R200
Husband: Francis Epperson (probably interchangeable w. Apperson)
Died: 1785, in Charlotte County Va.
Wife: Martha Epperson (named in deeds selling property jointly with Francis in Cumberland County)
Children:
Martha (Epperson) Wood [R002]
Thomas Epperson (d. 8/1805), m. 7/20/1778 to Martha Cardwell (d. of
John Cardwell, b. ~1758, resident of Charlotte County in 1838)
Anne (Epperson) Atkins (d. 1815), m. 1/20/1774 to William Atkins, ch. Lucy, Thomas, William (m. Margaret Rudd, 2/17/1808, dau. Isham Robert; she m. Nathan Hancock, 12/3/1827)
Francis Epperson
(1996) A reconstructed census of Virginia in 1740 [S016] lists only one Epperson household (William; no Appersons), in Goochland County. Patte Wood [S077] has researched the Epperson record in detail, drawing chiefly on Court House records. Francis Epperson is named as early as 1754 as a purchaser of 200 acres of land in Cumberland County, from Joshua Chafin (DB2-100). Thereafter there are numerous transactions, some involving Joseph Wood [R002]. The general trend with time seems to be that both families were working their way southward from Goochland through Cumberland and Prince Edward Counties to Charlotte County, probably because that was the direction in which new, cheap land was becoming available.
The census of 1782 shows there were two Francis Woods. [S077] and I speculate that they were father and son. [S077] allows for the possibility that the son might have died in 1785 rather than the father, but the father’s more advanced age makes him the most likely candidate.
[S077]’s records include interesting wills and/or appraisements of the property held at death by Francis Epperson, Anne Atkins, William Atkins, and Thomas Epperson.
A day book kept by Joseph Wood Jr. [R254], detailing the execution of the will of his father Joseph Wood (widower of Martha Epperson) [R002], includes a summary of legal expenses that suggests Joseph Sr. was involved, when he died, in litigation with the family of his wife Martha (Fig. R254c). Joseph Sr.’s death in 1816 was ~51 years after his marriage to Martha, and 31 years after the death of her father Francis.