APPEARSON

           EPPERSON

EPPERSON

As I researched this book over the years, the most prominent question has always been:  What is my heritage?  Unfortunately, family history, facts, records and secrets are often lost with time and our heritage becomes mysterious.  The question is simple;  however, simple questions do not always have simple answers.  The answers can be complex and ambiguous and often hidden under years of agonizing research.

When we trace our ancestry to Virginia in Colonial days, records are very confusing (and scarce). Colonial records for our family are found as Apperson and Epperson.  In fact, more records are listed in late 1600's Virginia parish records as Apperson than Epperson.  Does this mean that our family name should be Apperson?  If we went no farther than Colonial Virginia to establish our family name, we would probably all be named Apperson.  However, when we trace the roots of our ancestry beyond our shores, our name becomes more focused and defined.

The Epperson name, traditionally, is English in origin and according to the Historical Research Center has a recorded Coat of Arms.  They do not list a Coat of Arms for the Apperson or Appearson surnames.  According to their published Coat of Arms, the Epperson name is derived from the nickname Ebb and simply means son of Ebb. The switch from "bb" to "pp" being common with many English names.  Halberts of Bath, Ohio also lists a Coat of Arms for the Epperson and Appearson surnames.  The presence of a family Coat of Arms would indicate that the Epperson or Appearson ancestry is rooted in English nobility.  Consequently, many cousins have Appearson or Epperson Coat of Arms proudly displayed in their homes.  However, since all three Coats of Arms are different, we are alerted that questions surround our heritage.

The thought that we have descended form English nobility provides a sense of family pride.  However, when we try to establish the authenticity of this claim, our family runs into a problem.  Records were kept in Colonial Virginia of English families who were entitled to coat armor.  Neither the names Epperson, Apperson or Appearson are registered as an entitled Virginia family.  The only similar name registered in Colonial Virginia, so entitled, is Eppes. This would indicate a problem with authenticity or a problem with the spelling or origin of our name.

I regret to say that those replicas of Epperson and Appearson medieval crests that we have purchased and proudly displayed apparently have no relevance to our family.  While we can lay claim that our family descended from England, our roots and name are French.  And, therein lies the secret behind the Apperson and Epperson names.

I would like to quote from Edna Epperson Brinkman's book, The Story of David Epperson and His Family of Albemarle County, Virginia, a short passage that summarizes our ancestry:

While this narrative does not reflect the views of current research, it is, nevertheless, a broad view of our ancestry. The Epperson's and Apperson's descended from French aristocracy who were noble warriors and powerful politicians.

It is believed that our surname originated from the French peerage, Épernon.  This prestigious title was bestowed on our ancestor, Jean Louis Nogaret de La Vallette, by Henry III, King of France.  In 1638 the Duc d' Épernon's son, Bernard, fled France after being falsely accused of treason.  He escaped to the Netherlands before migrating to Wales.  It is unknown when the family name changed, but evidence indicates that the name changed while the family sojourned in Wales.  As a political fugitive from the French Crown, Bernard may have changed his surname to hide his identity.  Charged with treason, he faced certain death if captured.  Or, as Edna Epperson Brinkman stated above, he may have changed his name for a more basic reason.  Apparently, the family desired to come to the English Colonies in America.  However, passage on an English ship was available only to loyal English subjects.  It is said that the Duc's family altered the spelling of the French title Épernon to Épperson, the suffix "son" and the double use of "pp" being common for English names.  More than likely, however,  the name changed upon the family's arrival in Wales in order for the family to become invisible to the French Crown.  I doubt if Edna Epperson Brinkman's account of a name change for passage is valid, as it would be another generation before the family would leave Wales for the New World.  This matter is discussed in more detail in the records of Bernard and hid son, John.

The French origin of our family name, Épernon, explains the confusion in Colonial records of spelling variations in the Epperson name. Parish records in Colonial Virginia listed a significant number of Epperson family records as Apperson. This has always been a source of confusion and led to arguments among relatives as to the correct surname spelling. It has also led to confusion as to our country of origin. Most Epperson's are convinced that they are English descendants, and many Apperson's have concluded that they are Welsh descendants, since "AP" in Welsh means "son of."  The conviction that the Apperson surname is Welsh is somewhat true and confuses the facts as noted above.  Our ancestors were known to be in Wales in the year 1648.  The mother of John É Epernon Epperson, who brought his family to Virginia in 1675, died in Glamorganshire, Wales in 1648. However, the tenure of the family in the Netherlands and Wales as it migrated from France to America was only one generation.

While the confusion over Epperson and Apperson names has existed since colonial days, the answer has turned out to be rather simple.  In French, the name Épernon is pronounced Apernon, the "É " in French being pronounced as an "A." So, when our ancestors arrived in Colonial Virginia, they had a surname that was spelled Épperson (from Épernon) but pronounced Apperson. Consequently, many parish records were recorded as Apperson, as it was pronounced, not realizing the name was spelled with an "E." As a result, we have American ancestors who appear in church, Census and civil records as both Apperson and Epperson.  I have found colonial records for many families recorded under both the names of Apperson and Epperson. Thus, we now have descending lines of both Apperson's and Epperson's, all cousins with the same ancestry, originating from the same family.

Colonial Virginia was very English in nature. Many people were educated, and good records were kept. Colonial Virginia was very civilized and modern in terms of world standards.  If you doubt this, visit the restored town of Colonial Williamsburg.  Churches kept good records on births and deaths.  As America grew, families of Revolutionary War veterans moved to the frontier to start new lives on free Bounty Land.  Our ancestors migrated from civilized Virginia to remote, sparsely populated farming settlements where survival often mandated harvests over education.  As America grew westward, it became less civilized and less educated.  As it became less educated, the Epperson name underwent further transformations.

The names of Apperson, Appearson, Epison and Epperson appear throughout our family ancestry, sometimes in the same family group in subsequent Census records.  It is easy to explain these spelling variations in rural, backwoods America.  For Census records, family data was normally taken and recorded by an educated person who visited each household in their enumeration district.  Often, Census data was verbally given by an illiterate person (many of our early relatives were rural farmers who according to Census records could not read or write).  Consequently, if the person supplying the Census data could not read or write, a Census taker spelled the name as it was pronounced.  When coupled with a regional accent, the name could be easily interpreted as Apperson, Appearson, Epison or Epperson. This is the reason spellings of first and last names vary so much from one Census to the next.

We find Apperson's and Epperson's in Colonial Virginia because of the French pronunciation of Épernon. We later find Appearson's, Epison's and other spelling derivatives as the rural, uneducated population spread to the frontier.  We also find switches between these surnames in subsequent generations as uneducated families are unknowingly named by the Census enumerator.  Names also change for other reasons.  Sometimes, tragic events or humiliation can cause a family to change the spelling of their surname to disassociate themselves from offending family members.  This may have been the reason that two branches of descendants of William Apperson, born 1675, split into Epperson's (see children of George Washington Apperson, born 1834).

Whether descendants of noble French extraction or Welsh laymen, Epperson's and Apperson's are now one family.  Since our forefathers arrived in the Colonies, our family has forged itself into the fabric of our nation's history. Our ancestors arrived in America as Englishmen and subjects to the Crown.  When America struggled for independence, our family forsook their English allegiance and French heritage and fought for a new nation, establishing a new citizenship for future generations of our family.  We were no longer Englishmen or Frenchmen.  We were Americans who had severed all ties with our past and opted to begin a new family history.  In America, our family's nobility would be earned by the deeds of our sons and not by our station at birth.

In the War of 1812, our sons once again took-up arms against the British.  When settlers fought the Indians on the frontier, our sons fought to make an emerging new nation safe and fuel its expansion.  When brother fought against brother in America's great Civil War, many Epperson's and Apperson's laid down their lives for their convictions.  When America sent her army to Europe in The Great War, our family gave her sons to defend our earned freedom.  And when America fought the War to End All Wars, our sons volunteered to defend our country.  Many were heroes, and many were left in graves on foreign battlefields.  Many Apperson's and Epperson's have died in the service of our great nation.

Our family is part of the grass roots foundation of America.  I have found Epperson's and Apperson's from every walk of life.  I have found those who were great educators, and I have found those who could neither read or write.  I have found those who were engineers and scientists, and I have found those who were farmers and laborers.  I have found those who had great estates and wealth, and I have found those who were very poor and many who found rest in unmarked graves.  Our ancestors have served in all of America's wars and been pioneers at every outpost of our country's expansion.  Our family can take pride in the contributions of our ancestors to our great nation.  For the most part, our ancestors were good citizens: enterprising and pioneering people who worked hard and struggled for an existence, loved their children, their neighbors, their country and God.