Auburn Wesley Shepherd (1894 - 1968)

Born 1 Mar 1894 in Van Buren Co., AR, USA

Ancestors

Husband of Martha Elizabeth Flory — married 4 Aug 1914 (to about 1925) in Van Buren, Crawford Co., AR, USA

Husband of Stella Beatrice Warford — married 23 Jan 1930 (to 1946) in Van Buren, Crawford, AR, USA

Husband of Mary (Unknown) Shepherd — married about 1950 (to about 1959) in Missouri, United States

Descendants

Died 23 Sep 1968 at age 74 in Las Vegas, Clark Co., NV, USA

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Biography

  Auburn Wesley Shepherd was probably born in Randolph County, Arkansas in 1894.  In that same year his father moved the family to a farm near Clinton in Van Buren County.  It is possible, therefore, that A.W. was born on the new farm.  Census records for Van Buren Co, Arkansas in 1900 show his mother had given birth to four children, but only two were living, A.W. and Carlos.   The family consisted of AW, his father, mother, paternal grandmother, and older brother Carlos.  The census records for 1900 also show an Uncle Isaac Shepherd on a nearby farm.  The family farmed here until 1914 when they moved to Keota, Oklahoma.   AW and his brother attended a “log cabin” schoolhouse for their elementary education which sometimes lasted only three months a year.  The kids were usually needed at home for farm work.  Carlos attended high school in Clinton, the county seat, and afterwards taught school in various rural areas, presumably in/near Van Buren county.  He earned extra money driving a team of horses for the hauling of ties for the North Arkansas Railroad.  Younger brother AW may have followed a similar education path.  Both brothers, however,  probably spent a lot of time back home helping on the family farm.   The year 1914 was an important one for the family,  AW’s mother Frances, and his grandmother Rebecca, died (on March 10 and April 10 respectively).  AW also got married to Martha Flory in the same year.  (See bk 11, page 59 of Van Buren Co, AR, marriage records.)  AW and Martha were probably childhood sweethearts since both families lived in Van Buren County.  The Shepherd family’s decision to move to Oklahoma most likely determined the wedding’s timing.  The reasons for the move from Arkansas to Oklahoma are unknown, but economic opportunity and the deaths of the mother and grandmother probably played a part.  Since the two women died only a month apart, one might imagine that a serious flu epidemic had gone through the area.   Auburn, Martha, Carlos, wife Ina, and their father all moved together to Keota around 1915. According to Pauline Shepherd Frederick, uncle Isaac Shepherd moved with them.  Auburn/Martha had a one year old baby, Juanita, and Carlos/Ina has one year old baby, David.   They were remembered as arriving in Keota driving two covered wagons with huge wheels.  The two boys’ first job was hauling hay on their wagons from farms East of Keota to railroad boxcars.  Next, they hired out to break land to plant an oat field to the north of the town.  After this, in 1915, they rented a farm between Star and Cowlington (Hamlets around Keota).  Between 1915 and 1936, AW was involved farming, hauling and bus driving.  In 1917 he was a substitute mail carrier, and on the 1920 census he is listed as an auto mechanic.  His brother, Carlos, first followed the teaching career he began in Arkansas, but was later elected as Haskell County Treasurer in 1933.  In 1936 he was appointed postmaster of Stigler where he stayed until retirement in 1960.   AW and Martha had three children, Juanita, Pauline and Allen Wesley,  the two youngest were  born in Keota.   Juanita died as an infant, ca 1917.  According to Pauline, the baby died in their car as they were traveling to visit family back in Arkansas. Pauline was born in 1919 and Allen in 1920.  Sometime after Allen was born in 1920, A.W. divorced Martha and moved to nearby Stigler.  He seems to have moved his busline business to Muskogee, to the north of the Arkansas River from Stigler and Keota. He married Stella Warford in early 1930.    When Pauline was about 13 year old (c1930), her mother remarried and Pauline was sent to live with A.W. and Stella (probably in Muskogee).  After a few months, Pauline returned to Keota where she lived until getting married.  A son, Ira Linden Shepherd was born to them in 1936.   By 1936, about the time his brother had accepted the appointment as postmaster of Stigler, AW had moved back to Stigler and ran a bus line which ran from there to Fort Smith.  Sometime before the start of WWII, Auburn, Stella and Ira moved to Springfield, Missouri where A.W. ran a successful bus line operation.  (A.W. ran several “jitney and bus” companys in Keota, Stigler, Muskogee, and Springfield.)    During WWII, A.W. again lived in Springfield, MO.  (209 1/2 West Olive St., Springfield).    Allen Wesley Shepherd was declared dead during WWII when his plane did not return from a sea patrol mission out of Pensacola, Florida.       A.W. was eventually divorced by Stella in 1946, and A.W. later married a woman named Mary who had a daughter, not AW’s, named Jeanie.  A.W. and Mary were married at least through 1957.  During a part of this time (1954-1957), Ira attended a bible college in Springfield, married a schoolmate named Marilyn, and worked part-time in his father's busline garage.  When he and Marilyn graduated from Bible School, Ira and Marilyn moved to Pampa, Texas.  Ira's mother, Stella, moved with them to Pampa.  By the mid sixties AW had retired and was living in Las Vegas, Nevada.  In January of 1968 he married a woman named Violet Sarbridge, but was divorced from her by August of the same year.  A.W. died a month later. He lived in a trailer in Las Vegas.  His address in Las Vegas was 122 N. 10th St.  Carlos occasionally vacationed there with him.  AW died in September of 1968 of a heart attack.  He was also suffering from psirosis of the liver.  His two surviving children, Pauline and Ira, were with him.  He was buried in Keota Cemetery near his father and brothers. Marilyn Shepherd (AW’s daughter-in-law), recounted AW saying that “when he and Carlos reached age eighteen, their dad gave them each a team of horses and wagons and told them to make their way”. This is a good clue as to why AW ended up in the transportation (taxi/bus line) business.

Sources

• Find-A-Grave memorial #76887880
• 1900 US Census, AR, Van Buren Co., Holly TWP
• 1910 US Census, AR, Van Buren Co., Holly TWP
• marriage records, Van Buren Co., AR
• WWI Draft Registration in 1917
• Nevada Divorce Index, 1968-2005
• afn:1ph8sfx (Auburn Shepherd)