Short Biography of Timothy Shedd

Timothy Shedd was born in Rindge, N. H., 9 Apr 1784. He was a youth when his father died, and during the rest of his minority he worked for his eldest brother Abel Shedd. On becoming of age he indentured himself for three years to Capt. Cutter of Jaffrey to learn the tanner's trade, and at the expiration of his apprenticeship in 1808 he located at Wells River Village in Newbury, Vt., where he bought a tract of land and established a tannery. By strict attention to his affairs and energetic work he rapidly developed a successful business and during the War of 1812 made a large amount of money for those times with which he embarked on other enterprises, buying and conducting several farms, engaging in the lumber business and also establishing a general store. Although endowed with a robust physique, by excessive overwork and neglect of his health he brokedown when about fifty years of age and for the remaining twenty years of his life he was a great sufferer, especially from tic-douloureux, which seriously affected him both in body and mind during his closing years.

Mr. Shedd was a moving spirit in establishing a bank at Wells River Village of which he was a director for nearly twenty years; was public spirited and liberal in promoting the civil and religious affairs of Newbury; and although disinclined to hold public office he served two years as a selectman and in 1827 and 1828 as representative to the Vermont Legislature. He died in Newbury 7 Dec. 1855, in his seventy-second year.

He married first at Newbury, Vt., 6 Dec. 1809, Susan Reed, born at St. Andrews, New Brunswick, 14 Apr. 1784, daughter of Stephen and Jane (Cochrane) Reed; she was a valuable helpmeet to her husband, active in religious work in the community, and died in Newbury 19 Mar. 1833, having had seven children.

He married secondly, at Bath, N. H., 2 Dec 1835, Mrs. Betsey (Hall) Dean, born 19 Jan. 1787, daughter of Timothy and Ann (Foster) Hall and widow of Dr. Edward Dean; there were no children by this marriage and she died 18 Feb. 1855.

Source: "Daniel Shed genealogy : ancestry and descendants of Daniel Shed of Braintree, Massachusetts, 1327-1920" ¹⁷¹⁰