CHAPTER
1
ROBERT PAINE SHAPARD - THE
EARLY YEARS
Robert
Paine Shapard was born on the cool winter day of January 9, 1805. He was named
in honor of his maternal grandfather, Capt. Robert Paine of Person County,
North Carolina, who was known to be a sensible, pious and generous-hearted
Christian gentleman. At the time of his birth, Thomas Jefferson was President
of the United States and the explorers, Lewis and Clark, were in the middle of
their three year expedition of the western frontier that had been acquired
through the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The Shapard family lived in St. David
District, which was located in the southwest quadrant of Caswell County in
North Carolina. The district was heavily wooded, with rolling hills
interspersed with creeks and periodic flat fertile land suitable for farming. In
1777, Caswell County was formed from Orange County, North Carolina and was
located in the northern part of the state, bordering Virginia. In 1784, Caswell
County had 8 districts which were reduced in half in 1792, when four districts
were carved from Caswell’s eastern section and made into Persons County, North Carolina.
In 1792, Caswell Court House (now Yancyville) became the seat of Caswell County.
By 1810, the county held a population of 10,000 inhabitants and was serviced by
Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian churches, five physicians and a few
private educational academies.
During his early youth, Robert was
reared on his father’s 300 acre plantation located a few miles south of Caswell
Court House. There was a dirt road, known as “Shapard’s Pathe,” that ran
through the Shapard property connecting the neighboring plantations of Henry
Williams, Alexander Kerr, Thomas Johnson, Nathaniel Rice, Archibald Rice,
Leonard Brown and Thomas Brown. The path eventually intersected with the Graves
Mill Road, also known as the Caswell Courthouse Road, being one of the main thoroughfares
in that part of the county that crossed the Country Line Creek to reach the Caswell
Court House. Nearby, Thomas Foster had a mill along a northern prong of the
Honey Creek, and Edmund Rice operated a Smith Shop. The local merchants were
Mr. John Graves and the firm of Murphy & Lea.
Most of Robert’s childhood days
were spent playing with his brothers and sisters, venturing out among the trees
and fields, and helping out with chores suitable for his age. The Shapard
plantation was located along the South Fork of the Country Line Creek, which
allowed Robert an ideal place to explore and go fishing. Robert also obtained
an education, through the instruction of his mother and siblings, in reading,
writing and arithmetic. Meal time was enjoyed around a communal table and the
family ate off of pewter plates.
As far as religion was concerned
within the Shapard family, Robert’s paternal grandfather, William Shapard, was a
member of the Church of England; however, after the American Revolution, this
church fell into great disfavor with the American patriots who sought to
distance themselves from all British influence. It appears that, after the war,
William joined the Presbyterian Church. Robert’s maternal grandfather, Robert
Paine, was a prominent member of the Baptist Church, specifically the Ebenezer
Primitive Baptist Church in Person County. There is evidence that Robert’s parents had a proclivity
for the Baptist denomination, attending a local meeting house ministered by
Rev. Barazallai Graves. Robert’s father was spiritually sound and provided the
means for his children to acquire a strong moral foundation through their biblical
education, learning right from wrong, honesty, respect and honor - traits that
would serve them well throughout their lifetime.
Robert and his siblings were
raised among the institution of slavery. Their father, Lewis Shapard, had
acquired slaves and additional wealth through his marriage to Martha Paine in
1796. At the time of their marriage, Martha had 8 slaves; Pompey and Tom were
the strongest Negro men and most utilized by Robert’s father in the fields; Ned
was a teenage Negro boy who also worked the fields with the older males. Mrs.
Shapard used Sal, the eldest Negro woman, as mammy to her children and main cook.
Jane and Jenney were teenage Negro girls and were trained as house servants,
assisting with the chores, washing, ironing, cooking, cleaning and attending to
the children. The Shapard’s also had younger slaves; Surrey, a Negro boy, and
Clarissee, a Negro girl. In February of 1808, as an inheritance from the estate
of his late father-in-law Robert Paine, Lewis Shapard acquired an additional five
slaves: Davey, Denny, Daniel, Nancy and Jean. From 1808 to 1810, through
husbandry and purchases, Mr. Shapard would increase his slave holdings to 16 Negros.
After the Revolutionary War ended, with
the Treaty of Paris, in 1783, much of North Carolina’s vast western lands,
which encompassed the future state of Tennessee, had been awarded as payment to
veterans for their service during the war. Many North Carolina veterans quickly
immigrated to this wild and unsettled territory to claim their lands. Over the
years, to encourage further settlement in this region, treaties were made with
the Indians, and in 1787, North Carolina commissioned a road to be cut from their
eastern boundary into middle Tennessee, known as the ‘North Carolina Road.’ The
cost of maintaining this region was too great for the State of North Carolina and
in 1789, it ceded its ‘Southwest Territory’ to the federal government. By 1793,
the territory held the required population of 5,000 settlers to qualify it for
statehood; and three years later, ‘Tennessee’ was admitted to the Union by
President George Washington as the sixteenth state. In the early 1800s,
settlers flocked to Tennessee due to the availability of inexpensive fertile
lands and growing opportunities within newly settled towns.
In the year
1813, James Madison was President and the United States was engaged in the War
of 1812 against the British. It was also the year that Robert’s father, Lewis
Shapard, moved his family, by wagon, to Williamson County, Tennessee, which had
first been settled by whites only 14 years earlier. The cheap fertile lands of
Tennessee offered a greater opportunity for prosperity than what was available
in settled North Carolina. Before going west, Mr. Shapard settled his accounts
and collected and amassed all the funds he could gather, including his interest
in the estate of his late father-in-law, Robert Paine (1748-1808), in the
amount of $88 pounds, 17 shillings, 6 3/4 pence Virginia currency.
In the spring of 1813, The Shapard’s set out on their epic journey which covered a distance of over 500 miles. They traveled along the western thoroughfare via Jonesboro, Knoxville, Carthage and Gallatin to Nashville. They crossed the Cumberland River at Nashville by ferry boat and then traversed the wild frontier landscape to their new homestead in Williamson County. The whole trip took over a month to complete, traveling at a typical four mile-per-hour pace for a horse team and wagon along the rough dirt roads and through the rugged mountain passes of North Carolina and Tennessee. Seven year-old Robert rode with his mother in the wagon, along with his brothers, William, James and Booker, Lewis and baby Thomas, and his sisters Sophia, Martha and Thelia. His father stayed alongside the family wagon on his best horse. The female slaves assisted with chores and cooking and caravanned in a steer wagon filled with provisions for the trip. During the day, the older boys would ride ahead and hunt for rabbits, birds and deer to supplement their meals. They would stop periodically at the “ordinaries” (taverns) they encountered to gather fresh water and gain information on where they were and what lay ahead. Periodically, a town would emerge from the wilderness as a small glimpse of civilization between vast expanses of forests.
When
the Shapard’s first traveled through Nashville in 1813, it was an industrious
little town still being hacked out of the cedars with a population of about
1,200 residents. On Sundays the Shapard family rested, observing the Sabbath,
and each night they would gather around the campfire under a canopy of stars
listening to the sounds of bear and wolves and all the wild creatures that
flourished on the untamed frontier. This monumental adventure during his youth
created a lasting memory for Robert, and, later in life, was often the subject
of stories he would tell his own children.
While
life was arduous and unforgiving, without the accommodation of established
civilization, Robert’s mother did her best to make their simple log house a
home for her children. She spent most of the days preparing meals for her
family and the evenings engaged at the spinning wheel, making yarn and clothing.
Unfortunately, the hardships of travel had taken its toll and sadly, on June
16, 1813, when Robert was 8 years old, his mother, Martha Paine Shapard, died
in Williamson County, Tennessee. She was 39 years old at the time of her death.
The location of her gravesite has been lost through the remiss of time.
The
death of Martha Paine Shapard was almost unbearable to this young family.
Robert and his siblings had lost their mother and all the security, love and
comfort she provided. In addition, Mr. Lewis Shapard now found himself alone
and having been lured onto the isolated western frontier with his precious
children. With the companionship of his wife this journey was touted as a grand
adventure, but now, alone in unsettled unfamiliar lands, it became a nightmare;
for if he were to die what then would become of his children? Over the next few
years, everything Robert’s father did was for the betterment of his children,
not only proving his resolve as a father but illustrating the love he had for
his family.
In 1814, for the sake and wellbeing
of his children, Robert’s father Lewis Shapard became motivated to remarry, out
of convenience, in order to provide his family with a much needed
mother-figure. On April 11, 1814, at 41
years of age, he married Elizabeth Strother Parrish, who had been widowed, in
1811, by her first husband, Henry Parrish. Elizabeth was about 44 years old and
was living on 150 acres on Big Cedar Lick Creek in Capt. Koonce District in
Wilson County. She had ten children through her previous marriage to Mr.
Parrish: Mary (c.1788-?) who in 1814 married Green Seat; David W. (1789-1876)
fought in War of 1812 under Captain Thomas Bradley, he married Lucinda Hunt on July
3, 1813 in Sumner County, where they resided until migrating to Kentucky in
1833; William (1792-?) married Martha Davis in 1812 in Wilson County; Frances
“Fanny” (1794-?) married in 1811 to Samuel R. Anderson in Wilson County; Nancy
(c.1796-?); Susanna (c.1798-?), Elizabeth “Betsy” (c.1801-1845) married David
Richards in 1827 in Wilson County, later migrating to Mississippi; Martha
“Patsy” (1803-1880) married in 1822 to Hobson Ferrell of Wilson County, she
died in Mississippi; Zuritha (c.1805-?); and Henry “Harry” (c.1807-?).
When
the Shapard’s moved to their new home in Wilson County, Robert was nine years
of age. For him it would have been an exciting time, as there were new forests
to explore, new creeks to fish and new children his age with which to play. Although
his mother was irreplaceable, Robert would have experienced some comfort in
having a mother-figure back in his life.
Unfortunately, Robert's father’s marriage to Elizabeth was short-lived, as she abandoned her
husband and the Shapard children in February of 1816. Robert’s father made
public notice that Elizabeth had forfeited the privilege of being his wife, and
cautioned all merchants from extending her credit as he would not be
responsible for payment. Although separated, Tennessee law prohibited filing
for divorce until the desertion had extended for two years. Due to the fact
that Robert’s father had no legal right to the Parrish plantation, it became
necessary for the Shapard family to move. For the second time, Robert felt the
loss of a mother-figure and the comfort she provided. Luckily, however, his
eldest sister Sophia consistently assumed the motherly role for the younger
Shapard children over the years.
Mr.
Joshua Norman Harrison was born on November 20, 1789. Little is known of his
early life, though it has been claimed that he came from Philadelphia or
possibly Maryland. At some point in his youth he was educated in the mastery of
making nails. He married circa 1810, and had two daughters: Sarah Ann Harrison
(c. 1811-?) and Caroline Harrison (c.1813-1836). Joshua and his young family
migrated to Davidson County, Tennessee, sometime before 1815. In Nashville,
Joshua made a business connection with William Carroll, a colorful, astute, capitalist
and the future governor of Tennessee.
Sadly, later that year, Joshua Harrison’s wife died, perhaps in
childbirth, and he was suddenly left a widower with two small children. Circa 1816, Joshua Harrison’s
partner William Carroll, who, being a very perceptive businessman, realized
that Nashville was waning as the state capital and the future capital would
likely reside in Murfreesboro in Rutherford County, being the geographic center
of the state. Together they decided to establish a business presence there
early, to ensure success. With the backing of William Carroll, Joshua Harrison
moved, in August of 1816, to Rutherford County, and opened Harrison &
Company on the town square, being the first and only nail factory in
Murfreesboro.
On September 26, 1816, Joshua
Harrison and Sophia Shapard were married in Murfreesboro, Rutherford County,
Tennessee. Although Sophia Shapard was only 16 years old, her father acquiesced
to the proposal, recognizing Mr. Harrison as a respectable gentleman, with a
caring personality, and being an intelligent worker with tremendous business
potential through his connections to the key men of the state. Their union also
fulfilled Mr. Shapard’s’ fatherly commitment to secure his daughter in the best
possible circumstance for comfort and rank that the frontier of Tennessee could
offer.
Home life at the Shapard household in Smith County was not the
same after Sophia Shapard married and moved away. She had assumed the mothering
role for Robert and his younger siblings, after their mother died in 1813, and
then again when their stepmother abandoned them in early 1816. With Sophia’s
absence from the family after her marriage, Mr. Lewis Shapard was vexed with
how to manage his younger children and how to position them for future success.
Murfreesboro in Rutherford County clearly was the location of greatest opportunity
in the state at that time, and he became enticed by the great potential of
Murfreesboro due to the numerous public notices stating; “There are great
bargains to be had in property [in Murfreesboro] that will increase in value
every day, it being in one of the most flourishing towns of its age in the
western country, situated in one of the most wealthy, fertile and populous
counties; and in the center of the state, and trust without doubt, before long,
become the seat of government. Thus, in early 1817, Mr.
Shapard decided to reside there for a few months with his children, to see if
it would be a suitable location for their permanent home.
The
area of Murfreesboro, Tennessee had first been settled by whites in 1799, a
mere 17 years before the Shapards arrived; and the town of Murfreesboro was
established in 1811, only five years prior to their arrival. However, it was a growing community and would
be recognized as the State Capital of Tennessee from 1818 until 1826, after
which the capital was moved to Nashville. The design of the town was well planned
and was platted in 1812; the roads were laid out on a grid system, each lot
containing a half acre, with the focal point of the town being the central Public
Square. The Rutherford County Courthouse, with its red roof, sat upon a large two-acre
grassy lawn, crowning the center of the Public Square. Businesses gradually occupied
the buildings bordering the roads surrounding the courthouse. By the time the
Shapards arrived in Murfreesboro in 1816, the town was in its infancy and still
being hacked out from the surrounding forest; roads were not paved and still encumbered
with tree stumps, rocks and ruts. Most construction was of log or wood-frame;
however a few brick structures would grace the Murfreesboro landscape in these
early years. In 1819, the Presbyterian congregation, being the main religion of
the area, constructed a large church, which became one of the first brick
buildings in the town. Paint was another unique and distinctly civilized
adornment that graced some of the early buildings and homes of Murfreesboro. There
were four main natural springs in the area, around which the town was built up,
that supplied the community’s water. Residents and ‘water dray’ slaves would
fill their buckets at these springs each day to not only satisfy their needs
for drinking and washing, but also to acquire the latest gossip and news.
James
Paine Shapard was apprenticed to Mr. Abraham Statler to learn the trade of
‘hatter.’ Mr. Statler was born circa 1770 in Virginia where he married Miss Hannah
Wright Miller in 1809. He was a skilled hat-maker and migrated to Murfreesboro,
Tennessee, in 1811, becoming the first of his trade in the town. He purchased
the town Lot No. 66 in 1815, from which he operated his store. The terms of the
apprenticeship with Mr. Statler would end in 1822, when James reached 21 years
of age.
Booker Shapard was to learn the trade of
‘saddler’ through his apprenticeship with Mr. Charles Niles until the year 1824,
when he reached the age of 21. Mr. Niles was born in 1786 in North Carolina,
and migrated to Murfreesboro, from Nashville, about 1812. He was married to Abigail
Wade and established his residence and business on Lot No. 5. Not only was he a
talented saddle-maker but he also embraced a leadership role in the community;
being elected as one of the town’s first Alderman after Murfreesboro was
incorporated in 1817, and subsequently elected to the same position in 1829,
1834 and 1835. He also held the office of Mayor of Murfreesboro in 1833.
Mr.
Joshua Norman Harrison came to Murfreesboro when the town was in a growing
stage of development. There were a small number of saw mills already in
operation in the vicinity, along the Stone’s River, which provided cut lumber
for the construction demands of the town and surrounding area. The lumber could
only be transported by flat-bottom boats or shipped by horse and wagon, since
the railroads would not arrive until the 1850s. As the town boomed, so too did
the need for construction nails.
At
this time, nails were scarce and expensive, as only wrought iron nails were in
use. Each nail was handmade, one
at a time, from a long piece of iron rod. After the iron was heated in a fire,
the nailor would hammer the end to form a point. The pointed rod was reheated
and cut off to the desired nail length. The nail was then inserted into a hole
in an anvil and a head was formed with several glancing blows of a hammer. Mr.
Harrison’s shop employed himself, an apprentice and possibly one slave to keep
up with the production demands for nails. It was a noisy and hot working
environment with the constant banging, sheering and hammering and heat from the
fires.
In
1816, Mr. Harrison located his successful nail factory, known as Harrison &
Company, on the north side of the Public Square of Murfreesboro, on the
southeast section of Lot No. 19, in a small one story shop of about 18 feet by
25 feet made of cedar logs. He had purchased the lot and store from William
Barfield on August 28, 1816. The lot had 31 feet of frontage facing the county courthouse,
becoming Rutherford’s first capital building for the Tennessee General Assembly
from 1818-1821, that crowned the center of the square. Behind the store was the
Harrison family residence. To the east was a frame house residence owned by Mr.
Bennett Smith; and to the west were three small single-story shops. And it was there,
on the Harrison lot, where Robert Paine Shapard would spend the majority of his
youth, performing the labor intensive tasks reserved for apprentices – carrying
and cutting iron, hammering and transporting pounds and pounds of nails.
From the time
Robert P. Shapard became an apprentice, until 1819, business was thriving in Tennessee.
These were boom years for American farmers, plantation owners, businessmen and
merchants. Due to crop and cotton failure throughout Europe in 1816 and 1817,
American produce, such as wheat, corn, oats, cotton and tobacco, was in high
demand and sold for record breaking prices. The price per pound of American
cotton had nearly quintupled in value from 7 ½ ¢ in 1812, to 20 ¢ by 1817,
peaking at 34 ¢ in 1818. Tobacco was also surging during this time, doubling
from 4 ¢ per pound in 1814, to 8 ¢ in 1816, reaching its highest value in 1818
at 9 ¢ per pound.
As produce value rose, farmers
and planters increased production, needing more supplies from the merchants,
more nails to build, and more iron for plows and tools. Although Harrison &
Co. produced nails as their main product, they began to diversify their
inventory during this time to capture a greater percentage of the booming
market. Mr. Harrison constructed a merchandise store adjoining the nail-making
shop, selling dry goods, wares and other sundry items typical of a store during
that era. He trained Robert Shapard in the operation of the
mercantile store and in the art of commerce, business management and
double-entry bookkeeping. As it came to pass, this diversified business venture
saved Mr. Harrison and Robert Shapard financially. For in 1818, British
factories began to flood the American markets with imported nails at a fraction
of the price of locally produced nails. Buyers overlooked the fact that these
cheep imported nails lacked the quality of those produced locally, often
splintering when hammered, however, customers were willing to trade quality for
reduced cost. This change in market dynamics gradually rendered the nailor as
an obsolete profession.
In the spring
of 1818, European crops recovered, and after two years of paying exorbitant
amounts on American produce and cotton, British Parliament reinstated their
Corn Laws, which denied the import of foreign grains into the country. American
wheat would plummet from $2.50 per bushel to 70 cents per bushel over the
following years. In addition, English textile mills ceased buying American
cotton in an effort to reduce its inflated price and began to purchase a lesser
quality cotton from India. This sent the price of cotton from 34 ¢ per pound in
1818 to 17 ¢ by 1820, eventually bottoming out at 9 ¢ in 1823. The impact of
these changes was a crushing blow to the booming American markets. Tennessee,
as well as the rest of the United States, experienced the nation’s first major
economic depression, known as the Panic of 1819, affecting every industry and
aspect of society with widespread ruin.
Unfortunately
for Tennessee, word from abroad traveled slowly during this time. Americans
received all overseas news from east coast port newspaper reporters interviewing
transatlantic passengers debarking ships. Any information gained was typically
further verified by the overseas newspapers also carried onboard, before being
printed in the American papers. In addition, within the United States, local
information was also delayed, as postal letter and word-of-mouth were the only
means of transmission from place to place before the coming of the telegraph in
the 1840s. Tragically, as the markets of the eastern States were collapsing,
the uninformed western planters, farmers, businessmen, speculators, and
commission merchants were still buying goods, cotton and land at record high
prices. On June 12, 1819, the Huntsville
Alabama Republican newspaper, reported that in the east “extraordinary
pressures in the mercantile part of that community” had begun moving west and
south “until the whole union [had] become embarrassed by the failures of
mercantile houses and the depreciation of the paper currency.”
Merchants,
planters, farmers and speculators who had bought goods and land on credit,
unexpectedly and abruptly became hopelessly in debt and would have to liquidate
all their assets to repay their creditors. During this time there were no
exemption laws, thus all possessions a person or business owned were subject to
be sold to satisfy his debt, generally causing total ruin to the owner. The
creditor, if unsatisfied in his personal collection efforts, would force
collection of the debt through the courts via lawsuits. However, if still
unsuccessful, there was another more dreaded means of at least partial
collection. “Shavers,” made a business of purchasing delinquent credit notes at
a discount, and then forcing full collection, by the sheriff, who would hold a
public auction of some or all of the debtor’s property needed to satisfy his
debt.
For Joshua
Harrison, as with most merchants, a common business practice was credit
transactions; whereby, the merchant would extend credit to their clients who, in
turn, promised to pay for the goods they purchased at a future date, often by Christmas
day. During the boom, this practice served well, however, when the Panic of
1819 occurred, Harrison & Co. was grossly overextended in credit that its
clients could not repay. What ensued was a series of lawsuits over the next few
years between those persons who owed Mr. Harrison, and those who Mr. Harrison
owed. Luckily, Mr. Harrison prevailed in his collections and his business not
only survived the Panic of 1819, but flourished over the following six years.
In
their personal life, Joshua and Sophia (Shapard)
Harrison would raise eight children (two
step-daughters and six children of their own: Sarah
Ann Harrison (c. 1811-?) who married John T. Cannon; and Caroline Harrison
(c.1813-1836) who married John A. Taliaferro; Eleanor
Paine Harrison (1817-1896) who married David Molloy; Martha Bedford Harrison
(1818-1891) who married Stephen Johns then John Durham; Joshua Norman Harrison,
Jr. (1819-1819) died at age 5 months; William Joshua Harrison (1820-1880); Mary
Harrison (1822-1866) who married Robert Rucker; and Robert P. Harrison
(1823–1825). Robert Paine Shapard developed a very close relationship with the
Harrison family, as he learned the nail-makers trade and boarded in their
house. Mr. Harrison would name one of his sons in honor of Robert, and Robert’s
older brother, James Paine Shapard, would name one of his sons in honor of
Joshua Harrison.
In addition, there is some compelling evidence that when Robert
Shapard’s father left Rutherford County, in 1817, to return to Smith County, he
did so only with his eldest son William B. Shapard, leaving the younger Shapard
children with the Harrison family to be educated in Murfreesboro. If this was
indeed the case, then the Harrison household would have also included Martha
Shapard, Thelia Shapard, Lewis Shapard, Jr., and little Thomas P. Shapard.
Interestingly, during this time, Robert’s father gave Joshua Harrison the use
of his slave Davy, presumably as partial compensation for boarding and
educating his children.
Furthermore, between June 21, 1820 and August 24,
1820, Robert’s father, Lewis, returned to Rutherford County after losing his
business and home in Smith County during the Panic of 1819. For a brief time, he
resided at the home of Joshua Harrison with his children, after which he seems
to have vanished from the historical record for a significant number of years.
One benefit of the Panic of 1819 was
that it sparked a significant religious revival across America, known as the
Second Great Awakening. During the summer and fall of 1820, coinciding with
Robert’s father’s returned to Rutherford County, a revival swept the town of
Murfreesboro. At this time Murfreesboro was the Capital of Tennessee, and had
Presbyterian, Cumberland Presbyterian and Baptist churches, yet, no organized
Methodist congregation. The Methodists circuit riders recognized the spiritual
potential of the town and began conducting camp-meeting revivals, which were
generally held in late summer and fall after the crops were harvested. They
created such religious excitement in the area that many professed the faith and
Methodism became established there.
Booker and Robert Shapard attended a
Methodist revival in the fall of 1820 at Windrow’s Campground, which was
located nine miles southwest of Murfreesboro. The revival lasted for more than
a week and attracted an unusually large audience, many of whom had traveled a
great distance to attend. The whole while, the attendees remained at the
campground, sleeping outside, eating with neighbors and feeling the excitement
of the revival, in terms of inspirational sermons, lively songs, Christian
brotherhood, prayer, shouting and professions of faith. As a result, Robert and
Booker professed religion along with 300 other Christians. Shortly after the
meeting, the town of Murfreesboro became inspired with the spirit of God, and
19 residents organized the first Methodist church in Murfreesboro, which
carried a membership of about 30 people for the first few years. The original
services were held at night in an unoccupied old house and the courthouse was
used on Sunday, until they were able to construct a church building of their
own in 1823. The brothers became members of this first Methodist church of
Murfreesboro, and embraced the Methodist religion as an important aspect in the
Shapard family.
Throughout
his life, Robert P. Shapard continued a close association with all his
siblings, especially, James and Booker, no doubt due to their special bonds
through apprenticeship, religious affiliation and their unique understanding of
the business world. The brothers would devote themselves to each other’s
success, helping one another out when able. Interestingly, except for Booker
for a brief period of time, none of the three apprentices followed the trade
they learned; however, they did use their education in commerce as a means to
pursue other enterprises as businessmen, land owners and merchants.
Booker
Shapard continued in the saddle-makers trade for a few years after his
apprenticeship. He married Mary Clay, daughter of Isaac Clay and Mary
Whittenburg Broyles on November 10, 1825, in Rutherford County, Tennessee.
After the wedding, Booker moved from Murfreesboro and resided with his wife in
the town of old Jefferson, Rutherford County, Tennessee, which was located
approximately seven miles northwest of Murfreesboro. In 1830, Booker moved to
Shelbyville, Tennessee where he opened a ‘saddle and tack’ store on the
southeast corner of the town square. He lost his wife and a child during the
deadly cholera epidemic that nearly depopulated the town in 1833. Booker
remarried in 1835 and moved to the village of Mulberry, Tennessee, which was
located a few miles beyond the town of Fayetteville in Lincoln County,
Tennessee. In 1840,
he moved to Pulaski, Giles County, Tennessee and worked as a merchant, until
1862, when, during the Civil War, he was exiled from his state and his store
was robbed by the Federal soldiers. In 1865, after the restoration of peace, he
returned to Pulaski Tennessee. Having lost everything of material value, he was
impoverished, decrepit with age and feeble in health. To earn a living, he and
his sons opened a ‘clothing and merchandise’ store, under the name of ‘Ward
& Shapard’, however, he found greater comfort in the rewards of religion,
and focused upon this whole heartedly until his death on December 28, 1872. He
was buried in the Maplewood Cemetery in Pulaski, Giles County, Tennessee.
In
July of 1822, the Rutherford County Courthouse, which sat across the street
from Harrison & Company, burned to the ground. This was a dramatic event
that drew the attention of the whole community. Since Murfreesboro was the
capital of the State of Tennessee, the large brick Presbyterian Church, was quickly
outfitted to accommodate the legislature for their 14th session
which was held from July 22 until August 24. The House of Representatives
occupied the first floor and the Senate occupied the second floor. During this
session, future President of the United States, James K. Polk served as Clerk,
and Davy Crockett was a member of the House of Representatives. In addition,
Andrew Jackson, the Hero of the War of 1812 and future President of the United
States, visited Murfreesboro in 1828 and a celebration ensued, which was
attended by nearly every citizen of the town. With his close approximation to
the Courthouse and Public Square, Robert Paine Shapard was witness to these
notable men of American history.
On
May 17, 1822, Joshua Harrison purchased town Lot No. 8 from William C. Emmitt
for the staggering amount of $1,800. The allure of the new lot was that it
included a brick house, being the former residence of Mr. Emmitt. During this
era, brick was extremely rare for home construction as most houses were made of
log or plank board. For those that could afford it, brick was symbol of status proclaiming
prosperity and refinement. The Harrison family, as well as, Robert Shapard and
his younger siblings would have marveled at their new accommodations. Joshua
Harrison continued to operate his nail and mercantile store on Lot No. 19 on
the north side of the public square, yet rented out his former residence for
additional income.
Sadly
on June 10, 1825, the one year old child of Joshua and Sophia Harrison, whom
was named in honor of Robert Paine Shapard, died. Only six months later, tragedy
again struck when Mr. Joshua Norman Harrison died on Christmas day in 1825. He was buried in the Old City
Cemetery in Murfreesboro, Rutherford County, Tennessee.
This graveyard was established in
the early 1820s and was located next to the first Presbyterian Church of
Murfreesboro on Vine Street. It was the town’s main cemetery for the next 40
years, and the final resting place for many of Murfreesboro’s first settlers.
During the Civil War, the church was completely destroyed by the Federal
troops, and the cemetery horribly battered. Joseph W. Nelson observed in 1866,
“Our town & county have been greately damaged by the two Armies, they
distroed all the tember for miles a round burnt all the rails for 3 or 4 miles
in all directions burnt & pulled down at least 50 houses in town & of
the number was the Old Presbyterian Church, destroed the fence a round the
graves, broke toombstones & desscerated the grave yard generally.” The Old
City Cemetery was neglected after the war, and in 1872, the town set aside 20
acres of properly maintained ground for the establishment of Evergreen
Cemetery, whereby the families could reinter their loved ones from the old
cemetery. While some of the dead were moved, many were not and remained in
their original graves. The old cemetery continued to be neglected until the
1930s, when the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) began recognizing
the graves of Revolutionary War veterans found in the cemetery, which created
an interest in area preservation.
Mr.
Harrison left behind his widow, Sophia, and six children; five girls and one
boy. Mrs. Sophia (Shapard) Harrison was provided a full year of provisions for
her family through the generous efforts of Mr. James
Maney, Mr. Samuel P. Black and Mr. David Wendel. In January of 1826, they
obtained for her: 4 barrels flour, 100 lbs coffee, 300 lbs brown sugar, 20 loaf
sugar, 2 barrels salt, 100 loads of wood, 300 lbs pork, 500 lbs beef, $60.00
cash for market, 25 lbs picked cotton, 2 milk cows, 50 lbs mackerel, $25.00
cash for the purpose of making shoes, 40 barrels corn, $36.00 in sundry
articles selected from the store by Mrs. Harrison for the use of herself and
her family.
In January of 1827, Sophia acquired a 38 year-old house-slave
named ‘Patty,’ to help her with the children and chores. Furthermore,
Mr. William D. Baird became guardian for the step-children Sarah and Caroline. Mr.
James Maney was assigned as guardian of Eleanor, Martha and Patsy. The two
youngest children, William and Mary, were initially assigned to Dr. John R.
Wilson as guardian; however, on February 19, 1829, Robert Paine Shapard
petitioned the court successfully to assume the guardianship of the estate of
his sister, Sophia, and become guardian of his young nephew and niece. This
was, in part, due to the fact that Robert was the only brother still living in
Murfreesboro at this time. As guardian, Robert would assume the father-figure
of the family to ensure that their bills were paid from their inheritance,
legal issues were handled, and the children obtained an education. The younger Harrison children received a first rate
education at the academies in Nashville, Tennessee, while boarding with their
uncle William B. Shapard and his family.
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