was the daughter of Mr. McFarland, and who was in the
Block House in Marietta at the time of the massacre by
the Indians of the settlement twelve miles up the Muskingum.
In the alarm occasioned by that event the defense of the
Block House was left very weak, and Polly McFarland, a girl
of sixteen, was given a gun and stationed at a porthole. Mr.
McFarland moved to Kentucky, where Polly was married to
Thomas Shepherd. Interesting stories are related of her
courage in meeting emergencies. One night when Mr. Shep-
herd had gone to Gallipolis for ammunition, a large bear en-
tered a calf pen not far from the house, and in trying to carry it
off the calf bawled, which wakened Mrs. Shepherd who went
out, drove the bear off and up a tree, under which she built a
fire and kept it there until morning. It is said of her that an-
other time she was going after the cows in the woods when
the dogs treed a raccoon. She sent a boy after an ax, cut down
the tree, caught the racoon, tanned the hide and made herself
a pair of shoes.
They had three sons and several daughters. The sons were
Charles, Daniel and Thomas. The daughters were, Polly,
married to Andrew Long; Nancy, married to Lucius Higley
(see Higley family); Sally, married to Mr. Shaw; Jane, Mrs.
John Savage; Betsy, Mrs. James Caldwell; Annie; Peggie,
Clarissa, Mrs. Backus; Almira, Mrs. Aaron Smith.
Mr. Shepherd's name appears as a voter for the first election
for Governor of Ohio; also on the supervisors tax list for 1806,
and he was one of the first trustees of Rutland township in
1812. He was born in 1772 and died in 1842.
Caleb Gardner came from the State of New York and
settled in Rutland in 1803. He was a man of good business
abilities, and served the township in various official capacities
with credit to himself and satisfaction to the public. He died
November 23rd, 1823, aged fifty-nine years.
