Elliott Fitch Shepard

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Elliott Fitch Shepard
University of the City of New York
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
Margaret Louisa Vanderbilt
​
​
(m. 1868; w. 1893)​
Children6, including Alice, and Elliott Jr.
Signature
Elliott Fitch Shepard's signature

Elliott Fitch Shepard

Scarborough Presbyterian Church, which he founded nearby, are contributing properties to the Scarborough Historic District
.

Shepard was born in

Scarborough-on-Hudson, he founded the Scarborough Presbyterian Church and built Woodlea; the house and its land are now part of Sleepy Hollow Country Club
.

Early life

Portrait of an old man
Fitch Shepard, father of Elliott Fitch Shepard

Shepard was born July 25, 1833, in Jamestown in

Puritan minister) and James Fitch (son-in-law of William Bradford). Delia Maria Dennis was a descendant of Robert Dennis, who emigrated from England in 1635.[1] Elliott was described in 1897's Prominent Families of New York as "prominent by birth and ancestry, as well as for his personal qualities".[4] He attended public schools in Jamestown, and moved with his father and brothers to New York City in 1845.[3] He began attending the college-preparatory University Grammar School (then located in the University of the City of New York building),[5] and graduated from the university in 1855.[6] Shepard began reading law under Edwards Pierrepont, and was admitted to the bar in the city of Brooklyn in 1858.[7]

Military service

Portrait of a bearded Caucasian uniformed man
Shepard during the American Civil War, photographed by George G. Rockwood

From January 1861 through the outbreak of the American Civil War and until 1862 Shepard served as an aide-de-camp to Union Army General Edwin D. Morgan with the rank of colonel.[8][9] During this time Shepard was placed in command of the department of volunteers in Elmira, and enlisted 47,000 men from the surrounding area.[2][8] In 1862 he was appointed Assistant Inspector-General for half of New York state, reporting to New York's governor on troop organization, equipment, and discipline.[10]

In 1862 he visited Jamestown to inspect, equip and provide uniforms for the Chautauqua regiment, his first return since infancy,

Reuben E. Fenton.[14]

Career

Three ornate three-story square mansions
The Shepards' New York City townhouse (right), part of the Vanderbilt Triple Palace
Illustration of Shepard walking with newspapers
Political cartoon criticizing Shepard's Park Row newspaper

In 1864, Shepard was a member of the executive committee and chair of the Committee on Contributions from Without the City for the New York Metropolitan Fair. He chaired lawyers' committees for disaster relief, including those in

1866 Great Fire and the 1871 Great Chicago Fire respectively, and was a member of the municipal committee for victims of the 1889 Johnstown Flood.[11]

In 1867 Shepard was presented to Margaret Louisa Vanderbilt at a reception given by Governor Morgan;[6] their difficult courtship[2] was opposed by Margaret's father, William Henry Vanderbilt.[15] A year later, on February 18, 1868, they were married in the Church of the Incarnation in New York City.[6][16] After an 1868 trip to Tarsus, Mersin he helped found Tarsus American College,[17] agreeing to donate $5,000 a year to the school and leave it an endowment of $100,000 ($3.39 million in 2023[18]).[19][20] He became one of the school's trustees and vice presidents.[5]

In 1868, Shepard became a partner of Judge

local ordinances to form the New-York Municipal Code; the last revision was in 1859.[7][25]

During the 1880s he helped found three banks. At the

Christian Sabbath).[6][30]

When Margaret's father died in 1885, she inherited $12 million ($407 million in 2023[18]).[6] The family lived at 2 West 52nd Street in Manhattan,[31] one of three houses of the Vanderbilt Triple Palace which were built during the 1880s for William Henry Vanderbilt and his two daughters. After Elliott's death Margaret transferred the house to her sister's family, who combined their two houses into one.[32] The houses were eventually demolished; the nine-story De Pinna Building was built there in 1928 and was demolished around 1969.[33] 650 Fifth Avenue is the building currently on the site.

Shepard and his family toured the world in 1884,[27]: 154  visiting Asia, Africa, and Europe.[7] He documented his 1887 trip from New York to Alaska in The Riva.: New York and Alaska taken by himself, his wife and daughter, six other family members, their maid, a chef, butler, porter and conductor. According to Shepard, the family traveled 14,085 miles (22,668 km) on 26 railroads and stayed at 38 hotels in nearly five months.[34][35] After the 1884 trip, aware of the opportunity for church work in the territory, he founded a mission and maintained it with his wife for about $20,000 ($678,200 in 2023[18]) a year. For some time Shepard worshiped at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church under John Hall,[2] and was a vice president of the Presbyterian Union of New-York.[36] Shepard was president of the American Sabbath Union for five years,[11] and he also served as the chairman of the Special Committee on Sabbath Observance.[37]

Briarcliff Manor developments

See also: Sleepy Hollow Country Club § History
Woodlea
, his Briarcliff Manor residence

During the early 1890s Shepard moved to

Scarborough-on-Hudson in present-day Briarcliff Manor,[27]: 158  purchasing a Victorian house from J. Butler Wright. He had a mansion (named Woodlea, after Wright's house) built south of the house, facing the Hudson River,[38] and improved its grounds. Construction of the mansion began in 1892,[39] and was completed three years later.[27]: 153  Shepard died in 1893, leaving Margaret to oversee its completion.[27]: 159–60  The finished house has between 65,000 and 70,000 square feet (6,000 and 6,500 m2), making it one of the largest privately owned houses in the United States.[27]: 163 [40][41]

After Shepard's death Margaret lived there in the spring and fall,

William Rockefeller, selling them the house in 1910. Vanderlip and Rockefeller assembled a board of directors to create a country club; they first met at Vanderlip's National City Bank Building office at 55 Wall Street (Vanderlip was president of the bank at the time). Sleepy Hollow Country Club was founded, with Woodlea becoming its clubhouse and the J. Butler Wright house as its golf house.[27]
: 169 

Shepard established a small chapel on his Briarcliff Manor property, and founded the

Scarborough Presbyterian Church in 1892.[42] The church and its manse were donated by Margaret after his death. It was designed by Augustus Haydel (a nephew of Stanford White) and August D. Shepard Jr. (a nephew of Elliott Shepard and William Rutherford Mead).[27] The church, dedicated on May 11, 1895, in Shepard's memory,[27]: 165  was briefly known as Shepard Memorial Church.[43]

Family and personal life

Painting of formally-dressed people in a room
Going to the Opera (1874) by Seymour Joseph Guy, depicting the Vanderbilt family; Margaret is in blue, with Elliott on her right.

Shepard and Margaret had five daughters and one son: Florence (1869–1869), Maria Louise (1870–1948), Edith (1872–1954), Marguerite (1873–1895),

governesses. Shepard also employed a private chef for his family.[44] Shepard was a strict father known to beat his son, who was described as being as wild as his father was rigid and moralizing.[44]

Shepard was tall, with a pleasant expression and manner,[11] and The New York Times called him the "perfect type of well-bred clubman". He had thick hair, manicured nails, a well-trimmed beard and an athletic figure.[27]: 154  An opponent of antisemitism, he attended dinners publicizing the plight of Russian Jews and regularly addressed Jewish religious and social organizations avoided by others. He rented pews in many New York churches, supported about a dozen missionaries and was described as a generous donor to hospitals and charitable societies. Shepard was politically ambitious, and decided to build Woodlea as a symbol of power and influence.[27]: 157  Shepard had horses and carriages which were ridden by the family in parks, and he prided himself on his equestrianism.[44] Shepard was a long-time friend of US Senator Chauncey Depew.[6]

Shepard was a supporter of the Republican Party, contributing $75,000 ($2.54 million in 2023[18]) to the 1888 Presidential campaign fund and $10,000 ($339,100 in 2023[18]) to the state committee for the Fassett campaign. He furnished Shepard Hall, at Sixth Avenue and 57th Street in New York City, offering it rent-free to the Republican Club.[2]

Shepard belonged to a number of organizations: the

Union League Club of New York, and the Union League of Brooklyn.[45]

Later life, death, and legacy

Line drawing of bespectacled, mustached man in a derby hat
1892 sketch of Shepard

In 1892, the City University of New York gave Shepard a

Columbian Exposition in an effort to convince the committee not to open the exposition on a Sunday - the Sabbath.[49] Shepard himself attended, having spent $25,000 ($847,778 in 2023[18]) on September 7, 1891, in reserving sixteen rooms with board at the Auditorium Hotel for six months during the fair.[50]

Shepard died unexpectedly[8] during the afternoon of March 24, 1893 at his Manhattan residence. Two doctors were attempting to remove a bladder stone from him. They instructed him to eat lightly, only well before the operation.[5] They gave him the anesthetic ether at 12:45 p.m. For a few minutes Shepard did not seem to react, though soon afterward his color started changing and his respiration and pulse dimmed, so administration of ether was stopped, however not enough ether was given to continue with the operation. His condition started to worsen again; the doctors suspected food or vomit was blocking his windpipe or bronchial tubes. The doctors then administered oxygen, which helped temporarily; however, at 4:00 p.m. his pulse became steadily more feeble, he fell unconscious, and died at 4:10 p.m. His cause of death was edema and congestion of the lungs, after the administration of ether, but due to an unknown cause.[2][5]

Many doctors considered the case to be unusual and debated the cause of death.[51] Some, including family members,[52] accused them of criminal negligence; that Shepard was fed well before the operation, which could have allowed him to choke on vomit. No autopsy was made, but an inquest was made by the coroner. The two doctors to perform the operation made a statement on March 28, 1893, that after prior examinations no diseases were found and his heart and lungs seemed healthy.[5] A Tribune reporter met doctor William J. Morton, son of possible ether discoverer William T. G. Morton who had first used it in 1846. Morton said it was most improbable Shepard died of ether, ensuring its safety when properly used, and that deaths were one in 25,000. He recommended an autopsy.[5]

The first funeral service was a small gathering of pallbearers and close friends of the family at the house; then Shepard's body was moved to their church.

the Battery and then onto a ferry to Staten Island.[5]

An ornate mausoleum built into a hillside
The Vanderbilt mausoleum, Shepard's initial resting place
The Shepard family graves in the Vanderbilt family plot

At the funeral, organizations that Shepard was part of sent representatives, including the Union League Club, the Republican County Committee, the Republican Club, the New York State Bar Association, the Presbyterian Union, the Chamber of Commerce,

John S. Kennedy, John James McCook, Warner Miller, John Sloane, and John H. Starin.[53] Notable family included his immediate family, as well as most of the living Vanderbilt family, including the majority of Margaret Louisa's siblings, their spouses, and Margaret Louisa's mother.[53][36]

Shepard was first buried in the Vanderbilt mausoleum in Moravian Cemetery. On November 17, 1894, one of his daughters, his wife, and her brother George Vanderbilt oversaw the transfer of his remains and those of his daughter Florence to a new Shepard family tomb in the cemetery nearby.[54]

Shepard's estate included the $100,000 Tarsus American College endowment, $850,000 in real estate and $500,000 in personal property for a total of $1.35 million ($45.8 million in 2023

Aaron J. Vanderpoel's library to the New York University School of Law.[56] A year later, Shepard created an endowment for periodicals, necessitating the creation of the university's first reading room. In 1897, Shepard's wife donated his 1,390-volume collection of law books to the library.[57]

When the wife of Chicago publisher Horace O'Donoghue read him the news of Shepard's death four days after the event, he picked up a razor and slit his throat.[58] Although his suicide was first thought to be an impulsive reaction, it was later learned that the likely cause was O'Donoghue's large debts to Chicago publishing houses.[59]

Selected works

  • Shepard, Elliott Fitch; Shafer, Ebenezer B. (1881). Ordinances of the Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of the City of New York: In Force January 1, 1881. New York, New York.
    OCLC 680539530.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  • Shepard, Elliott Fitch (1886). Labor and Capital are One (10th ed.). New York, New York:
    OCLC 43539083
    .

Notes

  1. ^ Other common spellings of his first name include "Eliot" and "Elliot"; "Shepherd" was sometimes used as his surname. Shepard was sometimes known as Elliott Fitch Shepard Sr., to distinguish him from his son.

References

  1. ^
    OCLC 27643135
    .
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Elliott F. Shepard Dead" (PDF). The New York Times. March 25, 1893. Retrieved August 5, 2014.
  3. ^ a b The Union League Club: Historical and Biographical, 1863–1900. New York, New York: Union Historical Association. 1900. pp. 151–2. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  4. OCLC 4604610
    .
  5. ^ a b c d e f g "The Doctors' Statement" (PDF). New-York Tribune. Vol. 52, no. 16, 934. March 27, 1893. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k The Illustrated American. Vol. 13. Chicago, Illinois: The Illustrated American Publishing Company. April 8, 1893. p. 427.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Homans, James E., ed. (1918). The Cyclopedia of American Biography. The Press Association Compilers. pp. 299–300.
  8. ^ a b c "[Elliott F. Shepard obituary]". Mt. Sterling Advocate. Vol. 3, no. 35. Mt. Sterling, Kentucky. March 28, 1893. p. 1. Retrieved January 23, 2017.
  9. ^ Morgan, Edwin D. (1861). Annual Report of the Adjutant General of the State of New York (PDF). Albany, New York: New York Adjutant General's Office. p. 97. Retrieved January 23, 2017.
  10. ^ "Personal". The New York Times. Vol. 11, no. 3395. August 11, 1862. p. 6. Retrieved January 23, 2017.
  11. ^ a b c d Proceedings of the New York State Bar Association. Vol. 17. Albany, New York: The New York State Bar Association. 1894. pp. 212–3.
  12. ^ "Life & Letters". The Walt Whitman Archive. Retrieved August 7, 2014.
  13. ^ "Life & Letters". The Walt Whitman Archive. Retrieved August 7, 2014.
  14. ^
  15. ^ "Death of Col. Elliot F. Shephard". Reading Times. March 25, 1893. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  16. ^ "NYC Marriage & Death Notices 1857–1868". The New York Society Library. Retrieved August 5, 2014.
  17. OCLC 1770207
    .
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h i 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
  19. ISBN 978-0-231-13864-2
    .
  20. LCCN 89020662
    .
  21. ^ Ulman, H. Charles (1872). Lawyers' Record and Official Register of the United States. New York, New York: A. S. Barnes & Co. p. 766.
  22. ^ "Past Presidents of the New York State Bar Association". New York State Bar Association. 2014. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
  23. LCCN 96053609
    .
  24. ^ Eighteenth Annual Report of the Corporation of the Chamber of Commerce. New York, New York: Press of the Chamber of Commerce. 1876. pp. 41, 171.
  25. ^ "Revising the City Ordinances" (PDF). New-York Daily Tribune. July 13, 1878. p. 7. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  26. ^ Van Pelt, Daniel (1898). "Early Banks of New York City". Leslie's History of the Greater New York, Volume de Luxe. Arkell Publishing Company. Retrieved November 12, 2016.
  27. ^
    OCLC 22957281
    .
  28. ^ "His Career as an Editor" (PDF). New-York Tribune. 1893. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  29. ^ In the Matter of the Application of Alexander B. Larkin for a Writ of Mandamus. Albany, New York: Court of Appeals of the State of New York. 1900. pp. 15, 27. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
  30. ^ Gray, Christopher (October 24, 2014). "Refined in an Era of Superlatives". The New York Times. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  31. OCLC 52050563
    .
  32. ^ "Hotel for 57th St. Site" (PDF). The New York Times. December 22, 1925. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
  33. ^ Gray, Christopher (April 2, 2009). "Queen Anne Meets Plain Jane, a Grand Meat Retailer and a Fifth Avenue 'Ghost'". The New York Times. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
  34. ISBN 9780812201529
    .
  35. OCLC 27673783
    .
  36. ^ a b "Col. Shepard's Funeral" (PDF). New-York Tribune. 1893. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  37. ^ Minutes of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. MacCalla & Company, printers. May 22, 1893. p. 54. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  38. ISBN 978-1-86470-223-1
    .
  39. ^ "National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination form – Scarborough Historic District". National Park Service. United States Department of the Interior. Archived from the original on 2015-02-02.
  40. ^ "Sleepy Hollow Country Club – Scarborough, New York: General Manager" (PDF). Texas Lone Star Chapter of the Club Manager's Association of America. Denehy Club Thinking Partners. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 17, 2014. Retrieved August 5, 2014.
  41. ^ Finan, Tom. "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Rides On" (PDF). Club Management. No. August 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 23, 2014. Retrieved August 5, 2014.
  42. OCLC 39333547
    .
  43. ^ "The History of Scarborough Presbyterian Church". Scarborough Presbyterian Church. Archived from the original on February 2, 2015. Retrieved January 7, 2015.
  44. ^
    OCLC 31581175
    .
  45. ^ a b Club Men of New York. New York, New York: The Republic Press. January 1893. pp. 47–8, 410. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  46. JSTOR 592402
    .
  47. ^ The Century, 1847–1946. The Century Association. 1947. p. 403. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
  48. ^ Report of the Sixteenth Annual Meeting of the American Bar Association. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Dando Printing and Publishing Company. 1893. p. 439.
  49. ^ "The Sabbatarians Have Their Innings at Washington". Los Angeles Herald. Vol. 39, no. 93. January 12, 1893. p. 2. Retrieved May 16, 2015.
  50. OL 24962074M
    . Retrieved May 16, 2015.
  51. ^ "The Death of Col. Shepard" (PDF). New York Tribune. 1893. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  52. ^ a b c "Elliott F. Shepard's Funeral" (PDF). The New York Times. March 29, 1893. Retrieved December 24, 2016.
  53. ^ a b c "Funeral of E. F. Shepard" (PDF). New-York Daily Tribune. March 29, 1893. p. 5. Retrieved May 28, 2015.
  54. ^ "Elliott F. Shepard's Body Removed" (PDF). The New York Times. November 18, 1894. Retrieved August 5, 2014.
  55. ^ "Elliott F. Shepard's Will" (PDF). The New York Times. April 12, 1893. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
  56. ^ The University of the City of New York: Catalogue and Announcements. The University of the City of New York. 1889. pp. 141–2.
  57. ^ Jones, Theodore Francis, ed. (1933). New York University, 1832-1932 (PDF). New York, New York: The New York University Press. pp. 211, 259, 265–6. Retrieved December 9, 2016.
  58. ^ "A Publisher Cuts His Throat" (PDF). The New York Times. March 28, 1893. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
  59. ^ "Horace O'Donoghue's Suicide" (PDF). The New York Times. April 19, 1893. Retrieved August 6, 2014.

Further reading

Library resources about
Elliott Fitch Shepard
By Elliott Fitch Shepard

External links
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