When John William Shepard was born on 17 November 1860, in Waldron, Scott, Arkansas, United States, his father, Charles Shepard, was 41 and his mother, Nancy Crenshaw, was 30. He married Nancy Jane Gilbreath in 1879, in Mansfield, Sebastian, Arkansas, United States. They were the parents of at least 3 sons and 5 daughters. He lived in Montgomery, Arkansas, United States in 1900. He died on 13 October 1930, at the age of 69.