SHEPARD, SAMUEL W. – Biographies – History of Homeopathy

HEPARD, SAMUEL W., M. D., of Troy, Pa., was born in New Berlin, Chenango county, N. Y., on September
24th, 1818. His father was of the New England Puritan stock, whose ancestry is traced back to 1604, in England. Among them were several independent
ministers, who came to the New World to avoid persecution by the established church. His mother was of German descent. When he was about one year old
his parents removed to Pittsfield, Massachusetts ; at nine years old he was taken by his brother to Canton, Bradford county, Pa. There he remained,
working on farms during the summer and attending common schools in the winter, until May, 1834, when, being unusually mature for his age, strong and
self-reliant, he started for the west, visiting Chicago and portions of Iowa ; going down the Illinois river to St. Louis, he was seized with
chills and fever, and on arrival there was treated by Dr. Campbell. On recovery, by that physician’s advice he entered the drug store of Mr. Atwood.
After a while business required his return home, but he visited several cities on the way, taking a trip even as far as New Orleans by steamboat. He
reached home on January 1st., 1837. He married on September 2d, 1838, in the township of Granville, in which vicinity he has lived ever since. Having
maintained and increased the medical knowledge gained in St. Louis, and keeping always a good supply of allopathic medicines, he prescribed for all who
applied for his services. About that time there were frequent epidemics, such as scarlatina, dysentery, typhoid fever, etc., the only treatment of which
was allopathic. The mortality was very great, and so shook his faith in the “old school,” that he gladly took up the study of homœopathy, on
his attention being called to it by his brother, Dr. Silas E. Shepard, a convert from allopathy. From that time until now, some twenty-five years, he
has practiced according to the homœopathic doctrines, and with marked success, curing especially almost every case of hydrocephalus, consumption and
typhoid fever coming under his care, as well as a few cases of cancer.

     In 1850, Theodore L. Pratt, of Canton, a school teacher, a consumptive, whose case had been pronounced
incurable by the “old school” physicians, came to him for treatment, not believing in homœopathy, but being willing to give it a trial. He
was treated at Dr. Shepard’s house on strict homœopathic principles ; was made a sound man again ; became a convert ; studied the
system ; graduated, and in his practice has been enabled to win over many others to the cause. His own family Dr. Shepard has treated for
twenty-five years without once administering an emetic or cathartic to one of the four. For several years he has been located near Troy, where he has a
large and lucrative practice, and enjoys the esteem of the whole community.

     Dr. Shepard is an enthusiast in the cause of homœopathy, distributes much of its literature in his
neighborhood, and loses no opportunity of defending it from the attacks of the allopaths. He is especially interested in teaching parents how to
prescribe for the minor ailments of their children. He uses from tinctures to the six attenuations of medicine, and sometimes the two hundred, but
generally the low numbers.

     In politics he was always a consistent Democrat, until the separation between the pro-slavery men and
the free-soilers, at which time he was a nominee for the House of Representatives, for Bradford county, Penna. The Democratic ticket was defeated by the
union of the free-soilers with the Whigs, and since then he has taken no part in politics, and seldom exercises his franchise. Before then he was once
elected an Auditor of Bradford county, and once a justice of the Peace. He is greatly averse to litigation, and has never had but one suit in court.

Source : Cleave’s Biographical Cyclopædia of Homœopathic Physicians and Surgeons By
Egbert Cleave