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About John Shepley, II
John Shepley was baptized on December 1, 1656.
John Sheple Jr. was married to Susannah Wheeler on September 23, 1672. Their entire family except child John was killed during the Abenaki Indian raid on Groton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, June 27, 1695 and their house (likely with bodies inside) was burned to the ground. They are memorialized on the Sheple Monument transcribed by Samuel A. Green in his "Epitaphs".
Partial transcription: "East Side. Genealogy of the Sheples from 1630 to 1835 - 205 years.
Sheple, a phonetic spelling, was variously spelled "Shepley", "Shipley", and "Shapleigh".
All of John Shepley's family (John Sheple, father; Susannah Wheeler, mother; and at least two unknown siblings) were massacred by the Abenaki Indians during one of the attacks on Groton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts on July 27, 1694, a skirmish brought on by the French and Indian Wars. Only Captain John Sheple, then age 16/17, survived.
The inscription on the Shepley Monument at Groton states: "The Indians massacred all the Sheples in Groton save a John Sheple, 16 years old who the[y] carried captive to Canada and kept him 4 years, after which he returned to Groton and from him descended all the Sheples or Shepleys in this vicinity."
(A drawing of the monument by A.B.Coburn can be found on p.184 of Samuel A. Green's Epitaphs from the Old Burying Ground, Groton, Massachusetts, 1878. The monument was built by J. Fiske in 1835).
John was carried off by the natives to Canada where he was held captive for 3.5 years, picking up their language and customs before being rescued (some reports state that he left reluctantly) and returned to Groton. He soon married Lydia Lakin, daughter of John and Mary Bacon Lakin, and had five children. He became an important statesman in his town, holding many offices of trust and civil and ecclesiastical responsibility, and was the subject of much history and legend regarding his ongoing relations with the natives. After John Sheple's death, his widow Lydia married her cousin Elizbeth Lakin's widow, Captain Jonathan Boyden.
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John Shepley, II's Timeline
| 1637 |
1637
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Wenham, Essex County, Massachusetts, Colonial America
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| 1676 |
1676
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Chelmsford, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Colonial America
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| 1682 |
March 14, 1682
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Massachusetts, Colonial America
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| 1694 |
July 27, 1694
Age 57
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Groton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Colonial America
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| ???? |
Old Burying Grouond, Groton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States
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