John Calhoun Sheppard, American governor. Member South Carolina. House of Representatives, 3 terms, 1876-1882 (speaker 1877-1882); member State Senate 2 terms, 1898-1902; member State Constitutional Convention, 1895.
Background
Sheppard was born in Edgefield County and attended Bethel Academy in Edgefield. He was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1876 and became the Speaker of the House when his father-in-law, William Henry Wallace, resigned as Speaker to accept an open circuit judgeship.
Education
Educated Furman University, Greenville, South Carolina., Doctor of Laws, 1925.
Career
Upon graduating from Furman University with a law degree, he was admitted to the bar in 1871. He had been a strong supporter of Martin Witherspoon Gary in his gubernatorial campaign of 1880 which got him noticed by those opposed to the Conservative wing of the state Democratic party. When Hugh Smith Thompson resigned on July 10, 1886 to be Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, Sheppard succeeded to the governorship.
In the nomination battle to be the Democratic nominee for governor in the election of 1886, he was promoted by Ben Tillman and the News and Courier.
Tillman tried to force the delegates of the Farmers" Association to support Sheppard at the Democratic Convention, but they refused and instead John Peter Richardson III emerged as the nominee for governor. After leaving the governorship on November 30, 1886, Sheppard became president of the Edgefield Bank of South Carolina.
He was mentioned as a potential candidate for governor in 1890, but Tillman had rigged the Democratic convention to force his nomination for governor. Sheppard remained active in South Carolina politics and participated at the constitutional convention of 1895.
He was elected three years later in 1898 to the South Carolina Senate and served until 1904.
On October 7, 1931, Sheppard died and was buried at Willowbrook Cemetery in Edgefield.
Achievements
Religion
By faith alone Christians receive salvation and not through any works of their own.
Membership
Member South Carolina. House of Representatives, 3 terms, 1876-1882 (speaker 1877-1882). Member State Senate 2 terms, 1898-1902.
Member State Constitutional Convention, 1895.
Connections
Married Helen Wallace, May 22, 1879. Children: William Wallace, Helen Wallace (Mistress B. East. Nicholson), Henrietta (Mistress Doctorate. Doctorate. McColl), Sarah Maxwell (Mistress B. L. Mims), John Calhoun (deceased), James Orlando, George Lamb Buist (deceased), Francis Wilkerson Pickens.
Father:
James Sheppard
Mother:
Sarah Louise (Mobley) Sheppard
Spouse:
Helen Wallace
child:
George Lamb Buist Sheppard (deceased)
child:
Henrietta Sheppard (Mistress D. D. McColl)
child:
Francis Wilkerson Pickens Sheppard
child:
Helen Wallace Sheppard (Mistress B. East. Nicholson)