He was born on July 20, 1850 on a farm near Alstead, New Hampshire, United States. Descended from Daniel Shed, who settled in Braintree, Massachussets, in 1642, he was the youngest son among the eight children of William and Abigail (Wallace) Shedd.
He left the farm at seventeen to work in a small fruit store in Bellows Falls, Vermont, with the prospect of receiving seventy-five dollars a year and his board. He soon entered the general store first of one Timothy Tufts and then of James H. Porter, both in Alstead. While with Porter he was induced in 1870 to go to Rutland, Vermont, to work in a general store at a salary of one hundred and seventy-five dollars a year and his board.
He had an opportunity to visit Chicago in a vacation. There he sought an interview with Marshall Field, who had already established himself in the retail dry-goods business. Having secured employment with Field, Leiter & Company, in 1872 he returned to Chicago to begin work as stock boy and salesman in the linen department of the wholesale house at ten dollars a week. It was not long before he had worked out an analysis of sales as a basis for ordering goods; this drew him to the attention of his departmental superior, and from then on his rise was rapid. More intimately than anyone but Field himself, Shedd knew the conditions in the western country which were making possible the rapid expansion of the Field business.
In 1893 he was taken into partnership, the firm having then become Marshall Field & Company by the withdrawal of Levi Z. Leiter. He had by this time made himself so essential both to the wholesale and retail branches of the business through his skill in buying that when Marshall Field died in 1906 he was chosen president. As the major executive of the company he continued the Field tradition of careful credit extension, quantity buying, and quality merchandise.
In December 1922, when he retired from the presidency to become chairman of the board of directors, the Field organization had grown to proportions at which its founder might well have been amazed. He took an active interest in civic and business affairs.
He made liberal gifts to the Young Men's Christian Association and to the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1924 he established a fund of $2, 000, 000 to build the Shedd Aquarium in Grant Park, Chicago, with an additional $1, 000, 000 as an endowment.
He died in Chicago.
Being the president of Marshall Field & Company, John Graves Shedd introduced ideas of counter display, specially built showrooms, and conveniences for customers which gave the Field organization prestige and reputation throughout the country. He embarked on a manufacturing program which led successively to the development of textile mills in North Carolina and Virginia, a rug-making factory in Philadelphia, and a lace-making industry at Zion City. Besides, Shedd provided the funds for the construction of the Shedd-Porter Memorial Library in Alstead, New Hampshire, he provided $3 million to build Chicago's Shedd Aquarium, that remained the world's largest aquarium for most of the century.
He was a natural salesman, a keen judge of merchandise, and a faithful worker.
Quotes from others about the person
Marshall Field described Shedd as "the greatest merchant in the United States".
On May 15, 1878, he married Mary Roenna Porter of Walpole, New Hampshire, daughter of Dr. Winslow Burroughs Porter, by whom he had two daughters: Helen Shedd Reed Keith and Laura Abbie Shedd Schweppe.
