Tombstone Tuesday ~ SHEPHERD family of Manchester, New Hampshire

This tombstone was photographed at the Valley Cemetery in Manchester, New Hampshire.

WILLIAM SHEPHERD

1796 - 1883

MARY DOAK

1800 - 1884

HIS WIFE

THEIR CHILDREN

JAMES E. SHEPHERD

1841 - 1845

JOSEPH L. SHEPHERD

1843 - 1851

SAMUEL H. SHEPHERD

1830 - 1870

THIS LOT HAS PAID PERPETUAL CARE

Although the epitaph on this tombstone states "perpetual care", without the care of volunteers this family plot seems to be receiving no care at all.  If you see the photo below above, this stone was languishing in a jungle of vegetation.  Smaller stones nearby were completely covered.  Please look at this stone at the Find a Grave website to see how it used to look when the city of Manchester took pride in this cemetery:  https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/75651100/mary-shepherd    

The Shepherd stone is near the bottom of the stairs (yes, there are stairs under the vegetation!) behind the Hildreth memorial stone, which was featured last week for Tombstone Tuesday.

The other side of this stone (no photo) reads:

BENJAMIN E. THOMPSON

1835 - 1922

SARAH E. SHEPHERD

1836 - 1911

HIS WIFE

THEIR CHILD

EDWIN THOMPSON

1873- 1875

William Shepherd was born on 7 June 1796 in Dedham, Massachusetts and died 28 August 1883 in Manchester, New Hampshire.  He was the son of John Shepherd and Sally Fairbanks.

Mary Doak was born 18 September 1800 in Marblehead, Massachusetts, and died 17 December 1884.  She was the daughter of “R. Doak” of Marblehead according to her death record in the New Hampshire vital records.  Although there were many DOAK/DOAKE/DOKE records in the Marblehead published vital records, there was no one with a first name beginning with the letter R. 

William Shepherd and Mary Doak were married on 18 December 1825 in Boston, Massachusetts.  They had eight children:  William F, Charles Henry, George Franklin, John B., Hannah M, Sarah E, Maria Louisa, Samuel R., and Joseph L. Shepherd.  Four of the children (Samuel, Sarah, James and Joseph) are listed on this tombstone. The rear of the stone reads “ERECTED BY Mr. and Mrs. B. E. Thompson and Mrs. A. H. Bixby 1907”

From the website Yodelout! Travel  

http://travel.yodelout.com/nineteenth-century-hotels-in-the-united-states/

“In Manchester, New Hampshire, is an old hotel which has borne several names and finally was removed bodily and joined to another hotel. Recently the house was purchased, refitted and renamed, being now called the Rice Varick Hotel. For many years after it was originally built, in 1840, the place was called Shepherd’s Tavern, from the landlord, William Shepherd, who leased it from the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, which built the house, having just sold off by auction a number of building lots in the town. The house prospered, and in 1851 was much enlarged. Not long afterwards Shepherd purchased the property, which later was named the Manchester House. Situated so remotely from the great centres of things, the old hotel was nevertheless favored with guests whose names were house-hold words throughout the nation. President Lincoln, President Pierce, John C. Calhoun, Lewis Cass, General Winfield Scott, General Benjamin F. Butler, Theodore Parker, Daniel Webster and Stephen A. Douglass were among those who stopped at Shepherd’s Tavern. When the hotel building was moved a few years ago and incorporated with the New Manchester House, its old names were discarded, and it was known by the name of the latter. Its historical significance is entirely confined to the nineteenth century.”

According to the Find A Grave website for this tombstone, “Also in this family lot are two of his employees/or individuals that lived in the hotel. Hepsabeth Dudley who was 60 in 1850 but doesn't have an occupation listed for her and Susan Robbins who was buried in this lot after his death. She is also listed in the 1850 census, but in 1903 she was working at another hotel when she died. Should there be a blood relationship, this writer could not locate it and would appreciate it if someone could contact me if they know of one.” https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/75651084/william-shepherd  

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday ~ SHEPHERD family of Manchester, New Hampshire", Nutfield Genealogy, posted December 11, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/12/tombstone-tuesday-shepherd-family-of.html: accessed [access date]).