An American Family History

Deacon Ralph Shepard was born about 1603 in Limehouse, Stepney Parish, Middlesex, England. Limehouse was a hamlet in Stepney Parish. In 1730 Limehouse became the separate parish of St. Anne-Limehouse.  It is now a part of London and adjoins the East End.

He was the son of Isaac Shepard (born 1571 in London, England) and his wife, Mary.

He married Thanklord about 1633. Their children and life together are described in detail in the section on Ralph and Thanklord Shepard.

According to Ralph Shepard in Ralph Shepard, Puritan Ralph, the immigrant, was a tailor. He was probably a member of the Draper’s Guild and a citizen of London.

On April 24, 1634, when Bishop Laud was persecuting the non-conformists, Ralph was summoned  before the ecclesiastical Court of High Commissions. His sentence was not recorded, but he probably left England because of it.

He was present at the first town meeting and signed the Town Covenant of Dedham, Massachusetts in 1636 and was granted twelve acres of land. He was a member of the first Town Assembly of Dedham and received many other grants of land. (Kin of Mellcene Thurman Smith, p. 85) Of the 26 town meetings held in Dedham, Ralph attended 21 of them.

On February 9, 1645/45 he was made a fence viewer for the lower plantation. He was a Ruling Elder the in Weymouth Church.

In April 1651 he took the oath of a freeman in Middlesex County.

He died on September 11, 1693 or August 20, 1693 in Charlestown, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. He was probably visiting his son Thomas when he died.

He is buried in Bell Rock Cemetery, Malden, Middlesex County, Massachusetts.

Here
Lyes ye Body of
Ralph Shepard
aged 90,
Died
September VII, 1693

“The original tombstone was slate and is weather beaten and deteriorated from age, but it is now encased in a marble monument. . .The hourglass and crossbones tell us that time does not tarry and that death soon comes to all: while the wings on either side of the skull suggest the hope of a blessed immortality.”
(Ancestors and Descendants of Albro Dexter, p, 29)