Moses Sheppard

Moses Sheppard (1771-1857) was a Baltimore businessman, a Friend (Quaker), a philanthropist, and founder of the now-Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital.

The family returned to America after the war to live on a plot of land provided by Elisha Tyson, a cousin and benefactor of Sheppard during his youth.

He helped raise money for the founding of Fairhill Boarding School for Quaker youth who lived too far from meeting houses.

Appalled by this treatment and in accordance with the ideas of the Society of Friends, Sheppard sought to improve conditions for those suffering from mental illness.

In 1851, he was visited by prominent social reformer Dorothea Lynde Dix, who enlisted Sheppard in her effort to establish a state institution for the humane care of the insane.