Posted on: Jackson County, WV Bios Reply Here: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/WV/JacksonBios/152 Surname: SHEPPARD, ROWLEY, LOCKHART, DAWKINS, EDWARDS, MOREHEAD, HOWES, ENOCH, MAGEE, DEWITT, CARNEY, WIBLIN, ANDERSON ------------------------- This sketch taken from "Pioneers of Jackson County", by John House, it appears in the section "Middle Sandy Valley". Sheppard Family The first place about the mouth of Trace is where the man Rowley lived, about 1835. There are a few old apple trees standing yet, and the house was still there when the bridge was built across Sandy below, the workmen using it to shanty in. The weight of evidence seems to show that the first settlement on the farm by the bridge was ade (unless the Rowley clearing was on the same farm and earlier) by James Sheppard, and the crossing is still known as the "Old Sheppard Ford." He was a son – I think the oldest – of Jonathan Sheppard, and married Margaret Lockhart, a daughter of William Lockhart, and first settled on Right Reedy, across the creek from the Pisgah Church. He was living on Sandy as early as 1835 or 1836. He died on his farm at the ford, and his widow was still living there in 1850, says Jeff Dawkins. The names of five children are given: Martha Sheppard married Lewis Edwards. Isaac Sheppard married Margaret Morehead. William Sheppard married Eliza Howes. Eliza Sheppard married Isaac Enoch. James Sheppard went away on a produce boat, and never returned. The site of the Sheppard home is not given. Probably it was a short distance below the mouth of Beattie's Run. A few old apple trees yet mark the site of each building. Mrs. Magee said that a man named Sheppard lived in the one on the east side of the creek, and an old man and his wife, a connection of his, on the west, and that the old people and Sheppard's family fell before the scourge, the "Sandy Fever." Certain it is that this location is in the very heart of the pestilence stricken section. Henry Sheppard is probably the man referred to, as he is said to have lived here. A detailed history of the Sheppard Family will be found in the History of Reedy Valley. A man maned Dewitt is said to have lived, and died, in the lower house. Jeff Dawkins said Alex Dewitt, married Miriam Carney, sister to Joe Howe's wife, lived there in 1850. A man named Wiblin, if I understood Mr. Anderson right, moved one spring into the West house, saying "Give me plenty of whiskey and bacon and I'm not afraid of Sandy Fever". Before fall, he was dead.