Epperson Ancestors Volume 1

The book series, Epperson Ancestors, follows the families of Epperson, Perault, Chastain, Holland, Divers, Meador, Greer, Hire, Hause, Stookey, Poe, Sellers, George, Witt, Sherer, Buzzard, DeBrosse, Hummel, LaVelle, and Conrey from their European origins in France, England, Germany, Scotland, Switzerland, and Ireland to their life in America. Epperson Ancestors, Volume One begins in France with Louis de Nogaret de La Valette, Duc D’Épernon in the mid-1550s. It follows his grandson, John Valette Epernon, the illegitimate son of Bernard de Nogaret de La Valette, 2nd Duc D’Épernon. John Valette Epernon and his wife, Elizabeth Beard, were the first Eppersons to arrive in America in 1675. Their son, Thomas Apperson, was born in Virginia. Thomas’s son, William Apperson, married Anne Perault, a French Huguenot refugee whose highly educated Perault and Chastain families fled France to practice their faith. They settled near the St. James River in Virginia. William and Anne Epperson’s son, Anthony Epperson, married a spinster named Susannah Holland from a wealthy family. Together they owned a large plantation in Virginia. Anthony Epperson, Sr. was a controversial character and chose the wrong side during the American Revolution. In 1780, he paid a dear price for his decision, spent time in Richmond jail, and was sentenced to hang until he was pardoned by the Governor of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson. Susannah’s father, Peter Holland, remained an American Patriot. Anthony and Susannah’s son, Anthony Epperson Jr., married Ellender Divers, whose mother, Mary Rebecca Greer, came from a Scottish clan. Ellender’s father was John Divers, a Patriot and a Lieutenant in the American Revolution. He was an original cowboy who ran cattle for the Virginia Militia. Around 1783, the Eppersons, along with the Meador and Hire families, migrated from Virginia to North Carolina, and later to Tennessee, where Anthony Epperson Jr. owned a whiskey still, enjoyed the healing waters on his land, and fought in the War of 1812. In 1825, Aphrey Epperson, the oldest son of Anthony and Ellender Epperson, married Elizabeth Hire, whose mother was a Meador from a long line of Quakers who turned Baptist. Her grandfather, Joel Meador, Jr., was a notable Revolutionary War veteran. Elizabeth’s father was Martin Hire, from a family of German Brethren. Martin’s great-grandfather, Lienert Heyer, was a Lehnsmann who led a group of Brethen out of Switzerland so they could practice their faith. In 1737, they migrated to the farthest frontier in what would later be called West Virginia and rented land from Lord Fairfax. The territory was the homeland of Native Americans, and the families of Hire, Hause and Stookey were in constant conflict with them. An entire section of the book is devoted to the children of Anthony and Ellender Epperson, eleven in all. Aphrey Epperson, our ancestor and 8th generation of Eppersons in this book series, was the oldest son, but his younger brother, Ananias, opened the Epperson Springs Hotel, and his brother, Silas, had a great-grandson who invented the popsicle. The book ends with Aphrey and Elizabeth Epperson leaving Tennessee for Illinois in the early 1830s and then going to Missouri just before the start of the Civil War.