Cumberland County NJ Archives Obituaries.....Sheppard, Benjamin H. August 31, 1859 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/nj/njfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Donald Buncie http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00034.html#0008389 April 16, 2024, 1:37 pm West-Jersey pioneer. (Bridgeton, N.J.) 1851-1884: September 03, 1859 Died in Bridgeton, on the 31st ult., Benjamin H. Sheppard, in the 53d year of his age. On Wednesday morning last one of our most worthy citizens, Mr. Benjamin Sheppard, committed suicide by hanging himself in his barn. For some time past, he has been laboring under mental derangement. About five o’clock in the morning he left the room in which he had been sleeping with his little boy, and it is supposed proceeded immediately to commit the fatal deed. When the family awoke and called Mr. S., they became alarmed at his absence, and made immediate search for him. His daughter looking into the barn, saw her father suspended by the neck to a beam back of the stalls. The alarm was given, and Mr. Robert Jordan, in company with another neighbor, unloosed the thick rope which had been wound several times around the cross piece of timber on which he hung. His toes touched the ground, but no signs of a struggle were visible. It is supposed he swung off of a sill within a step or two of where he was hanging. This sad occurrence caused quite an excitement in Bridgeton during the morning, and has cast a gloom over many sorrowing relatives and friends. Mr. Sheppard was about 52 years of age and a worthy member of the Commerce Street M. E. Church. A wife and seven children are left to mourn his loss. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/nj/cumberland/obits/s/sheppard1076gob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/njfiles/ File size: 1.9 Kb