US Congressman. A Democrat, he represented Virginia's 4th District for parts of two terms during the Fifty-fifth and Fifty-sixth Congresses (1897 to 1898, 1899 to 1900). He died in office. Epes was born into one of Virginia's oldest families, his Pilgrim ancestors having arrived there from England in 1628. Following public school education in Franklin, Kentucky, he returned to his home state in 1884 and became publishing editor of a Democratic newspaper in Blackstone. He was a member of the State House of Delegates (1891 to 1892) and Register of the Virginia Land Office (1895 to 1897) prior to winning election to the US House in 1896. In March 1898 Epes was unseated by his Republican challenger, Robert Taylor Thorp, who contested the election, but he was popular with his constituents and easily won a second term in 1898. He died at 34 in Washington DC, of peritonitis following an appendectomy.
US Congressman. A Democrat, he represented Virginia's 4th District for parts of two terms during the Fifty-fifth and Fifty-sixth Congresses (1897 to 1898, 1899 to 1900). He died in office. Epes was born into one of Virginia's oldest families, his Pilgrim ancestors having arrived there from England in 1628. Following public school education in Franklin, Kentucky, he returned to his home state in 1884 and became publishing editor of a Democratic newspaper in Blackstone. He was a member of the State House of Delegates (1891 to 1892) and Register of the Virginia Land Office (1895 to 1897) prior to winning election to the US House in 1896. In March 1898 Epes was unseated by his Republican challenger, Robert Taylor Thorp, who contested the election, but he was popular with his constituents and easily won a second term in 1898. He died at 34 in Washington DC, of peritonitis following an appendectomy.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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