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Annie Bartlett Shepard
New Hampshire State Regent of the Daughters of the American Revolution
In office 1907–1909
President	Emily Nelson Ritchie McLean
Personal details
Born	February 18, 1861 Nottingham, Rockingham, New Hampshire, USA
Died	December 4, 1944 (aged 83) Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA
Resting place	Forest Hill Cemetery, East Derry, New Hampshire, USA
Spouse	Col. Frederick Johnson Shepard (m. 1887)
Children	3
Relatives	Alan Shepard (grandson)
Alma mater	Lasell Seminary
Occupation	woman's club leader and anti-suffragist

Annie Bartlett Shepard (née Bartlett; February 18, 1861 – December 4, 1944) was an American conservative woman's club founder, anti women's suffrage activist and founder of a chapter of the Daughter's of the American Revolution (DAR). From 1907 to 1909, she served as the New Hampshire State Regent of the DAR.

Life

She was born in 1861 in Nottingham, New Hampshire. Her parents were Thomas Bradbury Bartlett and Victoria Bartlett née Cilley. She was educated at public schools in Haverhill, Massachusetts and Lasell Seminary, Auburndale, Massachusetts.

Before her marriage, she briefly worked as a teacher at the Derry Village School. She married Colonel Frederick Johnson Shepard, president of the Derry National Bank, on September 27, 1887. Three pieces of white lace from her wedding dress are held in the Perry-Dudley Family Archive and Shepard collection of the New Hampshire Historical Society. The Shepard's had three sons.

Shepard was active in the civic life of Derry a member of many local committees and organisations. She sat on the Derry School Board for eight years, was a member of the East Derry Village Improvement Society, was a member of the Society of the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, and was Chairman of the East Derry Red Cross Auxiliary. She attended the First Parish Congregational Church in East Derry, sung in their choir and donated artifacts to the Church.

Shepard was the founder and first regent of the Molly Reed Chapter of the DAR, established on October 27, 1894, as the descendant of Joseph Cilley, Colonel Thomas Bartlett, Joseph Nealley, Abraham True, Benjamin True and Nathaniel Batchelder. Two months before she died, she celebrated the 50th anniversary of the chapter. In 1905, she was elected state vice-regent of New Hampshire and then served as state regent between 1907 and 1909. She was also a member of the New Hampshire Society of Colonial Dames and the New England Historic Genealogical Society.

She was also an anti-women's suffrage activist, and served as chairman of the Board of Directors of the New Hampshire Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage. She was the first female chairman of the Rockingham County Woman's Republican Club of New Hampshire from 1920 and was a charter member of the Derry Women's Club.

She died in 1944 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Legacy

In 2000, the land surrounding the original Shepard family homestead was donated to East Derry as a "gift to the Town of Derry from members of the Shepard family in honor of four generations of the family and their contributions to the town." It is now a conservation area.

In 2019, members of Derry's Molly Reid Chapter of DAR hosted a 125th anniversary ceremony by Shepard's grave at Forest Hill Cemetery, East Derry.

Her grandson Alan Bartlett Shepard was the first astronaut from the United States in space, and her maiden name was his middle name.

References

1. ^ Leonard, John W. (1976). Woman's who's who of America : a biographical dictionary of contemporary women of the United States and Canada, 1914-1915. New York, American Commonwealth Co. Detroit, Gale Research Co. p. 739.
2. ^ "Shepard, Annie Bartlett (1861-1944)". New Hampshire Historical Society. Retrieved January 22, 2025.
3. Frost, Robert (February 25, 2014). The Letters of Robert Frost. Harvard University Press. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-674-72650-5.
4. "Cloth Fragment". New Hampshire Historical Society. Retrieved January 22, 2025.
5. ^ "Shepard Family Conservation Area". Town of Derry NH. Retrieved January 22, 2025.
6. Lindemann, Paul. (May 10, 2012) "First Parish Church Timeline A summary of key events and facts from 1702 – 2012". First Parish Congregational Church Derry, NH. Retrieved January 22, 2025.
7. "Molly Reid Chapter, New Hampshire State Organization Daughters of the American Revolution". mollyreid.nhsodar.org. Retrieved January 22, 2025.
8. Lineage Book. The Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. 1898. p. 96.
9. Molly Reid Chapter is 50 Years Old. Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine. 1944. p. 686.
10. "New Hampshire Daughters of the American Revolution State Regents". www.nhsodar.org. Retrieved January 22, 2025.
11. Holmes, Rick (October 5, 2011). "Column: The woman who wrote the book on the houses of Derry". The Derry News. Retrieved January 22, 2025.
12. Huss, Julie (August 5, 2019). "Local DAR chapter honors Shepard legacy". The Derry News. Retrieved January 22, 2025.
13. Claghorn, Charles Eugene (1991). Women Patriots of the American Revolution: A Biographical Dictionary. Scarecrow Press. pp. 161–162. ISBN 978-0-8108-2421-8.
14. Burgess, Colin (September 27, 2013). Freedom 7: The Historic Flight of Alan B. Shepard, Jr. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 69. ISBN 978-3-319-01156-1.

• 1861 births
• 1944 deaths
• 19th-century American educators
• Activists from New Hampshire
• American anti-suffragists
• American Congregationalists
• American women founders
• Clubwomen
• Lasell College alumni
• Members of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America
• National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage people
• New England Historic Genealogical Society
• New Hampshire Republicans
• State Regents of the Daughters of the American Revolution