Sonoma-El Dorado-Butte County CA Archives Biographies.....Shepherd, James Simpson 1814 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com March 1, 2006, 4:53 pm Author: Alley, Bowen & Co. (1880) Shepherd, James Simpson, M. D., F. R. C. S. L. Was born August 3, 1814, at the small village of Firsby, near Spilsby, on the eastern coast of Lincolnshire, England. His father, a clergyman of the Church of England, was vicar of the parishes of Firsby and Great Steeping for twenty-seven years. At the age of eight years he was placed at the grammar school of the Rev. Isaac Russell in Spilsby, the market town of that district of country, where he remained six years, and was then articled to Dr. Thomas Barker for the term of seven years, and in the year 1836 graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons, London. In March, 1838, he married Rebecca, third daughter of John Dauson, Esq., of Tattersall Castle Farm, by whom he has now three children living, all married and now in California. Early in the Spring of 1839, himself and wife emigrated to the United States and settled in Michigan, where he first commenced the practice of his profession with more or less success in those hard times in a new country until 1845, when he removed with his family to Wisconsin, and after remaining in Racine—where he changed his method of practice from the Allopathic to the Homeopathic—until the Spring of 1850, he crossed the plains to California and arrived in Placerville—then called Hangtown—August 16th, leaving his family behind him in Racine, from whence in course of time they all reached this State. In those early times all professions were well represented in the mines, and he was not long in following the fashion, and after various vicissitudes as a miner, generally being "dead broke" two-thirds of the time, in 1856 he commenced the practice of his profession in Oroville, Butte county, where the mines were rich and the times good for a while; but soon, like all others, being to all appearance worked out and pay getting scarce, in 1859, being interested in a mine at Dogtown, he moved up there, with his usual luck in such ventures until 1862, when he went across the mountains to the then famous Humboldt silver mines in Nevada; but one year of that experience saw him again "dead broke," and satisfied him. A gentleman from the neighborhood of Petaluma being over there to settle up a brother's estate, induced him to come home with him and settle in Petaluma, as there was no Homeopathic doctor there, which he accordingly did in December, 1863, and has since resided in that flourishing little town, with the disposition to roam that seems to have haunted him ever since he left old England effectually cured, he believes, for the rest of his life. Additional Comments: Petaluma Township Extracted from: HISTORY —OF- SONOMA COUNTY, -INCLUDING ITS— Geology, Topooraphy, Mountains, Valleys and Streams; —TOGETHER WITH— A Full and Particular Record of the Spanish Grants; Its Early History and Settlement, Compiled from the Most Authentic Sources; the Names of Original Spanish and American Pioneers; a full Political History, Comprising the Tabular Statements of Elections and Office-holders since the Formation of the County; Separate Histories of each Township, Showing the Advancement of Grape and Grain Growing Interests, and Pisciculture; ALSO, INCIDENTS OF PIONEER LIFE; THE RAISING OF THE BEAR FLAG; AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF EARLY AND PROMINENT SETTLERS AND REPRESENTATIVE MEN; —AND OF ITS— Cities, Towns, Churches, Schools, Secret Societies, Etc., Etc. ILLUSTRATED. SAN FRANCISCO: ALLEY, BOWEN & CO., PUBLISHERS. 1880. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/sonoma/bios/shepherd812bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/cafiles/ File size: 4.0 Kb