William Smith Eppard (1919)
EPPARD, LEEPER, MABBITT, MEADOWS, SMITH, SULGROVE, YOUNG
Posted By: Treva Patterson
Date: 9/1/2007 at 10:23:46
The Winterset Madisonian
Winterset, Iowa
Wednesday, July 2, 1919
Page 1Death of William S. Eppard
William S. Eppard of Jackson township died at eleven o'clock Tuesday night after several years of illness. He was past seventy five years of age and for nearly three years had been an invalid. His son, Rev. Clarence Eppard resigned his pastorate in the Early Chapel district to care for his father.
Mr. Eppard has been a revered resident of Jackson township for fifty three years. In 1865 he came to Madison county and attended school. In September of 1866 he returned here with his bride and settled within a mile from his present home. During his long residence in this county he accumulated large properties and has been a prominent stock raiser of this vicinity.
Six children survive their father. Funeral services will be held Thursday afternoon at 1:30 (old time) at Early Chapel.
________________________The Winterset Madisonian
Winterset, Iowa
Wednesday, July 9, 1919William S. Eppard of Jackson township died July 8th after an extended illness. He had been a resident of this county since 1865. He was survived by his six children.
________________________The Winterset News
Winterset, Iowa
Wednesday, July 16, 1919
Page 1, Column 3JACKSON PIONEER PASSES AWAY
W. S. Eppard Died After Long Illness. Was Prominent in County History 75 Years Ago.
William Smith Eppard, for more than fifty years a resident of Jackson township, and one of the pioneer figures in Madison county history, passed away on the 8th July, 1919, at his home, being in the 75th year, 6th month and 6th day of his life. He was born in Page county, Virginia, January 2nd, 1844, the seventh of the eleven children of John and Mary Eppard.
His education was that afforded by the district schools of that period, which were somewhat primitive, being held in a log structure in a term of but a few months each year. At the age of sixteen he hired out as a farm hand and when eighteen left Virginia with twenty-five companions in order to evade the Confederate conscription law which had been passed. His only effects were a blanket and a few provisions, but these sufficed him and he succeeded in slipping through the rebel and Federal lines, reaching Harpers Ferry on the 18th of February, 1864.
He entered the employ of the Federal government and drove a six-mule team by a jerk line until July, 1864. He then worked in the harvest fields in Pennsylvania and afterward entered the car shops at Harrisburg, that state. He was also employed for a time in the government warehouse there.
In 1865 he joined his brother in Iowa and for a short time attended school in Madison county. He then put in on crop here, after which he returned to Virginia and worked in a colliery and at cutting timber for railroad ties when his marriage occurred to Miss Mary C. Meadows. Soon after he brought his bride to Iowa by boat from Wheeling to Keokuk and settled in this county a mile from his present home. In 1868 he became a land owner and in succeeding years added to his holdings until he now has over 700 acres in Madison county, 400 acres in Adair county, besides real estate elsewhere located.
To the union of Mr. Eppard with Mary Meadows eight children were given, two of whom, Jacob Henry and Charlotte Dell, died in infancy. The remainder, Mrs. Eva Sulgrove, Mrs. Sarah Mabbitt, Mrs. Lydia Leeper, Mrs. Lillie Young, Willard McVernus Eppard and Clarence Eppard survive him and were present at the time of his death.
His last illness was prolonged and excessively wearisome to one accustomed to a life of intense activity. Having lost his speech from a stroke of apoplexy in June, 1917, he remained practically speechless until the end. Although his mind was clear and active at all times, his inability to express his desires was a source of mental annoyance and suffering. His inability to assume the burdens of a business life was a still greater burden.
In his going he leaves behind a host of friends and acquaintances over the entire county, who have known him as an active intensive business man in the community from pioneer days. Aside from his absence from the business activities of the community, he will be missed among the friends of every form of public institution which existed for the general welfare of the community during the early developmental days of these institutions.
Funeral services were held at 2:30 p. m. Thursday, July 10, at Early Chapel Church, conducted by Rev. W. C. Cole, pastor of the Capitol Hill Church of Christ, Des Moines. Interment was made in the Jackson Township Cemetery. – Earlham Echo
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Madison Obituaries maintained by Linda Griffith Smith.
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