The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
State of Service: MA
Qualifying Service: Patriotic Service
An upright stone that is contemporary with the death of the Patriot. Remains of an old generic stake marker
Directions to Cemetery / Gravesite:
Author: Mark Andrew Davis
Jonathan Shepard was born on 23 March 1732 in Westfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts, a son of Jonathan Shepard and Rachel Lankton.
He married Miriam Strong, on 21 April 1754. Their known children were:
Miriam was born on 4 July 1755.
Jonathan was born on 6 February 1757.
Lovisa was born on 24 March 1759.
Elijah was born on 27 March 1763.
Oliver was born on 19 March 1765.
Isabel was born on 21 April 1769.
The town records of Blandford document the following: “At a meeting of the inhabitants of the town of Blandford, legally warned and assembled on Thursday the thirteenth day of June 1776 at the publick meeting house of said town, ___ as follows: Chosen Robert Blair, moderator; chosen Solomon Brown, Soloman Stewart; John Wilson; Robert Henry; David Hammiden; Jonathan Sheppard to serve as a Committee to collect sum money for those men that shall inlist [sic] into the government service to go to the northward….”
The selectmen of Bradford met on 11 April 1781 to discuss an order from the Constable to carry out a law from the State Legislator to provide additional troops to the militia. They voted on a proposal to create a committee of ten persons to classify the male inhabitants of Blandford. Among those ten men was Jonathan Shepard.
Jonathan died on 10 January 1800 in Blandford, Hampden County, and was buried at Blandford Cemetery.
Sources:
Find A Grave.com, digital record, Find A Grave (http://www.findagrave.com: accessed 25 June 2020), memorial for Jonathan Shepard, Find A Grave Memorial # 42269043, Blandford, Massachusetts.
Sons of the American Revolution, National Society, Louisville, Kentucky. Primary application of Robert Shepard Bourcier, National Number 159675.
Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Vital and Town Records. Utah. Provo: Holbrook Research Institute.
Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001, database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939V-YZ7G-B?cc=2061550&wc=Q4DM-6YM%3A353349501%2C353349502%2C353352001: 18 February 2020), Hampden, Blandford, Births 1765-1802, Massachusetts. Boston: Secretary of the Commonwealth.
Send a biographical sketch of your patriot!
Patriot biographies must be the original work of the author, and work submitted must not belong to another person or group, in observance with copyright law. Patriot biographies are to be written in complete sentences, follow the established rules of grammar, syntax and punctuation, be free of typographical errors, and follow a narrative format. The narrative should unfold in a logical manner (e.g. the narrative does not jump from time period to time period) or have repeated digressions, or tell the history of the patriot's line from the patriot ancestor to the author. The thinking here is that this is a patriot biography, not a lineage report or a kinship determination project or other report published in a genealogy journal. The biography should discuss the qualifying service (military, patriotic, civil) of the patriot ancestor, where the service was rendered, whether this was a specific state or Continental service, as well as significant events (as determined by the author) of the patriot's life. This is the entire purpose of a patriot's biography.
Additional guidelines around the Biography writeup can be found here:
Send your submission1, in a Microsoft Word compatible format, to patriotbios@sar.org for inclusion in this space 1Upon submission of a patriot biography, the patriot biography becomes the property of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and may be edited to conform to the patriot biography submission standards.