Epperson, Thomas

Born: 1801-1810

Flourished: 1830-1836 Sangamon County, Illinois

Epperson lived in Sangamon County as early as 1830. During the Black Hawk War, he served as a sergeant in the Illinois militia and returned to reside in Springfield. In 1833, he established a stage coach line between Ottawa and Chicago, advertising that overland travel was preferable to water routes because of the prevalence of cholera on the western rivers.

U.S. Census Office, Fifth Census of the United States (1830), Sangamon County, IL, 188; Ellen M. Whitney, comp., The Black Hawk War, 1831-1832: Illinois Volunteers, vol. 35 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1970), 1:413-14; Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 25 May 1833, 2:6, 1 August 1835, 3:4; Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales, Mason County, 69:142, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL.