John Calhoun Sheppard

John Calhoun Sheppard (July 5, 1850 – October 17, 1931) was the 82nd Governor of South Carolina from July 10, 1886, to November 30, 1886.

John Calhoun Sheppard
82nd Governor of South Carolina
In office July 10, 1886 – November 30, 1886
Lieutenant	Vacant
Preceded by	Hugh Smith Thompson
Succeeded by	John Peter Richardson III
President Pro Tempore of the South Carolina Senate
In office January 9, 1900 – January 10, 1905
Governor	Miles Benjamin McSweeney Duncan Clinch Heyward
Preceded by	Robert Bethea Scarborough
Succeeded by	Richard Irvine Manning III
Member of the South Carolina Senate from Edgefield County
In office February 5, 1919 – January 11, 1921
In office January 10, 1899 – January 10, 1905
58th Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina
In office December 1, 1882 – July 10, 1886
Governor	Hugh Smith Thompson
Preceded by	John D. Kennedy
Succeeded by	William Mauldin
31st Speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives
In office December 7, 1877 – December 1, 1882
Preceded by	William Henry Wallace
Succeeded by	James Simons, Jr.
Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from Edgefield County
In office November 28, 1876 – December 1, 1882
Personal details
Born	July 5, 1850 Edgefield County, South Carolina
Died	October 17, 1931 (aged 81)
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic
Relatives	Elizabeth Nelson Adams (great granddaughter) Julian Adams II (great great grandson) James Emerson Smith Jr. (great great grandson)

Sheppard was born in Edgefield County and attended Bethel Academy in Edgefield. Upon graduating from Furman University with a law degree, he was admitted to the bar in 1871. He was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1876 and became the Speaker of the House when his father-in-law, William Henry Wallace, resigned as Speaker to accept an open circuit judgeship. He had been a strong supporter of Martin Witherspoon Gary in his gubernatorial campaign of 1880 which got him noticed by those opposed to the Conservative wing of the state Democratic party.

In 1882, Sheppard was placed on the Democratic statewide ticket for the post of Lieutenant Governor and easily won election and reelection in 1884. When Hugh Smith Thompson resigned on July 10, 1886, to be Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, Sheppard succeeded to the governorship. In the nomination battle to be the Democratic nominee for governor in the election of 1886, he was promoted by Ben Tillman and the News and Courier. Tillman tried to force the delegates of the Farmers' Association to support Sheppard at the Democratic Convention, but they refused and instead John Peter Richardson III emerged as the nominee for governor.

After leaving the governorship on November 30, 1886, Sheppard became president of the Edgefield Bank of South Carolina. He was mentioned as a potential candidate for governor in 1890, but Tillman had rigged the Democratic convention to force his nomination for governor. Sheppard remained active in South Carolina politics and participated at the constitutional convention of 1895. He was elected three years later in 1898 to the South Carolina Senate and served until 1904. In 1908, Sheppard was the president of the South Carolina Bar Association and was member of the state Senate for a second time from 1919 to 1920.

Sheppard died on October 17, 1931, aged 81. He was buried at Willowbrook Cemetery in Edgefield.[1][2]

External links

1. American Political Leaders 1789–2009
2. The register of the Governors of the States of the United States of America, 1776–1976

• SCIway Biography of John Calhoun Sheppard
• NGA Biography of John Calhoun Sheppard