William J. Sheppard, born on July 24, 1862, in Quebec, Canada, was the president of the Mutual Cash Guaranty Fire Insurance Company of Sioux Falls. Son of Percival Edward and Ellen (Lloyd) Sheppard, he received a collegiate education in Ottawa and worked at the Second National Bank of Detroit until his father’s death in 1883. Afterward, he held various positions, including serving in the Riel Rebellion with the Winnipeg Field Battery. Sheppard moved to Sioux Falls in 1896, where he co-founded the Mutual Cash Guaranty Fire Insurance Company in 1903 and served as its president. He married Caroline Mary Harder in 1887, and they had two children, Stuart Harder and William Percival.
William J. Sheppard, president of the Mutual Cash Guaranty Fire Insurance Company of Sioux Falls, was born in the beautiful old city of Quebec, Canada, on the 24th of July, 1862, being of English and Welsh ancestry and a son of Percival Edward and Ellen (Lloyd) Sheppard. His father was one of the honored and distinguished citizens of Quebec and held prominent offices in the Canadian government for nearly a quarter of a century. The subject of this review received a collegiate education in the city of Ottawa, and subsequently came to the United States and secured a position in the Second National Bank of Detroit, Michigan, remaining with this institution until the death of his father, in 1883, when he returned to his home in Canada. He eventually accepted a position in the auditor’s office of the American Express Company in the city of Montreal, where he remained one year, at the expiration of which he became bookkeeper for the Woods Manufacturing Company, of Winnipeg, in whose employ he remained until the outbreak of the Riel rebellion, when he went out as a soldier with the Winnipeg Field Battery, of which he had previously been a member for some time, and with this command he served through the campaign of 1885. He participated in the famous battles of Fish Creek and Batoche, and received, as did all others who took part in these engagements, a silver medal conferred as a mark of distinction by Queen Victoria.
After the close of the rebellion, Mr. Sheppard removed to St. Paul, Minnesota, and became a traveling salesman for the Berrisford Biscuit Manufacturing Company, with which he remained seven years, at the expiration of which
he accepted a similar position with the house of McKibbin & Company, of that city, with whom he remained for eleven years and to whose interests he gave his attention until the organization of the company of which he is now president. He established his home in Sioux Falls in 1896, and has ever since resided here, and he is the owner of a fine farm of four hundred and eighty acres in McCook County, this state, besides property in Sioux Falls and in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In September, 1896, Mr. Sheppard became associated with four other gentlemen in Sioux Falls in instituting here a council of the Order of the United Commercial Travelers, this having been the first established in the state and being now a large and flourishing organization, known as Sioux Falls Council No. 100. He was made its first past councillor, is at the present time a member of its executive committee, as is he also of the executive committee of the grand council of Minnesota and North and South Dakota.
On the 28th of May, 1903, Mr. Sheppard organized the Mutual Cash Guaranty Fire Insurance Company, being associated in the enterprise with other substantial and representative capitalists and business men of the state, and of this company he was elected president, while he now gives his entire time and attention to the administration of its large and rapidly increasing business, the plan and policy of the company being so equitable and attractive and its solidity so assured that it has met with most favorable reception among those seeking indemnity for loss from fire upon economical terms, the interests of the policyholders being identical with those of the company, which is purely mutual and on a cash basis, not being a stock company, so that the share to the policyholder is in proportion to the amount of insurance carried by him. Mr. Sheppard is a man of marked initiative and executive ability and business acumen, and the company of which he is president has already taken high rank among the fire underwriting companies doing business in the state. December 3, 1903, Mr. Sheppard bought out the entire interests of Mr. Dwight in the Anothy-Dwight Candy Company, of Sioux Falls, and then sold to Thomas H. Brown, of Sioux Falls, one-half of his interest. They reorganized the company, increasing the capital stock to thirty thousand dollars, and officered as follows: T. H. Brown, president; E. A. Anothy, vice-president; H. C. Brown, secretary and treasurer; and W. J. Sheppard, general manager. They have put in a steam plant, which is the only one in the state, and it is their intention to branch out in every way to reach business.
In politics, Mr. Sheppard gives his allegiance to the Republican party and fraternally is identified with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, while his religious faith is that of the Episcopal church, of which both he and his wife are communicants. He is a man of refined tastes and high social attainments and enjoys the respect and esteem of all who know him. On the 3rd of July, 1887, Mr. Sheppard was united in marriage to Miss Caroline Mary Harder, daughter of William Harder, general traffic manager of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, and a resident of Winnipeg. Of this union have been born two children, Stuart Harder and William Percival.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.