, 1766. The next year David married Margaret Clap, daughter of Ezra Clap (Yale, 1740) on December 3, 1767. In 1769 David is included in a list of Master's degree candidates, his thesis relating to the nature of slow versus acute disease.David Shepard is listed as arguing for the affirmative, to the question, "An morbi Lenti, quàm Acutiores, magis sint periculosi?" in Yale College, ''Quæstiones.'' This is the same year that his wife died, leaving him with one daughter, also named Margaret.

Murrayfield, Mass. (1770–1774)

He removed to Murrayfield, Massachusetts (now called Chester) and married a second time to Lucinda Mather on January 7, 1773. They had six children: Mather, David, Lucinda, Harriet, Fanny and Horace. David Shepard was a Selectman of Murrayfield, serving throughout 1772–76, and for several years through the 1790s.

American Revolution (1775–1783)

As Boston's conflict with the royal government came to a head in 1773–75, Shepard was appointed to the Chester

Committee of Correspondence The committees of correspondence were, prior to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, a collection of American political organizations that sought to coordinate opposition to British Parliament and, later, support for American independe ...

. And at the battles of Lexington and Concord, April 19, 1775, he would serve as a volunteer surgeon.Gardner, "Danielson's regiment." p71,75. Following the

Lexington Alarm The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within ...

, Shepard went to Cambridge as captain of a company of Minutemen in the regiment commanded by Col.

Seth Pomeroy Seth Pomeroy (May 20, 1706 – February 19, 1777) was an American gunsmith and soldier from Northampton, Massachusetts. His military service included the French and Indian War and the early stages of the American Revolutionary War. He fought ...

. On arrival, April 28, 1775, he was appointed Surgeon of Danielson's RegimentDavid Shepard served in Danielson's regiment along with two of his elder brothers: John, serving as Lieutenant in Capt. Parks' company, and

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, serving as Lt. Col. of the regiment, and who would later play an important role in

Shays' Rebellion Shays Rebellion was an armed uprising in Western Massachusetts and Worcester in response to a debt crisis among the citizenry and in opposition to the state government's increased efforts to collect taxes both on individuals and their trades. The ...

and remained at the fortifications in Roxbury, Mass. in that capacity through the remainder of that year. He served in the

Battle of Bunker Hill The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17, 1775, during the Siege of Boston in the first stage of the American Revolutionary War. The battle is named after Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts, which was peripherally involved in ...

. He later served with a detachment of the Third Hampshire County Regiment which marched to Ticonderoga to reinforce the army by order of General Schuyler,Jacobus, Donald Lines. ''The Shepard Families of New England.'' New Haven: New Haven Colony Historical Society. 1973. p104-105. and was present at the

Battle of Bennington The Battle of Bennington was a battle of the American Revolutionary War, part of the Saratoga campaign, that took place on August 16, 1777, on a farm owned by John Green in Walloomsac, New York, about from its namesake, Bennington, Vermont. A r ...

, August 16, 1777.

United States Constitution

At a town meeting on December 13, 1787, Shepard was chosen as Chester's delegate to the State Convention to meet at Boston in January. And, in January 1788, Shepard was recorded at Boston, Massachusetts where he served as representative of the town of Chester at a Constitutional Convention to consider a constitution reported in the summer of 1787 by the Constitutional Convention in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. On February 6 they formally ratified the U.S. Constitution, proceeding to the Boston State House for a reception. Shepard was reimbursed for his time and travel to a total of £14.14.0.

Amsterdam, N.Y. (1802–1818)

In 1802 Shepard purchased a farm near Amsterdam, N.Y., and resided there until his death. This farm later became the Fairview Cemetery (Amsterdam, New York).

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * Massachusetts, Office of the Secretary of State. (1906
''Massachusetts soldiers and sailors of the revolutionary war. A compilation from the archives prepared and published by the secretary of the commonwealth in accordance with chapter 100, resolves of 1891''
Boston: Wright and Potter Printing Co., State Printers. * * * * Yale College. ''Quæstiones pro modula discutiendæ sub reverendo D. Naphtali Daggett, Collegii-Yalensis, Quod est, Divina Providentia, Novo-Portu Connecticutensium, Præside, In Comitiis Publicis a Laureae Magistralis Candidatis, M,DCC,LXIX.'' Thomas & Samuel Green, Printers, 1769. {{DEFAULTSORT:Shepard, David 1744 births 1818 deaths 18th-century American physicians Massachusetts militiamen in the American Revolution Members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Yale University alumni Continental Army officers from Massachusetts People from colonial Massachusetts People from Westfield, Massachusetts