Shepard, Lavinia (Mrs. William T.), 1866-1937

SHEPARD, TEALE, PEACEY

Posted By: Lydia Lucas - Volunteer (email)
Date: 6/13/2021 at 20:33:38

From the Sioux County Index (Hull), October 22, 1937:

J. W. Tamplin, a former publisher of the Index, but now of Palo Alto, California, sends us the following obituary of one of the real old settlers of Hull, Iowa:

Lavinia Teale was born in England in 1867. She moved to America with her aunt and uncle and on March 16, 1887, at Dundee, Illinois, was married to Dr. W. T. Shepard, a young physician from Hull, Iowa.

After a number of years residing in Hull the family moved to Le Mars where they made their home until the Doctor’s retirement from active practice a few years ago when they came to Palo Alto where their two sons had their homes.

Death came from heart trouble on Wednesday, October 6, 1937. Burial took place at Le Mars. Dr. Shepard and his older son accompanied the remains to Iowa.

Besides the husband, two sons—Dr. Wm. P. Shepard, Health Director for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, and Dr. Charles Shepard, Health Director for Stanford University, together with four grandchildren, mourn Mrs. Shepard’s passing.

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From the Le Mars Semi-Weekly Sentinel, October 8, 1937:

WIFE OF FORMER PHYSICIAN HERE TAKEN BY DEATH
Mrs. W. T. Shepard, Long Time Le Mars Resident, Dies in California

Dr. W. L. Downing received a telegram Thursday from Dr. W. T. Shepard, former partner in the Le Mars Clinic and prominent Le Mars physician for many years, announcing the death at Palo Alto, Calif., of Mrs. Shepard, where the Shepards have been living of late.

Mrs. Shepard, who had been in delicate health for a long time, wrote only a few days ago that she was feeling well and strong, and the immediate cause of death was not stated in the message.

The body will be brought here for burial, accompanied by her husband and her son, Will. Services wil be held in the First Presbyterian church with Rev. F. P. Pfaltzgraff officiating at 2 o’clock Sunday afternoon.

Dr. and Mrs. W. T. Shepard celebrated their golden wedding in Palo Alto March 16. They were married March 16, 1889, at Dundee, Illinois, and came immediately thereafter to Hull, Iowa, where Dr. Shepard had located in 1886 after completing his medical course and taken the Iowa medical examinations, receiving the highest grade that had been awarded up to that time. Dr. Shepard was only 20 years of age when he began practicing in Hull.

Later he practiced in Albuquerque, Chicago and Denver, then returned to Hull and in 1898 moved to Le Mars and bought the practice of Dr. Gray. Retiring in 1935 he had spent almost fifty years in the active practice, thirty-seven of them in Le Mars.

Mrs. Shepard has been his constant companion and helpmate for fifty years and despte delicate health took an active interest in the campaign for a new high school, was a charter member of the Friday Club and of the P.E.O., and a member of the Eastern Star. She was widely known in Le Mars and held in high esteem wherever known or associated.

She leaves her husband, Dr. W. T. Shepard and two sons, Dr. Will Shepard and Dr. Chas. Shepard, who reside in Palo Alto, Calif.

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RESEARCH NOTES

Her FindaGrave.com page has Lavinia T. Shepard, 1866-1937, buried in Memorial Cemetery, Le Mars; no additional information.

The 1925 Iowa state census gives her husband as William T. Shepard and parents as William Teale and Mary Peacey.

From Ancestry.com: The 1871 census for Dumbleton, Gloucestershire, England includes what is likely Lavinia and her family: William Teale (41), a domestic servant, his wife Mary (39), a dressmaker, and children Charlotte (12), Frederick William (9), Walter (7), Lavinia (5), and Jenetta (2). There is a Gloucestershire Church of England baptism record for Lavinia Teale, parents William and Mary Teale, baptised April 22, 1866.

The 1900 U.S. census shows William T. Shepard (34, born Oct. 1865), wife Labinia (34, born Jan 1866), and sons William P. (4, born July 1895) and Charles E. (1, born Sep 1898) living in Le Mars, and gives her immigration year as 1871.

The Illinois county marriages index on Ancestry.com shows Lavinia Teale, age 22, parents William Teale and Mary Peacey, marrying William T. Shepard in Kane County, Illinois, on 16 March 1887.