State v George (More About John Epps, Step-father to James R. Carter)

Paul Zimmerli pointed out some history about John Epps, husband to Charlotte Temple Evans Carter Epps who was James R. Carter's mother.   John Epps ran a barbershop and occasionally referred to himself as Dr. Epps.  He then became involved in a sordid series of events that culminated in his murder at the hands of F. W. George.  Yes, it was the wild, wild west...even in Des Moines, Iowa.  We sometimes forget.  

For the background on this, see my May blog post and Paul's comments:

http://turpintraces.blogspot.com/2013/05/james-r-carter-had-ties-to-lancaster.html?showComment=1371915690692#c7180199983403173208

Paul refers to The Northwestern Reporter: Volume 18 which is available through Google Books for free.  Google Books has been a great resource for me but I had not looked for court reports.  Here is a synopsis of the crime that is described in the report of State v George:

James R. Carter had ties to Lancaster County, Nebraska

I love the serendipity of genealogical research, especially when someone points out something right under your nose that you were not looking for and not expecting.  Not quite like winning the lottery but it’s still fun! 

I got one of those this week. 

Portrait and Biographical Album of Lancaster County, Nebraska published 1888 

I’ve used the Portrait and Biographical Album of Lancaster County, Nebraska many times.   My great, great grandfather Casper Martin (another branch of the family) is in there along with other shirt-tail relatives.  But an anonymous contributor commented on my January  blog entry “Cousins Die in Camp at Cape Girardeau in 1861” about James R. Carter (cousin of Thomas B. Turpin) and pointed to this Lancaster County history book as the source of more information on James Carter’s family.  Wow!  

The history was published in 1888 and has an entry for Joseph Epps, step-brother to James R. Carter.   The biography states that John and Charlotte Epps’ family consisted of Charlotte’s four children from her marriage to George Carter:  John, Riley, Eliza, and  William Carter;  and Christopher, Rachel, Agnes, Joseph, Mary, and Amanda who were the children of John and Charlotte.

The 1860 census of Warren County, Iowa shows them as John A., James R., E A D J Carter, and Wm E. Carter; and Chris Col, Rachel Agnes, Jos. Andrew, Mary Louisa, and Amanda Chris B J.

For anyone who may be researching that particular branch of the family, Anonymous adds:

It mentions Charlotte EVANS CARTER EPPS and at the time of writing was living in Mitchell, South Dakota ... William Elijah Carter's daughter Minnie Louise was married three times, [to] John H. Raner and had 6 children, William Frederick Holkan (widower with 5 children), and Louis Frederick Karsten in Nebraska.  She died sometime after 1950.  Lou was my great-great-uncle. 

The Portrait and Biographical Album of Lancaster County, Nebraska is a digitized book and the article on the Epps family can be found at:

http://www.archive.org/stream/portraitbiograph01chic#page/492/mode/2up

William Elijah Carter

From Paul Zimmerli, in reference to posts about James R. Carter and EADJ Carter:

Jesse Walker was a schoolteacher and justice of the peace in Owen County. His wife Leah Storm Beem Walker was the widow of Neely Beem of Jackson County. Together they had one child, Finley (1837-1865). 

How they wound up with EADJ Carter is another question. He shows up again as a 15-year-old in Iowa, the older brother of my ancestor William Elijah Carter. Hope that gives you a little more information you may use as steering markers.

See also: http://turpintraces.blogspot.com/2013/01/cousins-die-in-camp-at-cape-girardeau.html

Cousins Die in Camp at Cape Girardeau in 1861

More on James R. Carter who was discussed in 20 Oct 2011 and 12 Nov 2011 blogs. Recently cousin Dennis Bell was following up on some items and shared what he found.  Here is what we know about this Carter connection:

James Carter was the same age as my great uncle Thomas B. Turpin and the two appear to be cousins although we’re not sure how.  Carter was probably Thomas Turpin's grandmother's maiden name.  The Carter and Turpin families intermarried several times.

Thomas and James enlisted together to serve the Union.  James’ service record shows he was eighteen, a resident of Rippey, Iowa, and born in Indiana.  Thomas and James enlisted August 23, 1861 and mustered-in September 7, 1861.  Both died of measles, James two months later on November 3, 1861 and Thomas on Christmas Day, 1861 at Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

The regiment Thomas and James served with was equipped in St. Louis and initially moved to Cape Girardeau.  While in camp there, James Carter died of the measles. The regiment was then ordered to Bloomfield to drive out Jeff Thomson’s force, but found it gone.  They returned to Cape Girardeau and made camp for the winter.  The soldiers suffered through that winter march to camp and there were troop losses due to sickness. Thomas Turpin died from the measles in December.  

The 1860 census shows James living in Warren County, Iowa, two counties southeast of Greene County where the Turpin family lived.  He is living in the household of John and Charlotte Epps.

Going back to Owen County, Indiana, we find Charlotte’s marriage record at www.sweetowen.net:

Carter, George; Evans, Charlotte Temple.; Sep 17, 1835; Thos Johnson, J.P.

These are the parents of our James.  The family is in the 1840 census for Washington, Owen County.  James was not born until 1843 so he is not on this census.

Head of Household: George Carter

Free White Persons - Males - 20 thru 29: 1

Free White Persons - Females - 15 thru 19: 1

Free White Persons - Under 20: 1

Free White Persons - 20 thru 49: 1

Total Free White Persons: 2

Total All Persons: 2

Around 1847-52, George must have died.  A census search for George or Charlotte in 1850 is not successful.  Charlotte then marries John Epps.  They are listed in the 1860 census in Iowa as mentioned above.  But then John Epps listed himself as a widower in the 1880 census Warren County, Iowa -- so Charlotte died before 1880. 

1860 United States Federal Census Washington, Warren, Iowa

Post Office: Indianola

John Epps 31

Charlotte Epps 40

John A Carter 20

James R Carter 17

E A D J Carter 15

Wm E Carter 13 

   (William Elijah CARTER (b. Feb 1847 IN) 

   m Rebecca Ella SHACKLEE and Mary Effie FISK)

Chris Col Epps 8

Rachel Agnes Epps 7

Jos Andrew Epps 5

Mary Louisa Epps 3

Amanda Chris B J Epps 11/12

Still looking for the Carter-Turpin connection though!

Follow-up on James R. Carter

In my Nov 12th blog post about the Iowa 10th Infantry and Thomas Benton Turpin, I mentioned James R. Carter who enlisted at the same time.  The Carters and the Turpins intermarried and I thought there might be a family connection: 

James R. Carter of Rippey enlisted as a Private on 23 August 1861 at the age of 18 in Company H, 10th Infantry Regiment Iowa on 7 Sep 1861.

James is the same age as Thomas.  Carter was probably Thomas’s grandmother’s maiden name. So looking to see if there is a connection could help me.  A bit of research shows there are no records of him in Greene County, Iowa in the 1860 census. I may want to scan the census in case the indexing is in error. I don’t see any James Carters in 1870 census that look like a potential match either. There is a 1890 Veteran’s Schedule which shows many James Carters. I guess this is a research project to put on my rainy day list.

Dennis Bell found the following entry for a James R. Carter in the 1860 census of Washington, Warren Co., Iowa.  Dennis suggested:

... he might be the James R. Carter (b. ABT 1843 in Indiana) who lived in Warren Co. IA in 1860?  See the below.  It appears to me that Charlotte (b. ABT 1820 in Indiana) is his mother, and that she remarried to John Epps and started a 2nd family.  John and Charlotte Epps were living in Washington, Greene, Iowa in the 1870 census.  John Epps was a widower in the 1880 census (Indianola, Warren, Iowa).

Iowa 10th Infantry Regiment, Company H

Using ancestry.com’s American Civil War Regiments records, I did some follow-up research on the regiment Thomas Benton Turpin joined. That set of records consists of four sections: regiment records, soldiers, battle histories, and officer records.

Thomas only served a few months before he died however I wanted to check to see who else might have enlisted with him.

After searching for the Iowa 10th Infantry Regiment, I reviewed the three year history of the regiment. I see that 10 companies were mustered in during September and October.

“The regiment received its equipment at St. Louis and moved to Cape Girardeau, where it went into camp. In early November it was ordered to Bloomfield to drive out Jeff Thompson's force, but found it gone on its arrival. Taking possession of a large amount of property left by Thompson, it returned to Cape Girardeau, and in December went into winter quarters at Bird's Point.”