Introduction

Biography

Shepherd was the son of Shep­herd Knapp, Sr., and Em­ma Be­ne­dict. He ne­ver mar­ried.

He at­tend­ed Co­lum­bia College (AB 1894) and Yale Di­vi­ni­ty School (BD 1897). He was elect­ed to the Am­er­ican An­ti­quar­i­an So­cie­ty in 1909, and New York Uni­ver­si­ty award­ed him an hon­or­ary Doc­tor of Di­vi­ni­ty de­gree in 1912.

Knapp served at the First Con­gre­ga­tion­al Church, South­ing­ton, Con­nec­ti­cut (1897–1901); the Brick Pres­by­te­ri­an Church, New York Ci­ty (as­sist­ant pas­tor, 1901–08); and the Cen­tral Con­gre­ga­tion­al Church, Wor­ces­ter, Mas­sa­chu­setts (1908–36).

Shortly af­ter ar­riv­ing in Wor­ces­ter:

…he was called to at­tend a fun­er­al of a wi­dowed mo­ther. She left two boys, and Mr. Knapp felt so so­rry for them he took them home with him that night. They re­mained, and he edu­cat­ed them and gave them all ad­van­tag­es…Mr. Knapp proud­ly stat­ed that he was a grand­fa­ther, and re­cit­ed the ad­vant­age­s and joys of this state of be­ing.

Mann, p. 42

He re­tired in 1936 af­ter 28 years of ser­vice, in­clud­ing a year in France with the Young Men’s Chris­tian As­so­cia­tion (YMCA) dur­ing World War I.

Works

• History of the Brick Pres­by­te­ri­an Church, 1908
• On the Edge of the Storm: The Sto­ry of a Year in France, 1921
• Old Joe and Oth­er Ves­per Stor­ies, 1922
• The Li­ber­at­ed Bi­ble: The Old Tes­ta­ment, 1941
• Family Me­mo­ries, 1946. In pro­gress when he died, com­plet­ed by his sis­ters.