California Biographies

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

Source:
History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin 
Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from 
its earliest settlement to the present time.
Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M.
The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905
Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176


PAUL SHEPPA. Wide-awake, energetic and far-sighted, Paul Sheppa is a worthy represen- 
tative of the dairy interests of Tulare, and well deserving of the high rank he has attained among 
the men who have distinguished themselves as useful and enterprising citizens. In his every- 
day life he has labored diligently, and his thrift and industry have met with their legitimate re- 
ward. Of German ancestry, he was born, January 25, 1857, in Springboro, Crawford county, 
Pa., a son of William and Martha Augusta (Schettler) Sheppa, both of whom were born and 
reared in Bremerhaven, Germany. On emigrating from the Fatherland to this country, William 
Sheppa settled first in Crawford county, Pa., but subsequently continued his chosen occupa- 
tion of farming in Erie county, Pa., where he still resides, being now over eighty years of age. 
Enlisting in 1862, he served until the close of the Civil war as a soldier, being for nearly 
three years a member of the Eighteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry. While in the army he received a 
sunstroke. He is a stanch Republican in politics, and a member of the Lutheran Church. His 
wife died on the home farm in 1902. Nine children were born of their union, seven of whom 
survive, Paul, of this review, being the fourth child. 

Brought up principally in Erie county, Pa., Paul Sheppa, like the majority of the farmers' 
sons of his day, acquired a limited education in the district schools. Bidding good-bye to home 
and friends in the fall of 1876, he crossed the continent to the Pacific coast. Locating in Solano 
county, Cal., he worked as a farm laborer in the vicinity of Dixon for three years. He subsequently 
began work for himself on a rented ranch, and afterward bought a farm near Elmira, where he 
was engaged in grain raising for several seasons, being quite successful. In 1891 he was unfortunate 
enough to lose $4,000 worth of grain in the field, it being set on fire by sparks from a passing engine 
on the nearby railway. Selling out immediately afterward, Mr. Sheppa located sixty miles southwest 
of Tulare, in Kern county, where he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land. Making 
improvements of a substantial character, he was there engaged in stock-raising, at intervals, for five 
years, proving up on the property, which is still in his possession. Subsequently settling in Tulare, Mr. 
Sheppa bought a complete set of boring tools, and has since been extensively employed in boring 
wells throughout Tulare county, carrying on a large and remunerative business in this line of industry. 

In 1898 Mr. Sheppa embarked in the dairy business, beginning on a modest scale, with but 
four cows, and has since greatly enlarged his operations, having a herd of thirty-two cows, at 
the head of which he has a fine Holstein bull. In the Russell colony he has sixty-four acres of 
land, all under irrigation, and sowed mostly to alfalfa. In addition he rents ninety-six acres 
in the colony, and on this raises some alfalfa, and has a half interest in four hundred and eighty 
acres of pasture land. He has a large retail milk route in Tulare. 

In Solano county Mr. Sheppa married Emeline Connell, who was born on the Platte river 
in 1864, while her parents were on their way across the plains to California. Her father, Giles 
Connell, settled in Marin county as a farmer and dairyman. Mr. and Mrs. Sheppa are the par- 
ents of eight children, namely : Walter, assisting his father in the dairy; Bertha, at home; Mrs. 
Delia Clements, of Ventura county, Cal. ; Leland Stanford ; Lola May and Ola May, twins ; Ada ; 
and Paul, Jr. In his political affiliations Mr. Sheppa is a' Republican, and takes an active part 
in local affairs. Fraternally he was made an Odd Fellow in Dixon, Cal, and is now a member 
of Tulare City Lodge, I. O. O. F. ; and also belongs to the Fraternal Brotherhood. Mrs. Sheppa 
is a member of the Christian Church.