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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Saline County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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M. C. Shepherd, who occupies a place of prominence among the merchants, farmers, and well-known citizens of Saline County, was born in North Carolina in 1840, and was the youngest of three sons and five daughters born to his parents, the mother dying a few days after his birth, and the father when he was but six or seven years old. After the latter’s death the family became separated, and M. C. resided with different relatives in his native State until the year 1851, then coming to Saline County with a cousin, William Shepherd, with whom he remained until the Outbreak of the Civil War. On that occasion he joined Company A, Eleventh Arkansas Infantry, and fought gallantly for the Southern cause until his capture at Island No. 10, when he was taken to Camp Douglas, Ill., and confined for four or five months under a strong guard. He was afterward transferred to Vicksburg and exchanged, and again joined his command in time to take part in the battles of Jackson, Miss., Port Hudson, and a number of others. In 1864 he was promoted to the rank of sergeant, and was sent to Arkansas to look up deserters from the army, and while near his home was again captured, and this time taken to Little Rock, where he was compelled to take the oath of allegiance. In 1886 Mr. Shepherd was married to Sarah, a daughter of William T. and Sarah Poe, of Alabama, who moved to Arkansas about the year 1852, and settled in what is now Grant County. The father lived to an advanced age, and after the war was elected county judge of Grant County, and was also justice of the peace for his township. Mrs. Shepherd died one year after her marriage, and on June 15, 1867, Mr. Shepherd was married to Mary J., a daughter of Hiram and Elizabeth Hogue, of South Carolina and Tennessee, respectively, who moved from the latter State to Arkansas at an early period. The mother died in Grant County, but the father is still living and resides in Saline County. Ten children were born to Mr. Shepherd’s second marriage of whom two sons and four daughters are yet living. He first settled in Grant County, on arriving in Arkansas, and resided there until 1876, when he moved to Saline County, locating in Bryant. In 1879 he built the first store west of the railroad at Bryant, being compelled to cut away the brush in order to do so. He then sold goods at that place for several years, but finally returned to farm life, and continued at it for one year, when he established another store. He alternated between farming and merchandising until 1889, when he opened up his present store, and is now one of the leading and most enterprising merchants in his locality. Besides this business, he owns some 358 acres of fertile land, and has placed eighty acres under cultivation, all of it made by his own individual effort and good management. In politics he is a Democrat, casting his first presidential vote for Greeley in 1872, and has served as postmaster of Bryant for about four years. In secret societies he is a member of Bryant Lodge No. 441, A. F. & A. M., and in religious faith has belonged to the Missionary Baptist Church for about twenty-five years, while his estimable wife attends the Methodist Church.

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This family biography is one of 100 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Saline County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Saline County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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