GREEN B. EPPERSON AND FAMILY, Smith County, TX ***************************************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm Submitted by Debbie Brown - cottagehill@altavista.com 21 May 2001 ***************************************************************** GREEN B. EPPERSON AND FAMILY "Some Biographies of Old Settlers." Historical, Personal and Reminiscent. Volume I By Sid S. Johnson, 1900: Sid S. Johnson, Publisher, Tyler, Texas Chapter LXIX. - Pages 285-289 - Picture Green B. Epperson was born in Jackson county, Ga., January 12th, 1818. He was married to Miss V. Niblack on January 31st, 1839, in the same county and state of his birth. Mrs. Epperson is a woman of accomplishment and has shared the toils of life with her husband in the early settlement of this country up to the present time. Mr. Epperson, together with his little family, moved to Texas in 1846 and first settled in Kaufman county. In February, 1848, he moved to Smith county; first settled near Winona, and in 1849 moved and settled in Tyler, living here nine years, and then moved five miles east of Tyler, where he now resides. They had born to them nine children. Louise died when four years old; Thomas Jordon died in the Confederate army in 1862, in Hopkinsville, Ky. Nancy Josephine has been married twice. The first marriage was with G. W. Weaver, who died April 25th, 1866, leaving two boys--Lee and Green. Mrs. Weaver afterwards married W. E. Jones in Nov. 1878. Wm. R. Epperson married Miss Carrie Jackson, June 20, 1875. John T. Epperson married Mrs. Sisilee Meador, daughter of John B. Curtis, Sept. 12th, 1887; Green B. died in infancy; Emma Epperson married P. C. Pinkerton, October 1875; D. J. Epperson is still single living with his parents; Sisilee Epperson died Dec. 8th, 1875. Green B. Epperson has lived in Smith county since 1848. His residence in this city was a continuous one for nine years. He is a good man, an honorable citizen and has discharged faithfully the duties imposed on him through an eventful and successful life, being now comfortably settled on a farm, five miles east of Tyler, with the companion of his life; and they are now enjoying the last chapter in life with happiness, contentment and good health. Mr. Epperson was a builder in the early settlement of Tyler, and these many year have made a favorable impress on the advance lines of education and good citizenship. He was Justice of the Peace of Tyler precinct for four years, discharging his official duties with promptness. He was on the first board of aldermen Tyler ever had and was a leader in the original organization of our city government, and worked with a single duty in shaping the municipality in the direction of good government. He was foreman of the first Federal grand jury ever organized in Tyler; was one of the first trustees of the M. E. church, South, in Tyler, together with J. M. Rush, Henry Starr and John N. McKinley. He and his wife have always been faithful church members--Christian people. The Epperson family have always been prominent people, commanding due respect for their moral and social worth, and a mention of the different branches of the pioneer family would be good reading here--of that portion now living. Wm. E. Jones, who married Nancy Josephine, is a prominent and well fixed farmer, living six miles east of Tyler, and has a very interesting family of children, with the comforts of life surrounding them. Wm. R. Epperson, who married the accomplished Miss Carrie Jackson, resides at Leagueville, Henderson county, Texas, and is a leading citizen and farmer in his community. John T. Epperson, who married Mrs. Sisilee Meador, the accomplished daughter of John B. Curtis, is a prominent farmer living six miles east of Tyler. Pickens C. Pinkerton, who married Miss Emma Epperson, lives four miles east of Tyler, and he, like the others, is a good farmer and a leading man in his neighborhood. His wife is a splendid woman and was a favorite in her girlhood days on account of her beauty and goodness of heart. They have a large and interesting family of children. D. J. (Jack) Epperson resides with his parents and looks after the welfare of these aged people. Jack is very popular as a man and citizen, possessing those rare traits of manhood that commend him to public favor. Just at this time, he is one of the county commissioners, and is doing some excellent work for Smith county. He is watchful of the county's interest, and looks closely after the details of the varied duties of that very important office. He is devoting much time to the good roads subject, and being a level- headed official, he has added much to push along this good work. Jack is a very popular official and his excellent work in the commissioners' court commends itself to favorable consideration of the people. The Epperson family stands on the highest plane of citizenship in Smith county. The grand old man who has been permitted to live with us so many eventful years is a worthy founder of a noble family, and together with his wife, stands almost alone as two representative people, of the same family, when Tyler was a small village. Green B. Epperson, although a fine mechanic, when he first settled in Kaufman county, he split rails to support a wife and one child. While he was Justice of the Peace his docket reached nine hundred cases; not a case reversed. Mr. Epperson landed in Kaufman county with only fifty cents in his pocket. It was Epperson & McKinley's saw mill that furnished most of the lumber out of which the town was built, back in the fifties.