“That bastard Art Shepard!”
The first time my grandmother, Grace Shepard Dilley, uttered these words in front of us, my brother and I were dumbstruck.
Grandma! Really?
Yes, based on the way he behaved, “bastard” seems like an appropriate adjective for her biological father, my great-grandfather. We knew she didn’t hold him in high regard. But this was the first time we heard her come out and say it so bluntly. Since then, I’ve discovered Grandma actually used much more colorful language when talking about her dad, but this is a “PG” blog post, so I’ll just let you use your imagination.
Anyway, there was no question about Grace’s opinion of her birth father. But why? Here’s the story of “that bastard Art Shepard.”
Early Trauma
My great-grandfather, Arther J. Shepard, was born on May 17th, 1891, in Tigerton, Wisconsin, the oldest of 6 children. I don’t know much about his childhood, but I do know his mother died when he was just 15 years old from tuberculosis. Apparently, while she was dying his father refused to call a doctor to help her. I don’t know how this affected young Art, but needless to say, it sounds pretty traumatizing. These days we know that traumatic things that happen when you’re a teenager can change you forever…
In 1911 Art, now a young man, got a job working at the cheese factory in Leeman, Wisconsin. The owner of the factory was the industrious Charles Schoenrock. While working there, Art crossed paths with Mr. Schoenrock’s oldest daughter Esther. It was love at first sight. They were taken with each other from the beginning and began seeing each other regularly.
Esther’s friends and family warned her not to have anything to do with Art. Word on the street claimed he was “no good”, but Esther thought she knew better. That wasn’t the Art she knew.
In a Family Way
Either way, by the fall of 1911, Esther’s mind was made up for her. She found herself pregnant. And, as with any good out-of-wedlock pregnancy in the early 1900s, Art and Esther were married on December 20th. Unfortunately for Esther, my great-grandmother, she got her first taste of Art’s true nature when, on their wedding night, he got all dressed up to go out dancing without his new bride. Esther had to remind him that he was married now and couldn’t do that anymore.
Art and Esther were happy for a bit. Their first child, Grace, was born on June 18th, 1912. But after the baby was born Art’s behavior began to unravel. He would randomly leave, giving Esther the excuse that he had to travel far away for work. Esther accepted this excuse at first. The problem? Art wasn’t gone for a couple of days. He left for weeks at a time and wouldn’t send home any of his alleged earnings. Esther, a young mother at home with very young children, had nothing to live on.
This pattern continued for a while. Each time Art returned home, Esther was furious with him at first. However, he was a skilled sweet-talker. She would forgive him and they would makeup. Then she would have another baby, and he would leave again. Art and Esther had two more kids this way, Merle and Arlene. Looking back on her early childhood, my Grandma Grace recalled being the family from “the other side of the tracks,” and having no money for anything thanks to her dad’s antics.
World War I
Finally, in 1917 the United States entered World War I. As a married man with three young children, the draft wouldn’t have been an issue for Art. He could have stayed home to support his family. Instead, he declared that it was his patriotic duty to serve his country and enlist in the army. Coming from another man, this might have been noble. But with his deadbeat pattern, Esther had had enough, telling him, “If you go, don’t bother coming back.” Art didn’t listen. He figured she’d take him back like she always did if he made it back alive. He enlisted, marking himself as “single” on the enlistment form (which insured he would not have to send his earnings home to his family), and went with the army to Europe to fight.
A New Chapter for Esther
Things were different this time when Art left. Esther was serious about what she had said. Her husband’s shenanigans left her exhausted and wanting better for her children. Plus, she didn’t really know what he was doing when he was away. What kind of jobs was he working? Where was all this money he was supposedly making? She hadn’t seen a penny. Her family was ragged and starving. Their life didn’t have to be like this.
After Art left for war, Esther filed for divorce on the premise of desertion. In 1918 divorce was still taboo, so she would have had to muster up the strength to go through with it. On top of that, she then swallowed her pride, went to her parents, and asked them to take her and her three children in. They agreed, of course, and her mother watched the kids while Esther went to work to support her family herself.
The Wannabe War Hero
Art imagined himself returning from war as a hero. His wife and kids fawning over his bravery. Instead, his welcome home was a big ol’ lawsuit for divorce and child support. Art was furious. So furious that he refused to pay a penny to support his children. How dare she make good on her threat! This decision didn’t sit well with Esther and she reported him to the local authorities, who arrested Art for arrears of child support.
Here’s the text from an article published in the Appleton Post Crescent from April 8, 1920:
“Family Deserter is Paroled: Two Years
Arthur Shepard of New London deserted his family in 1916. In 1918 his wife secured a divorce and the court ordered him to pay alimony and money for the support of his three children which he failed to do. He entered the service during the war and on March 31, 1920, was taken into custody for failing to support his children. In municipal court yesterday he was paroled to the state board of control for two years after receiving a two years sentence at Waupun.
Art’s Second Marriage
After all this, you’d think the ladies of New London, Wisconsin would avoid Art like a swarm of bees. Well, they may have, actually. So, Art found a wife in another town. In 1929 he married a widow named Ida Bedor (maiden name Curtis) who was 10 years older than he was and already had 6 daughters. I’m thinking she was desperate and he was looking for a free ride. Plus, as mentioned earlier, he was an artist when it came to sweet-talking.
Anyway, problems plagued the marriage. The 1930 census shows Art as a resident of Waupun State Prison once again, only a year after their marriage. It appears health was also an issue, as shown by this short piece from the Appleton Post Crescent from April 5, 1932:
“Arthur Shepard who has been at the Veteran’s hospital at Hines, Ill. for two months, was called home because of his wife’s illness. Mr. Shepard expects to return to the hospital in the near future for another operation on his eye.”
Tending to each other’s illnesses did not help Art and Ida to grow closer. In fact, the opposite happened and the marriage was over after 5 years. I don’t have a newspaper reference for this article, but here’s the text:
“Grant Divorce Decree to Black Creek Woman.
A divorce was granted by Judge Thomas H. Ryan in municipal court Tuesday afternoon to Mrs. Ida B. Shepard of Black Creek from Arthur J. Shepard charged cruel inhuman treatment and testified that on one occasion her husband came home intoxicated and struck her breaking her nose. The suit was not contested and alimony of $20 a month was granted. The couple was married at Menomonie, Wis. [actually Menominee, Michigan] Nov. 4, 1929 and have been separated since Dec. 20, 1934. There were no children.”
The Bachelor
After this, Art moved in with his father in a little house in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Knowing how his father was, this was probably a toxic environment. But even after his father died, Art continued to live there alone.
Over the years, Art, remembering he had kids, attempted to talk to my Grandma Grace on several occasions, apparently looking for money. He actually succeeded at some point in the mid-1950s. My aunt Jill tells the story this way:
“I was little, probably in first grade. I came home from school and there was a strange man there. He had glasses and a hat that he held in his hands. Mom was acting very strange and I could tell she didn’t like the man because she wasn’t feeding him. (Grace Dilley always fed everybody!) Mom turned to me and said, ‘This is your grandfather.’ I said hi and ran outside to play. That’s the only time I ever saw him.”
A bachelor for the rest of his life and cut off by his kids, Art didn’t have a lot of support. However, it appears he kept in contact with his siblings until his death in 1961. One of his younger sisters ordered the military tombstone that marks his grave. Another of his sisters apparently felt so bad about his behavior toward his family that, upon her death and having no children of her own, she left an inheritance to my grandmother and her younger sister. As far as I know, Grandma didn’t have contact with any of the Shepards even after Art’s death. So, imagine her surprise when she found out many years later, that a distant cousin from that side of the family lived only about a mile down the road from her!
An Ironic Ending
Here’s the ironic ending to the story of my Grandma Grace and her deadbeat dad. In the cemetery where they’re buried, my grandparents have a very nice plot with a large tombstone, surrounded by additional plots that are for where my parents and aunt and uncle will someday be buried as well. Not more than 20 feet away, under his military tombstone, lies Art Shepard.
Did Grandma know that he was there when they bought the grave plot? My parents think that she did. I guess after all of those years cursing “that bastard Art Shepard” it just didn’t matter anymore.
Epilogue
So that’s the story of Art Shepard, but what about Esther, his abandoned bride? Well, while working at Borden’s in New London to support her three children, she met a nice young man who walked her home from work every day. His name was Albert Oestreich and Esther knew that she had found a much better man in him. Albert and Esther were married in 1922. They had four more daughters and were happily married until Albert’s death in 1964. Grandma always called him Albert, but she considered him more of a dad to her than Art ever was.
My Grandma Grace got into her own trouble as a young woman in the flapper era. But that’s another story.
References
Genealogical records and personal recollections of Gerald and Ruth Dilley.
Personal recollections of Jill Dilley Grosskreutz.
Image Credits
Header image by Peter H from Pixabay
Remaining images from the family records of Gerald and Ruth Dilley.
