of his left eye. The remaining eye was an expressive mild blue."
He was a brother, or near kinsman of Judge Edamus Burke, of South Carolina, equally eccentric, and like Edamus Burke full of genius, fun and frolic, of whom many anecdotes are still remembered.
Col. William Shepperd, of Long Meadows, (his ancestral home, near Hillsboro, N. C.,) was a conspicuous member of the State Senate; he was an officer of the North Carolina line during the revolution of 1776--a terror to "The Tories."
Many are the legends of his prowess, which enlivens the blazing pine knots of "the Old North State," but sweeter far are the memories of his benevolence.
Let one instance for each
characteristic suffice for this sketch. One to show that "bread cast upon the
waters will return after many days," and the other to remind a wavering
patriotism and hesitating honesty of that great self-sacrifice and stern
devotion to principle, which were the secrets of the success of our patriotic
grandfathers, and which not only were rewarded, but will descend in mantles of
glory to the third and fourth generation! Colonel Shepperd had married Miss
Elizabeth Haywood, sister of Judge Haywood, of North Carolina, then removed to
Tennessee. Her sister married a lawyer named Captain William Bell, clarum et
venerabile nomen. He died, leaving a lovely family without support, and
although Colonel Shepperd's family was numerous, yet he adopted the orphaned
family as his own. They are since known to history, as Captain William H. Bell,
of the United States Army; Admiral Henry H. Bell, U. S. N.; Captain John Bell,
U. S. N.; a daughter married to Mr. McNair, of Edgecombe County; a daughter
Elizabeth J., who married Thomas Ashe, grandson of Gov. Ashe, the youngest
brother of Paoli Ashe, and another married to Dr. Howell, of West Tennessee;
another Miss Haywood, a sister of Mrs. Col. Shepperd, married Mr. Johnstone, of
North Carolina, and moved to Tennessee; another married Mr. Duffie, an eminent
lawyer of North Carolina, and after his death Dr. Buchanan, of St. Stephens,
Ala.; and after his death Mr. Adlai Osborne; she left one son, Egbert. Judge
Jas. Osborne, the distinguished judge, was a son of Adlai Osborne by his first
wife, Miss Walker, of Wilmington. A sister of Col. Wm. Shepperd--Martha--married
Major Wm. F. Strudwick, of Hillsboro, a member of Congress. She left Sam
Strudwick, of Alabama; Dr. Edward Strudwick, of Hillsboro, and Eliza, who
The other incident is a legend of bloody war during the revolution. R. C. in the "Farmer and Mechanic" most graphically writes as follows of Col. Wm. Shepperd:
He was very short, spare built man, of plain insignificant appearance, and the farther disadvantages of a very thin, piping voice, with one eye; no one in search of a hero would have
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