Biography - Preston Shepherd
Preston SHEPHERD, farmer, P. O. Litchfield, was born in Kentucky on November 7, 1832. When an infant, he was brought to Illinois by his parents, who settled east of Hillsboro, Montgomery County, but, after a few years, removed to Section 15, North Litchfield Township; his father owned 120 acres of timber land there, and died on the farm where Bluford BANDY now lives, leaving a wife and four children, two of whom are deceased. Hiram SHEPHERD, the only brother of our subject, lives in the eastern part of Montgomery County. The widowed mother, Mrs. Anna (BROWN) SHEPHERD, died in 1846, leaving our subject at the age of fourteen, an orphan without means; she had been previously married to Mr. Henry HILL, and had two children of that marriage. When thrown upon his own resources at so early an age, Mr. SHEPHERD worked by the month, doing different kinds of work; he was frugal, and, with his savings, purchased his brothers' and sisters' interests in their father's estate; having gotten that in his possession, he farmed it until 1862, when he exchanged it for his present farm in Section 16, of 120 acres, to which he since has added largely. Mr. SHEPHERD has lived here just twenty years, during which period he has been very successful raising grain; he has now 330 acres of land, all earned by his own labor and perseverance, except the one-fourth interest bequeathed him of his father's farm of 120 acres. In 1857, he married Miss Sarah A. THOMPSON, daughter of Peter THOMPSON, a farmer of this county; he is the father of eight children, three of whom are deceased.
Extracted 19 Nov 2016 by Norma Hass from 1882 History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois, Part 2 Biographical Department, page 171.
