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PREFACE |
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Almost twenty years ago, I became obsessed with learning more about my heritage. As I started this genealogy endeavor, my goal was to "find my roots." Through untold hours of research, hundreds of phone calls, many travels and good fortune, I finally arrived at a somewhat satisfactory understanding of my ancestry. I felt that I had found all that could be reasonably discovered, concluded my research and started compiling and writing. During this phase of my project, I became acquainted through the Internet with many distant cousins researching their branches of Epperson's and Apperson's. As we shared information, it soon became apparent that much information was available through individual research and books already published. Unfortunately, all this information was fragmented, difficult to find and centered on that researcher's branch of the family. So, much family information was available; but there was no central place to find it without extensive research. As I prepared to share my accumulated knowledge with anxious relatives, my goals for a reference book changed. Rather than publish only my direct ancestry for a limited group of relatives, I decided to expand the work to include the research of many distant cousins. The goal was to make a central reference for any relative seeking information on our family genealogy. Thus, The Epperson Family Reference was born. This work is the combined research of many people. Some information came from individuals and some came from books already published. This is not a genealogy book, per se. It is in its purest sense a research paper with stories of historical interest. Like any good research paper, all sources of information are referenced and indexed. The ancestry of the Epperson family beyond our shores is debatable. There are three basic theories. One is the belief that the Epperson families in America descended from English roots. A second theory shared by the Apperson families in America is that they descended from Welsh roots. A third theory is that most Epperson and Apperson families in America descended from a single family that was rooted in French nobility. This book is written around this third theory. I feel that this is the only theory that can supply genealogy links beyond America, answer the mystery of Apperson and Epperson names for the same ancestors and, lastly and most importantly, line-up with traditional stories passed from generation-to-generation. The research for our ancestry beyond America is not mine. It has been researched and recorded by Vaughn Elmo Epperson and the late Edna Epperson Brinkman. Edna recorded a history of Epperson families in America with her book, The Story of David Epperson and his Family of Albemarle County, Virginia, published in 1933. Edna's book chronicled a traditional history of our family. Vaughn and his son, David, later expanded Edna's work by going to France and England and researching our European genealogy. I have merely taken their research and combined it into a narrative that all Epperson and Apperson families can share. The genealogy information, however, is incomplete and sometimes speculative. Nevertheless, it is the best family history that can be compiled with the research now available. This book is a genealogy record of Apperson and Epperson families in America. It traces the roots of these families from medieval France to the migration of their descendants to American in 1675. John (É pernon) Epperson, the original Epperson in America, had sons named Jean Louis, John, Charles, William, Francis, Richard and Thomas. It is believed that the Epperson and Apperson families in America descended from this family. This book chronicles the ancestors of these brothers and their descendants as they branch throughout the United States to the present time. By this research paper, I have attempted to establish a Master Family Tree. The goal of the research is to link all the branches of Epperson's and Apperson's in America to this tree. While a noble goal, this is obviously impossible. Currently, there are several genealogies included that do not yet link to the master tree and several lineages yet to be uncovered and documented. However, by putting all the known current research in one place, future researchers can build on our family database and establish additional links. Hopefully, this work will provide the strong roots of a Family Tree that will continue to grow through the added branches of future generations of our children.
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