This post is part of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. The prompt for Week 4 is "A Theory in Progress." What started as a simple attempt to bridge a gap in my wife's family tree quickly took on a life of its own. As I began to dig, the "theory" didn't just find proof—it found color. This has grown into a five-part series I'm calling Halifax Hues, where we move from a faded sketch to a vibrant, multi-generational portrait of this particular branch of the Epps family.
Every family has that one document—a hand-scribbled note, a faded letter, or a carefully typed list of names—that serves as the unofficial map of their history. For me, that map was a multi-page document titled "Ancestry of Charles Arthur Epps." It came to me from my wife’s grandmother, whom we called Grancie (Sarah Rogers Davidson). While the document was likely compiled by one of Charles’ children—one of Grancie's cousins—it functioned as the original, uncolored outline of our family tree.
(Note: Click here to view the original document)
The notes were remarkably detailed. They traced the lineage back from Charles Arthur Epps to his father, Henry Daniel Epps, and then to a man named John Wilson Epps. But the real intrigue lay further back. The document identified John Wilson’s father as Daniel Epps and Daniel’s father as Moses Epps, noting that all were born in Halifax County, Virginia.
As any genealogist knows, a name on a piece of paper is a lead, not a fact. I had verified the line back to Daniel Epps (c. 1795–1865) through census and vital records. But when I tried to leap from Daniel to Moses, I hit the genealogical brick wall. I had entered that difficult era of the early 19th century where births and deaths weren’t yet a matter of public record.
| Generation | Individual | Status | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gen 1 | Charles Arthur Epps | Proven | Vital Records / Family Knowledge |
| Gen 2 | Henry Daniel Epps | Proven | Charles's birth register lists parents H.E and Sarah L. Epps |
| Gen 3 | John Wilson Epps | Proven | Henry's Death Certificate Lists John and Martha Epps as parents |
| Gen 4 | Daniel Epps | Proven | John's 1868 marriage record to Martha lists paraents Daniel and Nancy; 1860 Census (Named household with parents Daniel and Nancy) |
| Gen 5 | Moses Epps | THEORY | Grancie’s Document (No primary record) |
I eventually found a Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) application for a Moses Epps of Halifax County, a veteran of the Revolutionary War. It felt like the "Gold Standard" of connections, but there was a catch:
- The SAR lineage was proven through Moses’s son, William Epps.
- My direct ancestor was Daniel Epps.
I had no primary source—no birth record, no will, no deed—that explicitly linked my Daniel to the veteran, Moses. For years, I kept that SAR record tucked away—a promising lead that I couldn't yet claim. It sat in my files as a question mark I wasn't ready to answer.
My hypothesis was simple but stubborn: If Daniel and William were brothers, then Moses Epps was the father of both. Grancie’s document supported this; it listed William, Booker, and Joshua as siblings of Daniel.
But family notes can be mistaken. To move from "tradition" to "fact," I needed to find Daniel and William together—under the same roof or on the same tax roll. We had the names, but we lacked the "ink" to connect them. I needed to find the ink to connect them, but as I searched, I found much more than just names—I found the stories that gave them color.
In my next post, I’ll show you how a search through the dusty tax ledgers of the 1830s and a heartbreaking estate sale in 1842 finally turned this "Theory in Progress" into a proven reality.
- The Sketch: "Ancestry of Charles Arthur Epps" (Family document via Grancie).
- The Framework: SAR Membership Application (Page 1) (Page 2).
Follow along as we add color to the Epps family line.
- ✅ Post 1: The Faded Sketch — A Grandmother’s Roadmap
- ⬜ Post 2 (February 11): Layering the Pigment — The Widow’s Tax and Brotherly Bonds
- ⬜ Post 3 (March 11): The Continental Blue — Moses Epps and the Revolution
- ⬜ Post 4 (April 8): The Deep Roots of Indigo — Joshua Epps and the Colonial Foundation
- ⬜ Post 5 (May 13): A Spectrum of Service — The Multi-Generational Military Web
👉 To see all the posts in the series as they are published, click here: PROJECT: Halifax Hues
Note: Until all posts are published, you will only see the entries that have been posted to date.