| 6. | Thomas Shepherd was born in 1705 (son of William Shepherd and Sarah, son of William Shepherd and Sarah); died in 1776 in Shepherdstown, Jefferson County, WV. Notes:
"SHEPHERD AND RELATED FAMILIES" by Frank Shepherd (1858-?) Pub. 1943
(Indiana State Library, Indianapolis, IN) "Washington Co. MD was set
off from Prince George County. It would appear that Capt. Thomas had
in all probability, been living in MD before his marriage to Elizabeth
Van Meter....It is supposed that the Shepherds came to this country
from England...in 1890 Mrs. Abraham Shepherd of Shepherdstown had in
her possession by inheritance a piece of ancestral plate upon which
was engraved a crest or coat of arms that almost an exact copy of the
one that has been used by the Shepherds of Devonshire, England for
many centuries." "In a will of a Thomas Shepherd probated in Cecil
County MD we find: 'To my cousin, Thomas Shepherd of Columpton in
Devonshire in the Province of Old England, the sum of fifty pounds.'"
"The spot Thomas Shepherd and his wife chose for their home was on
the west bank of the Potomac River about a mile above the Packhorse
Ford, the only fordable crossing for many miles either way. It had
been used by the Indians for centuries and at that time by the 'Old
Winderness Road' traveled by the settlers on their way up the Valley
of Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, KY, Tenn. and Georgia.
It became the historic artery thru which flowed the stream of
emigrants that settled up this country." "To the original 222
acres--the homestead--Thomas Shepherd added by purchase on June 12,
1751 from Lord Fairfax 450 acres,...1762 from Richard Morgan 50 acres,
...1768 Lord Fairfax deeds him 222 acres more. Thus by purchase they
had acquired almost 1000 acres. Elizabeth...inherited from the estate
of her father John Van Meter III, 300 acres a part of his homestead in
Frederick County VA...in addition 160 acre tract in Prince George County
MD...they possess more than 1400 acres of land." "Thomas Shepherd
was shrewd enough to realize the value and importance of a location
along this Old Wilderness Road and its strategic advantages for barter
and trade with the Indians as well as the white settlers who were
pouring over his land like a stream on their way to points further
south." "Before Shepherd had settled here a few German mechanics
from Lancaster and York County PA attracted by the latent waterpower of
the little stream....to encourage them to become permanent residents
he put a dam across the stream and put in a sawmill and gristmill for
them to work in. Shepherd himself was a miller by trade and some of
his sons in later years followed the trade." "To protect his own
family (from the Indians) and the people in the little village
springing up around them Thomas Shepherd built a fort in the center of
it to which they might flee in times of any Indian trouble. This fort
was built of stone but in 1812 this was replaced with a brick
building. It would seem probable that it was the building of this
fort that gave him the title of Captain Thomas Shepherd." "The
village was first called Mechlenburg by its German...The name was
changed to Shepherdstown after the death of the founder in 1776.
Shepherdstown is said to be the oldest chartered town in the state."
"It was here that Thomas Shepherd and his wife spent their entire
married life. In their religious beliefs they attended the Episcopal
Church...Thomas and his sons were ardent patriots and took an active
part in political life. They were men of ability and...strong
partisans of the colonists....They were among those who advocated a
complete separation from British authority. When the struggle came,
four of his sons were in the army (David, Col. on western frontier;
William, Westmoreland militia and western border; John, pvt. in 4th VA
Regulars; Abraham, Capt. in vicinity of home and at Cambridge, Mass.).
Capt. Thomas did not live to see the final outcome of the war, but
died in the summerof 1776...Both he and his wife are buried int the
family cemetery in the village....Capt. Shepherd was tall and rather
slender in form."
U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900
about Thomas Shepherd
Name: Thomas Shepherd
Gender: male
Spouse Name: Elizabeth Van Metre
Spouse
Birth Place: NJ
Spouse Birth Year: 1715
Marriage
Year: 1733
Number Pages: 1
Capt. Thomas Shepherd's Land holdings and Connection with Geo. Washington
Thomas Shepherd Sr. was a man of vision and settled on the west bank of the Potomac River above the only fordable crossing in that section of the river. His land, 222 acres, was patented, Oct. 3, 1734.
A little village grew on the west bank called "Pack Horse Ford", and was marked on the maps of the time as on the "Old Wilderness Road", the historic passageway to the territory to the West, used since ancient times by the Indians.
Thomas Shepherd Sr. platted his town lots at this site and sold them the same as land developers do today. Thomas Shepherd purchased 457 acres from Lord Fairfax on 12 June 1751. This land was adjacent on the west of his patent land to present-da y Mechlenburg Heights at John VanMeter's (Thomas's father-in-law) 1,786 acre land patent of 1734. (Tract 132, Map 2 of Cecil O'Dell's book). The land then runs south along VanMeter's east line to John Welton's 1734 patent of 442 acres at the sou thwest line. (Tract 23, Map 1 from Cecil O'Dell's book). On the east side of his patent land, Thomas purchased 50 acres from Richard Morgan's 155 acre Fairfax grant.
Adjacent to this 50 acres, he bought 32 acres from Fairfax on 15 January 1768, east of today's Shepherdstown, about one-half mile along the edge of the Potomac River.
Thomas Shepherd petitioned the Orange County Court on 26 February 1737/38 requesting to be discharged as constable-Sherundo as soon as Richard Morgan was sworn in his place. He built a grist mill and sawmill on his 222 acre patent land, and by 1 776, he had a new mill erected on his 457 acre grant land.
Permission to establish a ferry across the Potomac River was granted by an act of the Assembly of Virginia in October 1762 to Thomas and in November 1762 he was authorized to erect the town of Mechlenburg. After his death (in 1776) the name wa s changed by an act of the Virginia Assembly to Shepherdstown. The first lots in the town were sold on 21 July 1764.
These were the times of George Washington, land surveyor and Virginia militiaman. Captain Thomas Shepherd Sr., based on the records, was an acquaintance of George Washington. Voting records for the election of the Commanding Officer of the Virgi nia Militia exist showing that Thomas voted for George to be Commanding Officer.
His will was written 23 March 1776 and was proved on 20 August 1776. He bequeathed the sawmill and acreage to son William, the grist mill and acreage to son Thomas, the new mill and acreage to son John, the remaining land to son Abraham, two acr es and house to wife Elizabeth, a Mechlenburg lot to grandson Thomas Thornburg and 100 pounds each to his daughters Mary, Sarah and Elizabeth plus lots in Mechlenburg to Susannah and fifty pounds to Martha.
Elizabeth's will was written July 10, 1786, and was probated June 18, 1793. It is recorded in will Book #2 at Martinsburg, Berkley County, WV. When Thomas, her husband, died, he left a large estate.
Thomas married Elizabeth Van Meter about 1733 in Monacacy, Frederick, Virginia. Elizabeth (daughter of John Van Metre and Margaret Mollenauer) was born in 1715 in Somerset County, NJ; died in 1792 in Shepherdstown, Jefferson County, WV. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
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Carl & Elaine (Grove) Rhodes' Genealogy Pages
1774 - 1774