52 Ancestors: #38 - Windle EBERT/EPPARD

Amy Johnson Crow of No Story Too Small has issued a challenge:  write one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor.  It can be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem – anything that focuses on one ancestor.

My 5X great-grandfather Windle EBERT/EPPARD was among the first generation of Eppards born in what became the United States.  He was born about 1736 in Pennsylvania, son of Hans Jerg (George) and Margaret Christina Starke EBERT.  By 1750, this family had worked its way down through Maryland and into the Shenandoah Valley. 

In 1762, Windle obtained a patent for about 300 acres on the south side of Naked Creek in Rockingham County  (it was Augusta County at the time). 

Windle paid thirty shillings for his 300 acres

Most of this is the metes and bounds description
from Library of Virginia
Augusta County Land Grant to Windle Evert
dated 15 August 1762
Land Office Patents No. 36, 1764-1767
(v.1 & 2 p.557-1083), p. 613 (Reel 36)

Windle married Christiana MOYLE/MOYER about 1769. How many children they had is unknown; however, in 1780 they had twin boys, Johann George and Philip B.  Their baptism was recorded in the Parish Register at Saint Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church. 

Windle and his father Hans Jerg (George) were farmers, but they also had an iron ore mine on Fox Mountain.  Mountain ore or “brown ore” could be fed directly into blast furnaces to produce pig iron. Windle’s property provided the three essential ingredients for a furnace:  an adequate supply of iron ore and limestone (plentiful enough on Fox Mountain), a water source powerful enough to turn a waterwheel (Naked Creek and Shenandoah River), and enough timber for making charcoal which was the fuel for the furnace (the mountains and valley were covered in trees!). 

Image from waymarking.com

The iron industry was responsible for much of the success of the early colonies.  Towns grew up around the blast furnaces which required a fair number of employees not only to operate the furnace but also to cut down trees, burn charcoal, dig for ore, mine the limestone, and even care for the mules and oxen.  In 1781, Thomas Jefferson listed five operating furnaces in Virginia, two of which were in the Shenandoah Valley.  It is most likely that Windle sent his iron ore to Henry Miller at Mossy Creek in present-day Bridgewater.  No doubt pig iron for the Revolutionary War was made from ore supplied by Windle’s mine. 

Windle died about 1810.  His wife Christiana was head of household in the 1810 Rockingham County, Virginia census.  A male older than 45 was there as well suggesting there might have been another son besides the twins. 

Windle and Christiana were likely buried on their property or in one of the two Eppard cemeteries located on their land since those cemeteries were associated with the original St. Peter’s Lutheran Church.  However, due to a terrible flood in 1800, many graves were moved.  Also the church was rebuilt in another part of the county following a fire.  The current St. Peter’s Lutheran Church Cemetery in nearby Elkton is one of the oldest cemeteries in the Shenandoah Valley.

THREE GENERATIONS:

Windle EBERT ( 1736 Pennsylvania – 1810 Rockingham Co, VA) & Christina MOYLE/MOYER  1769

1. Johann George EPPARD ( 23 Apr 1780 Naked Creek, Rockingham Co, VA – 1869 Naked Creek, Rockingham Co, VA ) & Catherine BEASLEY ( 1784 – 1850 Rockingham Co, VA )  28 Apr 1802 Rockingham Co, VA

• William EPPARD ( 1803 Rockingham Co, VA – 24 Feb 1872 Page Co, VA ) & Helena FOLAND  (02 Apr 1818 – 1880 Page Co, VA )  24 Dec 1835 Rockingham Co, VA
• Andrew EPPARD ( 1804 Rockingham Co, VA – after 1870 Luray, Page, VA ) & Melissa SMITH (04 Jan 1811 Rockingham Co, VA – 07 Mar 1896 Rockingham Co, VA )  25 Jan 1827 Rockingham Co, VA
• John EPPARD ( 1806 Rockingham Co, VA – 1855 Luray, Page, VA ) & Mary “Polly” Mathene SMITH  (22 Jan 1816 Rockingham Co, VA – 05 Jan 1913, Madison Co, IA ) 02 Feb 1832 Page Co, VA
• Elizabeth EPPARD ( 1807 Rockingham Co, VA – 25 Apr 1889 Elkton, Rockingham Co, VA ) & Isaac GOODEN ( 12 Apr 1816 Shenandoah, Page Co, VA –  12 Apr 1898 Rockingham Co, VA)   30 Aug 1841 Rockingham Co, VA
• Mary EPPARD ( 24 Aug 1808 Rockingham Co, VA – 1879 Rockingham Co, VA ) & William MERICA (28 Aug 1804 Rockingham Co, VA – 31 Aug 1895 Rockingham Co, VA )  17 Oct 1834 Rockingham Co, VA
• Parmelia EPPARD ( Nov 1808 Rockingham County, VA – 1905 Shenandoah Iron Works, Page, VA ) & Joseph Hiram SAMUELS JR. ( 1804 – Aft 1880 ) 28 Aug 1828 Rockingham County, VA
• Nancy EPPARD ( 1812 Rockingham Co, VA – 31 May 1890 Rockingham Co, VA ) & Zachariah TAYLOR JR.  (1800 –  21 Jan 1871 Page Co, VA )  03 Sep 1834 Rockingham Co, VA
• Reuben EPPARD ( 1815 Rockingham Co, VA - Bef 1880 Rockingham Co, VA ) & Sarah Elizabeth SMITH  (31 Aug 1819 – 06 Apr 1864 Page Co, VA )  12 Feb 1837 Rockingham Co, VA
• Jacob EPPARD ( 1817 Rockingham Co, VA – 1850 ) & Pamelia COOK ( 1819 – )  11 Jun 1836 Page Co, VA
• James D. EPPARD (1819 Rockingham Co, VA – 1857 Rockingham Co, VA ) & Mary Ann FOX (17 Aug 1817 –  23 Nov 1908 )  06 Aug 1842 Page Co, VA        
• Wesley EPPARD ( 1825 Rockingham Co, VA – 09 Sep 1882 Argonia, Sumner, Kansas) & m1) Phoebe BREEDEN  ( 1831 – 1874 Randolph Co, MO ) 18 Dec 1848 Page Co, VA ; & m2) Sarah F. TURNER (1847  Missouri –  )

2. Philip B. EPPARD ( 23 Apr 1780 Naked Creek, Rockingham Co, VA – Before 1850 Moonsville, Madison, IN ) & Margaret UTZ  (1785 – 23 Aug 1853 Madison Co, IN )  11 Mar 1803 Rockingham Co, VA

• Daniel EPPARD ( 28 Nov 1803 Rockingham Co, VA – 30 Jul 1878 Rockingham Co, VA ) & Delilah Ann HENSLEY  (15 mar 1810 Rockingham Co, VA – 1890 Page Co, VA )  08 Dec 1825 Rockingham Co, VA
• David EPPARD ( 1810 Rockingham Co, VA – 13 Jul 1895 Muncie, Delaware, IN ) & Sarah Elizabeth JONES (1812 Indiana – 1880 Indiana )  1834 Indiana
• Mary Virginia EPPARD ( 1814 Rockingham Co, VA – 1870 Madison Co, IN ) & David PENCE (01 Mar 1809 Shenandoah Co, VA – 22 Mar 1883 Madison Co, IN )  06 Aug 1835 Champaign, OH
• Samuel EPPARD 02 Jun 1815 Rockingham Co, VA –  1887 Indiana )  & m1) Mary Ann EBERT (Aft 1820 Ohio – Before 1850 Indiana ) ; & m2 Hannah WRIGHT  16 Jan 1853 Delaware Co, IN
• Noah EPPARD ( 23 Jul 1823 Rockingham Co, VA – 28 Dec 1900 Madison Co, IN ) & Rebecca Ann MOON (30 Nov 1827 Clinton, OH – 07 Oct 1900 Madison Co, IN )  20 Jun 1842 Indiana 

Sources:

"George Washington & Jefferson National Forests - History & Culture." U.S. Forest Service. N.p., 18 Sept. 2014. Web. 18 Sept. 2014. <http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/gwj/learning/history-culture/?cid=FSBDEV3_000460>.

Lauck-Ranson, Louise. "Shenandoah History." Town of Shenandoah. N.p., 2014. Web. 18 Sept. 2014. <http://www.townofshenandoah.com/index.php/component/content/article/76-history/149-shenandoahhistory>.

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