Ether Shepley was an American senator and jurist from Massachussets.
Background
He was born on November 2, 1789 in Groton, Massachussets, United States, the second son of John and Mary (Gibson) Thurlow Shepley. He was descended from John Shepley (Sheple) who was in Salem, Massachussets, as early as 1637 and later settled at Chelmsford.
Education
After attending the academy in Groton conducted by Caleb Butler, he entered Dartmouth College, where he was graduated in 1811. Ill health caused him to abandon his ambition to become a physician and he turned to the study of the law, for two years in the office of Dudley Hubbard of South Berwick, Maine, then with Zabdiel B. Adams in Lunenburg and Solomon Strong in Westminster.
Career
On being admitted to the bar in 1814, he opened an office in Saco, Me. , where he practised for a time with William Pitt Preble, and later alone. His rise in his profession was rapid, owing both to close application and to practical experience.
Shepley entered politics as Saco's representative to the Massachusetts General Court in 1819. The same year he took an active part in the deliberations of the Maine constitutional convention. In February 1821 he succeeded William Pitt Preble as United States attorney for Maine, an office which he held until his election to the Senate in 1833 as the successor of John Holmes.
As senator he was a vigorous supporter of Andrew Jackson, particularly in a long speech beginning January 14, 1834, wherein he spoke warmly in favor of his college classmate, Amos Kendall. His greatest effort, however, was probably his speech on the French spoliations. When Albion Keith Parris resigned from the Maine supreme court, Gov. Robert P. Dunlap, on September 23, 1836, appointed Shepley to the vacancy.
Twelve years later, by appointment of Governor Dana, he became chief justice, a position he occupied for the seven years allowed by the state constitution. His decisions are recorded in 14-40 Maine Reports. More suited to law than to politics, Shepley refused to return to political office, preferring to aid in clearing the docket of its deluge of land cases proceeding from the collapse of the speculative boom in Maine. Shortly after his retirement from the bench, he was appointed by legislative resolve, April 1, 1856, sole commissioner to revise and cause to be printed - before November 15 of the same year - the public laws of the state. During the Civil War he took over the practice of his son, George Foster Shepley, who was serving with the army.
In 1822 Shepley joined the Congregational Church in Saco and thereafter took an active interest in religion. He was a trustee of Bowdoin College from 1829 to 1866.
A fractured hip, resulting from a fall, caused his death early in 1877.
Achievements
Politics
Shepley, a Democratic-Republican, served in the Maine State House before becoming one of the state's U. S. Senators, later he became Democratic. He was an ardent advocate of the separation of Maine from Massachusetts.
Connections
He had married, June 10, 1816, Anna Foster of Hanover, who died in 1868. They had five sons, two of whom died young.