Born: August 7, 1852, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Died: February 15, 1930, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Buried: Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Franklin was the son of Isaac Applin Sheppard and Caroline Mary Holmes, and husband of Mary Eleanor Lee.
He attended William Fewsmith’s Classical School and the University of Pennsylvania (valedictorian, 1872).
In 1875, he moved to Boston, Massachusetts, to take charge of the foundry for his father’s stove and heater manufacturing company.
He attended the Zion Protestant Episcopal Church in Boston, but later switched to Presbyterianism.
He eventually joined the Second Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, Maryland, and became president of the Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath-School Work.