William Smythe Shepard was born in Wilkes County, Georgia circa 1834 to Albert Hillhouse Shepard and Ann Elizabeth Shepard. After Albert’s death, Ann Shepard moved the family to Columbus to be nearer to the family land holdings in Muscogee and Stewart counties. William Smythe Shepard attended the Military Institute in Marietta, Franklin College in Athens and finished his education at the University of Virginia. He as trained as a lawyer but never set up practice, instead choosing to manage the family plantations and land holdings. Shepard joined the Columbus Guards at the outset of the Civil War, quickly rising in rank from Major in early 1863 to Lieutenant Colonel by July.

After the war, Shepard returned home to Columbus and managed the family and managed the family properties until his death on June 24, 1924. Shepard never married and left his home to the Ladies Benevolent Society of Columbus with the stipulation that his house become an orphans’ home for girls and named the Anne Elizabeth Shepard Home for his mother. His sister, Mrs. A.C. Flewellen, had urged this idea when the property belonged to them both. The orphans’ home then moved to “Hillhouse”, the estate not far from the present day St. Elmo School. The organization is still in existence.

Note: spelling discrepancies of the name Shepard vs. Shepherd. Many of the receipts are Sheppard.