TOBE SHEPHERD
The Alabama State Census of 1866, Colored Population, Walker County, Alabama, is the first time that we find Toby Sheppard. This Census lists only the head of household by name. All other family members are described only by age and sex. Toby's household appears to consist of 3 females under 10 years of age, one female between 20 and 30, one male between10 and 20, and one male between 30 and 40. Enumerated immediately below Toby on this Census is Lucy Sheppard, in a household consisting only of a single female under 10 years of age.
The 1870 U.S.Census is the first to fully enumerate all household members by name. Thus we have the names of the individuals described in 1866. Toby became "Tobe" (the pronounciation was probablythe same). The ages and sex of the 1870 household members corresponds to the ages and sex of the members of the 1866 household. (Tobe had previously been identified only as a 25, 15, or 5 year old Mulatto Slave on 3 earlier U.S. Census Slave Schedules).
Tobe's 1870 household includes a 19 year old male child named Alexandria, whom I believe to be Grandpa Alex, Mama Maude's father. Because at 19, Alexandria is an adult it is likely that he will not appear on the next (1880) census as a member of Tobe's household.
Tobe Shepherd (Toby Sheppard) was born in December 1835. He married his first wife, Sudo ( who was born in 1836), in 1850 . The name Sudo may be a Census transcriber's mis-reading of the name Lucy. We know that in 1866, there was a female child named Lucy, under 10 years old. If this is the same child on the 1870 Census (and we believe that it is), then it is reasonable to conclude that the mother and child both listed as Sudo on the 1870 Census may actually be named Lucy.
Tobe's second wife Lizabeth, whom he wed in 1860, was born in 1835 in Alabama. Melvina, his third wife, whom he married in 1890, was born in February 1842, in Mississippi.
U.S. Census Records for 1850 & 1860 (Slave Schedules), indicate that Tobe Shepherd and Tinson Shepherd may have been in a Master-Slave relationship. Both continued to live in Oakman after 1870 and well into the 1900's.
Tobe's birthday and County of Birth were taken from the Alabama 1867 Voter Registration Records Database.
The 1900 U.S. Census reveals that both of Tobe's parents came from Tennessee.
2-15-17Jopell