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- Benjamin Harrison Shepherd was born February 9, 1890 in Ashe County, North Carolina, the son of John Calvin and Sarah Ann Ballou Shepherd.
Harrison was the grandson of James Wilburn and Elizabeth Jones Shepherd, who was the son of Larkin and Alley Irwin Shepherd of the Reddies River area, Wilkes County, NC.
WEST VA
At the age of fourteen, Harrison left Ashe County and went to West Virginia to work for the railroad.
MARRIAGE
He returned to Ashe County and married Sibbie Neaves on January 22, 1911, the daughter of Rev. James Mitchell Neaves and his wife, Birdie Yates Neaves.
CHILDREN
Harrison and Sibbie had three children, Thelma Ennis, born March 22, 1914; Leonard Harrison, born January 3, 1918; and Wayne Dale, born December 16, 1919.
The family returned to West Virginia about 1922 where Harrison worked as a carpenter.
For the next six years they returned to Ashe County during the summers to farm the land owned by John Calvin Shepherd.
ASHE
In 1928 they returned permanently and lived on the farm near Crumpler until 1961 when Sibbie died.
After her death, Harrison moved to West Jefferson and lived in a small house adjacent to that of his son, Wayne. On December 11, 1964,
2ND MARRIAGE
Harrison married Lola Hill Blevins (b. June 11, 1904, d. Feb. 28, 1996) of Mouth of Wilson, Virginia.
DEATH
He died January 5, 1979 and is buried beside his wife, Sibbie, at the Healing Springs Baptist Church Cemetery.
SIBBIE
Sibbie's Neaves ancestry may be traced back to William Neaves (1771-1806), an early settler in Ashe County.
On her mother's side, Sibbie's Yates ancestry can be traced to Thomas Yates (1510-1565) of Berkshire, England.
Other distant direct ancestors of Sibbie include: Nicholas Tichbourne (b. 1518) of England; Elizabeth Rythe (b. 1525) of England; Alexander Cleveland (b. 1620) of England; William Presley (1608-1655) of England; Richard Thompson (1613-1649) of Norfolk, England; John Coffey (b. 1594) of Ireland; Thomas Powell (1603-1669) of Virginia; Francis Place (1610-1655) of Oxfordshire, England; James Debord (b. 1667) of Rappahannock, Virginia; Nathaniel Frith (1620-1677) of Richmond, Virginia; Richard Hubbell (1627-1699) of Worchestershire, England; Isaac Nichols (1620-1695) of Fairfield, Connecticut; Ezekiell Sanford (1635-1663) of Suffolk, Massachusetts.; James Stevens (1651-1695) of Middlesex, Connecticut; Samuel Bishop (1644-1722) of New London, Massachusetts; Joseph Green (1649-1710) of Fairfield, Connecticut; Joseph Bouton (1665-1747) of Fairfield, Connecticut;
CHURCH
Harrison was a deacon in New River Baptist Church and Healing Springs Baptist Church for many years.
Following the tradition of his father, and grandfather, Harrison was also a Mason.
Sibbie Neaves Shepherd was Superintendent of Sunday School at Healing Springs Baptist Church.
HOUSE
Harrison Shepherd homeplace is located on the Guy Neaves road in Crumpler, North Carolina.
The house was built over a 20-year period by Harrison's father, John Calvin Shepherd.
John completed the house about 1901.
After the death of dad John's third wife, Martha Ludema Hash Shepherd, in 1920, Harrison moved in with his father and added two more rooms onto the house.
Harrison sold the homeplace in 1961 to Herbert Privette who restored the aging home.
Privette sold the homeplace to Guy and Margie Miller, the present owners, in 1992.
NOTE
Much of the above information comes from an article on the Harrison Shepherd family written by Fredda Fender Kimball and published in the Ashe County Heritage Book, Volume One [1]
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