CHAPTER 4
LIFE AND DEATH IN TENNESSEE AFTER THE WAR
1866-1872
After the War, as the citizens and soldiers returned home to rebuild their communities and lives, no one knew what was to become of the devastated South. President Lincoln, who was a moderate Republican, wanted to reunite the country quickly and painlessly; however the Radical Republicans of Congress demanded that the South be punished under stringent Reconstruction laws. After Lincoln’s assassination on April 15, 1865, Vice-President Andrew Johnson, who was formally the acting Military Governor of Tennessee and also a moderate Republican, assumed the presidency. Johnson was able to thwart off the harsh agenda of the Radical Republicans until the election of 1866, when the Radicals gained the majority of seats in both houses of Congress, giving them enough power to override President Johnson’s vetoes. In July of 1867, Congress passed the Reconstruction Acts, whereby the South was placed under the military control of U.S. Army. The army removed the elected officials of southern governments and replaced them with officials loyal to the Federal government, known as ‘Carpetbag’ officials. To ensure these officials remained in power the right to vote was denied to many white southerners through Franchise laws.
Because Tennessee was the first Confederate state to be readmitted to the Union, on July 24, 1866, prior to the passing of the Reconstruction Acts, the state did not share the same degree of punishment as the other Southern States and was not part of an official military district. However, from 1865 until 1869, William G. Brownlow, who was a Radical Republican and stern Reconstructionist, was placed as the Governor of Tennessee. He enacted numerous extremist laws, such as, depriving the right to vote for most white southerners and denying free speech with threats of imprisonment for anyone ‘guilty’ of writing or speaking against the Federal Government. He also established a police and military force to suppress anti-radical behavior and enforce the Reconstruction agenda. As a means to oppose these unjust laws, and give protection to the life and property of ex-confederates, the Ku Klux Klan rose up, from a grassroots movement in Pulaski, Giles County, Tennessee, and spread quickly throughout the state. Rev. J.W. Cullom, a co-minister with Rev., Shapard in the Tennessee Conference, remarked that, “The Klan was organized for a worthy purpose and was useful in restraining certain troublesome characters, but it fell into the hands of a lawless element and became a terror to the best citizens…The best men in the country were members of the Klan, but they were helpless to restrain the lawless ones.” There was much civil unrest in Tennessee between the Klan and the imposed governing forces, until 1869 when the carpetbag politicians were finally being replaced by local politicians who gradually brought order to the state. General Nathan Bedford Forrest, the Grand Wizard of the Klan, ordered the disbandment of the organization in Tennessee after order was becoming restored in 1869. The original Klan had fulfilled its noble purpose and dispersed; however, the name was adopted and ultimately tarnished by organizations of later eras which bore no comparison to the original group.
It is of interest to note that Edwin’s cousin’s, Isaac Lewis Shapard (1834-1912) and Robert Booker Shapard (1839-1891), were of the first to join the original Pulaski Den of the Ku Klux Klan shortly after its initial meeting in the autumn of 1865. Both men were ex-Confederate soldiers of Tennessee. The original By-Laws for the organization were created by the Pulaski Den and were set in type and printed in secrecy in the back room over the store owned by Edwin’s Uncle, Booker Shapard. It was from this location that the movement of the Klan spread throughout the South.
The Methodist Episcopal Church South, during the era of post-war Reconstruction, had its own setbacks and suffering. Not only did it lose one-third of its parishioners and a great many churches from the effects of the War, it also became a target for radical abuse. Being a religious organization of mainly southern membership, the Carpetbag officials of the northern Methodist Episcopal Church, who were staunch Federalists, descended and threatened to rid the South of this church. Under the protection of the radical militia, they terrorized the southern parishioners and ministers and attempted to scare, intimidate and threaten them to abandon their faith and join the northern version of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Many southern Methodist churches were confiscated by the northern Methodists, who refused admittance to southern ministers and refused to relinquish the property to the southern trustees. In fact, Tennessee Governor W.G. Brownlow, who was a northern Methodist, held such distain towards the southern Methodists, he wrote to The Nashville Daily Union newspaper; “So far as I am individually concerned, I am so thoroughly convinced of the corruptions, and profligacy, of a majority of the ministers of my own church (Methodist) that I would scorn to be associated with them in Church relations. But I propose…to call a Convention of the Union-loving and law-abiding Ministers and members of our Church, at which we shall declare ourselves the Church, and claim the Church property, confident that we can hold it under the courts of the United States. We shall go further – we will expel the rebels from the Church, under that chapter in the Wesleyan Discipline, which requires obedience to the ‘powers that be,’ and a ready and cheerful obedience to the laws of the land!…The Churches in the South have about played out, and there is but little left in any of them to induce an honorable and law-abiding man to remain in their fellowship.” Despite these corrupt political tactics and unrelenting religious persecutions, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, through the determination of its ministers and parishioners, persisted in the post-war era. It was among these harsh, uncertain environments in which Rev. Shapard would ‘put his shoulder to the wheel’ and rebuild his beloved church.
On January 3, 1866, Rev. Shapard’s brother, Robert Addison Shapard, married Imogene Hill. Robert met Imogene at Louisville Female College while he was visiting his sister, Sallie, who was a student there. She and Imogene were roommates. This same year, on October 30, 1866, Edwin was no longer supernumerary and traveled to Huntsville, Alabama to attend the 53rd Annual Tennessee Conference. He was sent, by Bishop Holland N. McTyeire, to Clarksville District; being specifically assigned, with Rev. Samuel D. Ogburn who was supernumerary, to the Springfield Station in Robertson County, Tennessee.
Samuel D. Ogburn was born in Montgomery County, Tennessee on May 27, 1833. He joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, South as a child, and became a minister in the Tennessee Conference about five years before the Civil War. He resided in Springfield, Tennessee from 1860 until the time of his death in 1917. During the War, he refused the request of a Federal Colonel who demanded that he should pray at his command or vacate the pulpit. Rev. Ogburn rejected the dictation and retired until the Colonel vacated the town. Due to his sickly physical condition, he stayed near his home in Springfield – “an infirmity of the body made him a minister of the locality.” After the War, he successfully entered into the milling business, eventually operating many successful mills. He married Mary Ann Hutchison in 1859. He was a capable businessman with an alert mind, and was religious, earnest and enthusiastic.
Springfield was the capital of Robertson County and had a population of 1,500 inhabitants. It was located 30 miles northwest of Nashville on the Edgefield & Kentucky Railroad, on the Sulfur Fork of the Red River. It had been a flourishing community prior to the War with flour and saw mills, tobacco manufacturing, numerous fraternal organizations, a male and female educational academy, a Cumberland Presbyterian Church and Methodist Church. The war had left the public and private buildings in disarray, being occupied by the soldiery of both armies for whatever use they needed. The citizens of Springfield were still rebuilding and repairing these buildings during Rev. Shapard’s term there. The Methodist church at Springfield was originally organized in the 1830s. Its first house of worship was a simple construction, built in 1837, and replaced in 1856, by a new wood framed church with an auditorium that was erected high off the ground and a basement where a neighborhood school was conducted. The Female Academy was established in 1848, in a wood frame building that was located next to the Springfield Methodist Church, on the west. During Rev. Shapard’s appointment at Springfield, he preached often at the Springfield Methodist Church and solemnized numerous marriages. He attended the First Round of Quarterly Meetings for the Clarksville District which was held at
Springfield Station on November 24-25, 1866. He also attended the meeting of the preachers, stewards, class leaders, Sunday school superintendents and exhorters of the Clarksville District held at Springfield, Tennessee on Friday, March 1, 1867, which was presided over by Bishop Holland N. McTyeire. In October of 1866, Springfield was reported to have 110 members. By the end of Rev. Shapard’s appointment in October of 1867, the congregation increased to 124 parishioners, and he had baptized 16 adults and 3 infants.
On October 30, 1867, Rev. Shapard traveled to the nearby city of Clarksville, Tennessee, for the 54th Annual Tennessee Conference. He was appointed by Bishop Robert Paine to McMinnville District, and assigned to Manchester Station in Coffee County, Tennessee. The town of Manchester was settled about 1840, and was designated as the capital of Coffee County. The Cumberland Mountains stretched along the eastern edge of the county. Manchester was
positioned about 20 miles east of Shelbyville and 75 miles southeast from Nashville at the head waters of the Duck River, as well as, being located on the McMinnville & Manchester Railroad. The town had a population of about 500 inhabitants during the time that Rev. Shapard was stationed there. The town had general stores, a Masonic lodge, flour and saw mills, as well as, an educational academy, a Presbyterian Church and a Methodist Church. The Manchester Methodist Church was originally a log meetinghouse established in 1815. The structure lasted until 1852, when a new frame church was built which endured until a brick church was built in1883. Rev. Shapard preached at the Methodist Church in Manchester during the year and officiated numerous marriages during his appointment. In October of 1867, Manchester held a congregation of 60 members, and by the end of Rev. Shapard’s term this number had grown to 85 members. During the year, Rev. Shapard and the five Local Preachers at Manchester baptized 50 adults and 2 infants. In early March of 1868, Rev Shapard visited his former district and preached at the Springfield Methodist Church.
On October 21, 1868, the 55th Annual Tennessee Conference was held in Edwin’s old hometown of Shelbyville, Tennessee. The Conference was held at the Presbyterian Church of Shelbyville. Bishop McTyeire presided and Rev. Dr. Robert A. Young was elected Secretary. The first day commenced at 9 o’clock a.m. and consisted of singing and prayer and Bishop McTyeire preached the 5th and 6th chapters of Saint Paul’s second epistle to the Corinthians. Roll was called and 101 members were present, 22 of whom were lay-members. It was decided that they would meet daily for the duration of the Conference from 8:30 a.m. until noon. E.R. Shapard was present and elected to the Committee of Public Worship. At the end of Conference, Rev. Shapard was appointed to the Nashville District and assigned to Hobson’s Chapel in Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee.
Hobson’s Chapel was completed and dedicated on October 3, 1853. It was named after Jeannette Hobson, the mother of Nicholas Hobson who was the church’s primary donor, and was located at the northeast corner of Tenth and Main Streets in Nashville, Tennessee. Edwin’s older brother, Rev. William Shapard, was the second minister stationed at Hobson’s Chapel during his appointment on the Edgefield Circuit from 1853-1855. The church was seized during the Civil War when the Federal Army occupied Nashville in February of 1862, and desecrated when the troops used it for a Negro smallpox hospital, a slaughter house and finally a horse stable. The old building was sold at the end of the war to Hughes & Mims, as it was damaged beyond further ecclesiastical use, and was utilized as a school for a number of years. The proceeds from the sale and private subscription were applied, in 1867, to purchase land and build a new house of worship. The new church was built in a beautiful grove approximately one and a half miles from the river in Edgefield, near the Gallatin Pike. The cornerstone of the new Hobson’s Church was dedicated on Friday June 5, 1868, at 4:30 p.m. by the
Masons of Edgefield. The church was finished and dedicated on Sunday, November 29, 1868, and, at that time, was one of the largest, best designed and architecturally aesthetic Methodist churches in Middle Tennessee. The first pastor of the new Hobson’s Chapel was Rev. E.R. Shapard. This structure lasted until 1929, when the congregation constructed a larger church, on the same grounds, to accommodate their growing membership. At the end of Rev. Shapard’s term in September of 1869, the new Hobson Chapel had 75 members; and of that number, 25 had been received into the church by Rev. Shapard during his appointment. He was assisted by 4 Local Preachers, who, during the year had baptized 3 adults. It was here that Edwin came into close association with Samuel Sumner Hall’s family who resided in the area.
The Hall family already had an association with the Shapard family, as eight years earlier, Rev. Shapard’s older brother, William, married Samuel Sumner Hall’s eldest daughter, Susan Emily Hall. During the first eight months that Edwin was assigned to Hobson’s Chapel, he met and courted Mr. Hall’s daughter, Jennie Neely Hall. She was born on February 24, 1849, and was nicknamed “Jane.” She had sandy-blonde hair and crystal-blue eyes. She and Edwin were about the same height, approximately 5 foot 5 inches. They were married by Rev. Burkett Firth Ferrell on June 15, 1869, at ‘Neely Farm,’ which was the plantation and residence of her parents in Davidson County, Tennessee. At the time of their marriage, Edwin was 30 years old and Jennie was 20 years old. An interesting side note is that Rev. Ferrell worked with E.R. Shapard in the Tennessee Conference and together were appointed to the Sumner Circuit, during the 1862 Annual Tennessee Conference, serving together for the remainder of the War. Rev. B.F. Ferrell (1817 – 1908) married Louisa Douglas (1819 – 1882) in 1846, and after her death he married Sophia Jennings in 1883. When he solemnized the marriage of Edwin and Jennie, Rev. B.F. Ferrell was the pastor appointed to the Nashville District on the Shady Grove Circuit.
Jennie Hall’s lineage is as follows: John Hall, a native of Augusta County, Virginia, had 6 children. One of his children was George Hall, who settled in Sumner County, Tennessee and married Harriet Blakemore in 1804. George had a tanning business and accumulated wealth. He eventually moved to Lincoln County, Tennessee, and settled on a farm where he died in 1862. He was a Presbyterian. George and Harriet had 13 children, one of which was Samuel Sumner Hall who was born on January 19, 1814, and married Hadassah Neely on June 6, 1836. The ceremony was solemnized by Rev. Hayes in Nashville, Tennessee. She was the only child of William Neely and Jane M. Davis Neely. After marriage, Samuel lived at and operated the Neely Farm which was a plantation formerly owned by the parents of his wife. Samuel and Hadassa had 13 children; Susan Emily Hall who married Rev. William Shapard, William Neely Hall who died in infancy, George Franklin Hall who died in a horse accident at age 19, John Maxy Hall who was a Confederate soldier, Joseph Adison Bowman Hall who lived at “Neely Farm” and was Confederate soldier taken prisoner to Camp Morton from 1862-1865, Samuel Allen Hall, Jennie
“Jane” Neely Hall who married Rev. E.R. Shapard, Herbert Winburn Hall, Edwin Ewing Hall who married Mattie Lee, William Clayton Hall, David Davis Hall, Harriet Eliza Hall who married Rev. Thos. P. Crittenden, and Sallie Thompson Hall who married Wm. Yeatman.
On June 17, 1869, two days after Edwin’s marriage, his younger brother, Evander, married Emma Lipscomb in Shelbyville, Tennessee.
Edwin traveled to Murfreesboro, Tennessee on September 23, 1869 for the 56th Annual Tennessee Conference. Rev. Shapard was not in attendance when roll was called the first day of Conference; however, he did attend the Conference, and was appointed to the Committee on Public Worship and assigned to preach at 11:30 a.m. at Temperance Hall on the 6th day of Conference. He was sent by Bishop Robert Paine to the McMinnville District to serve the Bellbuckle & Wartrace Station, which was situated in Bedford County, approximately 10 miles northeast from Shelbyville. Bellbuckle and Wartrace were small communities located about four miles apart along the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad. Bellbuckle had a population of approximately 300 and Wartrace had about 100. The Methodist Church at Bellbuckle was first located on Bell Buckle Creek at the Salem Church
Camp ground which was established around 1807. The church was originally a log meetinghouse and was eventually replaced by a frame structure. About the time of Rev. Shapard’s appointment, the church had moved one mile to the town of Bellbuckle, which had developed around the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad depot. During Rev. Shapard’s service at Bellbuckle, there were approximately 179 members of the church. The Methodist Church and congregation at Wartrace was organized the year before Rev. Shapard was appointed there. In 1868, Rev. C.C. Mayhew and Rev. R.W. Bellamy held a two week meeting in Wartrace, which resulted in the establishment of a church with 45 members. The wood-frame church at Wartrace had approximately 52 members while Rev. Shapard was pastor. He solemnized numerous marriages and performed many baptisms during the term of his appointment. During Rev. Shapard’s appointment at Bellbuckle and Wartrace Station, there were 232 members, which was an increase of three members since the following Conference year; he also baptized 31 adults and 6 infants before the year was up.
On December 28, 1869, Rev. Shapard’s young bride, Jennie, wrote an interesting article for the Nashville Christian Advocate, regarding the benefits of this quality Methodist publication. She sheds light on the trials and tribulations of the itinerant ministers, as well as, her experience as a preacher’s wife. “To the poor itinerant who each week plods his weary way over the roads of mud and mire, it is a sweet solacer on his return. When he reads of the success of brethren in more cultivated fields of labor, he represses the rising sigh, thankful for their success, their neatly-paved streets, close, warm churches, and abundant facilities for doing good; and he reads on and on, each moment growing more interested, until muddy roads and dilapidated houses of worship and shivering worshipers are all forgotten. Its visits are no less dear to the itinerant’s wife, far from home and loved ones, and the dear home-church in whose bosom she was reared. It whiles away many an hour of monotonous country life, each week giving glimpses of the world and Church beyond our solitary hills; telling of the labors and successes of loved friends in other parts of the great vineyard; telling of the blessed Sabbath-schools, making our hearts long for the budding spring that we may plant some heavenly nurseries...”
While assigned at Bellbuckle and Wartrace Station, from September 1869, through October 1870, Edwin and Jennie resided at Bellbuckle for a while and then resided at his parent’s residence in Shelbyville. Edwin’s personal estate on August 9, 1870, was $200, a portion of this being his library of books of which he would collect throughout his life. During this time, his father, Robert Paine Shapard, was a farmer and merchant with $2,000 in real estate and $4,000 in personal estate. The effects of Civil War and Reconstruction had greatly impacted the wealth of the Shapard family as just 10 years earlier, his father’s worth in real estate and personal property was $16,500. In 1867, Edwin’s father had switched his membership from the Methodist Episcopal Church, South to the First Presbyterian Church of Shelbyville, due to the circumstance of Reconstruction; whereby, the Federal Secretary of State and Tennessee Governor W.G. Brownlow had directed that the ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South be replaced with northern preachers of known loyalty to the Union. Shelbyville received one of these northern missionaries, by the name of Rev. W.Z. Ross, from 1866 to 1867. It appears that, while Rev. Shapard resided at his father’s home, in 1869, he was able to revitalize his father’s commitment and passion for the Southern Methodist Church. As a result, Edwin’s father would reestablish his membership and become one of the leading spirits of the Shelbyville Methodist Church for the remainder of his life.
As the Conference year came to an end, Rev. E.R. Shapard’s work on the Bellbuckle and Wartrace Station, had been wonderfully blessed under his ministrations. He had not only been very successful, but had been well supported, and all the finances were in good condition. Rev. Shapard wrote on September 20, 1870: “I held a meeting at Wartrace, commencing second Sabbath in August, which resulted in eighteen conversions and twelve accessions. I was assisted by Brothers Mayhew, Crawford, and Hinson. The Church is not only revived, but is now an organized, active Church. For two weeks and more, Brother Crawford and I have been conducting a meeting at Salem (Bellbuckle). This is the birth-place of several of the McFerrins, among them Dr. J.B. McFerrin and his sainted father. It is an historic place in Methodism. Thus far during the meeting, forty-eight have professed faith in Christ, while thirty-five have joined the Church. The altar is crowded with penitents, and we trust that many more will be converted before the meeting closes. The Church here has been blessed, strengthened, and its prospects are brightened. We are grateful to God that the efforts of the year have been so abundantly blessed. The old and young are alike converted to God.”
Dr. John Berry McFerrin, D.D. was very well known during his era and well acquainted with Rev. Shapard. He was born in Rutherford County, Tennessee on June 15, 1807, and felt the call to become a preacher at age 18, becoming a licensed minister of the Tennessee Conference in November of 1825. He traveled circuits in Alabama and Tennessee and for two years was a missionary among the Indians. During the Civil War he was a missionary for the Tennessee Confederate army. He was the Editor of the ‘Nashville Christian Advocate’ magazine from 1840 – 1858. He was a Book Agent for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South for 18 years. He was Secretary of the Board of Missions for 12 years and was a member of every General Conferences from 1836 – 1886. He wrote the book, ‘The History of Methodism in Tennessee.’ He attended the Ecumenical Conference which met in London, England in 1881. He married twice; his first wife was Miss A.A. Probart of Nashville in 1833, and his second wife was Miss Cynthia T. McGavock of Nashville. Dr. J.B. McFerrin died on May 10, 1887.
On October 13, 1870, the 57th Annual Tennessee Conference was held at Pulaski, Tennessee. Not only was Rev. Shapard in attendance, but his brothers, David Green Shapard and Evander Shapard, were also present, as lay-members. David Green Shapard was elected to a committee of Bible Cause. E.R. Shapard was appointed with Revs. W. Witchen and A.W. Smith to finish examining the Third Year class of preachers regarding their required studies. Rev. Shapard was also appointed, with Revs. Orman, Green, Gaston, Hill, Ezell, Barton, Hurst and Bellamy, to the Standing Committee for Sunday Schools. At the end of Conference, Bishop David S. Doggett appointed Rev. Shapard to the McKendree District for the ensuing year, and assigned him specifically to the Fountain Head Circuit in Sumner County, Tennessee. This circuit included servicing the churches of Fountain Head, which had approximately 104 members; Ebenezer, which had approximately 55 members; Oak Grove, which had approximately 60 members; Pleasant Hill, which had approximately 65 members and Mount Carmel, which had approximately 18 members and McMunns. During his term in Sumner County, Rev. Shapard also preached a few times at Paine’s School House and Gallatin. Rev. Shapard reported that the membership numbers had not changed throughout the Conference year, holding steady at 287 members. He was assisted by one Local Preacher, and by the end of his appointment they had baptized 8 adults and 5 infants.
In December of 1870, Edwin became part owner in the undivided Neely Farm obtaining one share through his wife; her being a partial heir of her grandfather’s estate. This 300 acre farm was the former plantation upon which her grandfather, William Neely, resided at the time of his death, in 1842, and upon which his widow, Jane Neely, resided until her death in 1888, and upon which their only child, Hadassah Hall resided with her husband, Samuel Sumner Hall, near Madison, Davidson County, Tennessee. It was located in the Nineteenth Civil District of Davidson County, Tennessee, near Madison Station, close to the Louisville & Nashville Railroad.
From October, 1870, until October, 1871, Edwin seemed to be the acting accountant for the family farm. He was very good at math and statistics, skills learned from college and working in his father’s store as a young man. In his journal, he recorded, in detail, transactions made between the owners of the farm (Edwin R. Shapard, S.S. Hall, Joseph. A. Hall and Edwin E. Hall), employees of the farm (Bob Taylor, Green Koogler and Amos Walker) and hired-out work for miscellaneous chores, purchases, etc. (W.F. Gray for threshing rye Feb. 15, 1871, John O’Malley a grocer in Nashville, Tenn. for June, 1871, etc…). Edwin and Jennie would eventually procure three shares in the farm; one from Jennie’s grandfather, William Neely, one from Joseph Hall and one from Edwin Hall. Rev. Shapard and his wife would draw a supplemental income from the profits of the farm that would help support them throughout their lives.
Rev. Shapard’s sister, Sarah “Sallie” Shapard, married Thomas Cooper Whiteside, Jr. at 9 o’clock a.m. on July 26, 1871, at the residence of her father in Shelbyville, Tennessee. Thomas was a merchant for the firm ‘Ely & Whiteside’ and died in Shelbyville in 1879. Thomas’ father was a lawyer and, at one time, the Attorney General of Bedford County.
On September 16, 1871, Edwin’s father, Robert Paine Shapard, developed a bacterial infection of the skin, known as ‘Erysipelas’. Symptoms include a high fever, chills, fatigue, headache and vomiting all within 48 hours of contraction. The main symptom is that the skin gets red and swollen in patches, resulting in a painful rash. He was sick for two days and died on September 18, 1871, at 66 years of age. The funeral was held the following day at 3:00 p.m. at the Methodist Episcopal Church, South by Rev. T.H. Hinson. He was buried at Willow Mount Cemetery in Shelbyville, Tennessee. During the time of his father’s death, Edwin was preaching at Pleasant Hill in Sumner County and could not make it back for the services. However he did return to Shelbyville in late September to tend to his father’s estate, as administrator, with his brother Evander. On October 1, 1871, a tribute of respect for Robert Paine Shapard was held by the Sabbath School group in Shelbyville, Tennessee. Edwin preached Matthew 18:20 in Shelbyville at this event, and preached there again on October 15, 1871. However, between these events, he traveled to the 58th Annual Tennessee Conference held at Lebanon, Tennessee from October 4th through October 9th, and was appointed by Bishop George F. Pierce to the Lebanon District where he was assigned to ride the Gallatin Circuit in Sumner County, Tennessee. Edwin returned to Shelbyville after Conference and he and Evander signed off on the inventory of his father’s estate on October 16, 1871, most of which dealt with settling the finances of his father’s business between his partner, C.G. Mitchell, and their creditors.
The Gallatin Circuit was comprised of 4 churches around the town of Gallatin, Tennessee, in Sumner County: Liberty, Salem, Rehoboth and Cage’s Chapel. The circuit had 5 Sunday-schools with 35 teaches, 150 students and possessing 300 books. Gallatin was located on the Louisville Nashville Railroad about three miles from the Cumberland River and 25 miles east of Nashville. The population was approximately 3000 and the town was home to numerous educational institutions and academies; as well as, fraternal organizations, churches, newspapers, public buildings and county courthouse. Gallatin Circuit had a membership of 224 parishioners in October of 1871, and by the end of Rev. Shapard’s appointment this number had decreased to 192 members. Over the Conference year, Rev. Shapard had baptized 14 adults and 3 infants. In addition to the churches on the Gallatin Circuit, Rev. Shapard also preached periodically at Cairo and at the First Methodist Church, South, in the town of Gallatin. At the end of his appointment, on Sept. 13, 1872, Rev. Shapard wrote about his experience on the Gallatin Circuit; “The preachers in charge had preached at Liberty for a number of years, because a few old and faithful members lived in the neighborhood. Faith has at last triumphed, and God has converted 11 souls at this place – has encouraged the few, and has increased their number from ten to twenty-four. Salem (once Douglass’s camp-ground) was for many years the center of Methodism for the surrounding country. The number of members decreased, the zeal and spirit had almost gone, until it was cut off from the circuit, and they had no preaching for several years. Five years ago it was restored to the circuit; a few members were collected together. Since the 24th of August God has converted 22 persons; 24 have joined the Church. Better times can be looked for in these two Churches. Every appointment upon this circuit has a Sabbath-school, and they have operated more successfully during this year than heretofore.”
Sadly, on November 6, 1871, only three weeks after their father’s death, Edwin’s brother, Robert Addison Shapard, died by his own hand in Memphis, Tennessee, at age 30. Robert formally lived in Shelbyville, Tennessee and, prior to the war, worked as a clerk in his father’s store. During the Civil War he served in the Union Calvary as an officer, being dishonorably discharged in 1863. At the end of the war, he was living in Louisville, Kentucky, and then moved to Memphis, Tennessee, and married Imogene Hill on Jan 3, 1866. She was a daughter of J.B. Hill and a college roommate of Robert’s sister, Sallie. Robert worked for the Memphis Transfer Company for awhile and then was employed with different railroads; he remained in Memphis for several years, returning to Shelbyville about 1870, and remained there until his father’s death. For a long time he was addicted to strong drink. When his father died, he signed the Temperance Pledge, but soon after returning to Memphis, broke it, and from that time on he seemed discouraged and melancholy. Robert was boarding at the Central Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, located on Adams Street between Second and Third. About 10 o’clock in the morning on November 6, 1871, a chamber maid entered his room and discovered him dead in bed. An investigation showed that Robert had committed suicide by taking laudanum. Two
small bottles filled with the deadly opiate, and another, the contents of which he evidently drank, were found in his room. He was seen by the night clerk passing in and out of the hotel several times the night previous and was last noticed going up-stairs about 11 o’clock, after which time he was never seen again alive. During the previous eight days he had frequently remarked that he intended on taking laudanum; however, due to the fact that he was drinking, no attention was paid to his talk. He was buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee. Robert had blue eyes, brown hair, with a fair complexion and stood 5’ 9”.
On December 14, 1871, Edwin’s brother, David Green Shapard married Martha “Mattie” Jane Allen. The ceremony took place in Shelbyville, Tennessee, and was performed by David’s older brother, Rev. William Shapard, who was visiting from Mobile, Alabama.
On February 21, 1872, Edwin and Jennie gave birth to their first child, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Mitchell Shapard. Her middle name was Edwin’s mother’s maiden name.
On April 25, 1872, Rev. Shapard began receiving telegrams, from Shelbyville, informing him that his mother’s health was in decline. He raced home, taking the first train out of Sumner County, to be by her side during her final hours. On April 27, 1872, after a long illness, Edwin’s mother, Parthenia Mitchell Shapard, died in Lincoln County, Tennessee at age 63. Parthenia was born in Person County, North Carolina on January 12, 1809. She was the daughter of William and Elizabeth Mitchell. Her family moved to Tennessee in 1815, when she was just a young girl. She married Robert Paine Shapard on November 12, 1829, and joined the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1831. She was known as an excellent lady, of gentle manners who “kept the faith” throughout her life. She was laid to rest alongside her husband at the Willow Mount Cemetery.
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