ROUGH DRAFT - John Epps Comer to William Lee Comer

The Root in the Old Dominion (Late 18th Century)

Our story begins in the very lap of the Old Dominion of Virginia, in the county of Halifax, where the sun first rose upon John Epps Comer on the fourth day of September, in the year of our Lord 1782.

He was the trueborn son of John Comer and his good wife, Amy Elizabeth Epps. From them, young John inherited the bone and grit of a man who would work the earth for his living. Yet, like many men of his time, the soil of his birth could not hold him long, for the whisper of the west was strong in the air.

The Early Years of Marriage and the First Trail (Early 19th Century)

When the year 1804 turned to its closing weeks, John took his first solemn vow, binding himself to Sarah Wood. It was with Sarah that he began his great family, welcoming sons like Moses Moore Comer and Nathaniel Morgan Comer into the world.

By 1810, the census takers found the young family no longer in the east, but in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, where they worked the rich soil for a spell.

But sorrow, as it often does, came knocking. John Epps Comer was left a widower, and soon after, he took his second wife, the fair Martha Steagell, in 1816. She would give him five more children, swelling the size of his growing clan.

The Western Trek to Tennessee (1820s - 1840s)

The spirit of wandering was strong in John, or perhaps it was the promise of fresh, cheap land. He packed up his wagons and set his course westward, into the wilds of Tennessee.

A New Life and the Final Home (1840s - 1861)

Life had its trials, and John again found himself alone. But in the winter of 1843, he pledged his troth for the third time to Mary E. Mitchell. She was the mother of his last child, marking the final branch on his family tree.

The census of 1850 found him still in Tennessee, in Montgomery County, but this would not be his final rest. In his later years, John Epps Comer made his final, great journey, pushing north and west to the lands of Illinois.

He settled in Johnson County, Illinois, and there, after eighty long and industrious years of farming, traveling, and fathering, John Epps Comer finally laid down his weary head.

He passed from this world on the first day of February, 1861, just as the clouds of the great Civil War were gathering. He was given his eternal sleep in the quiet ground of the Taylor United Methodist Church Cemetery in Vienna.

The Legacy Left Behind

John Epps Comer died without a formal will, but his life’s work was his testament. Though the bookkeepers valued his final assets at only $2,000—not counting the fields and belongings he had already bestowed upon his many children—the true measure of the man was in the affidavit filed for his heirs.

He was a man who worked the earth, raised a grand family through three marriages, and chased the horizon for over fifty years, planting a new home in five different counties across three states. His greatest legacy was not a single great property, but a wide scattering of descendants, rooted by his restless spirit across the burgeoning nation.

The Son of the Second Wife (Early 19th Century)

Moses Epps Comer was born in the year 1814, back in the rolling hills of Halifax, Virginia. His father, John Epps Comer, was then a man of thirty-two years, and his mother, Mary (or perhaps Martha, the records are not clear), was twenty-nine. He was born just on the cusp of his father’s greater wanderings.

As a child, Moses knew the long roads and the cramped wagon beds, for he moved with his family from Virginia to the newly settled lands of Tennessee, learning early the hard work of turning wilderness into a farmstead.

The Planting of a New Family (1837)

The year 1837 marked a turning point for Moses, for he found his lifelong partner in the state of Tennessee. He pledged his heart and hand to Mary Foster, and together, they would dedicate their lives to the great task of raising a family upon the frontier.

In the twenty-four years that followed their vows, Mary and Moses were blessed with a bustling household, welcoming eight children into the world. A man must work hard to feed so many mouths, and Moses, like his father, bent his back to the plow.

The Final Journey and the Close of the Day (1850s - 1871)

Just as his father, John Epps Comer, had done, Moses felt the pull of the Illinois soil. He followed the family’s western star and settled his wife and children in the southern reaches of the state.

It was there, in Johnson County, Illinois, near the little settlement of Grantsburg, that Moses finished his journey. He worked his fields until the very end, dying on the twenty-seventh day of September, in the year 1871. He was but fifty-seven years of age when he passed, leaving his wife, Mary, to watch over their large brood.

And so, the son of the restless pioneer found his own, final resting place, a generation deeper into the American heartland. He left behind eight children to scatter and spread the Comer name further still, carrying on the tradition of hard work, long travel, and family-building that had begun with old John Epps Comer back in Virginia.

The chronicle now descends to the third generation, to a son who carried the weight of the frontier past and lived to see the beginning of the modern age. We speak now of Lee Roy Comer, the grandson of the pioneer.

The Child of the Heartland (1843)

Lee Roy Comer—sometimes written as LeRoy—was born in the heart of the journey, in Tennessee, in the month of October in the year 1843. His father, Moses Epps Comer, was then twenty-nine, and his mother, Mary Foster, was twenty-seven. He was a middle child in a growing family, and he grew up knowing the scent of fresh-turned Tennessee soil and the sounds of a busy, ambitious household.

He was a young man when his family made that final trek north to Illinois, trading the valleys of Tennessee for the flatlands of Johnson County.

A Marriage of Lasting Love (1870)

The great dividing war came and went, and in its wake, the world began to settle once more. In the spring of 1870, Lee Roy took his beloved bride, Mary Melissa Missouri Shires, to be his wife. She was known to all as "Aunt Lissie," and their bond was strong and true.

Their family, like those before them, was large and bountiful. Over the next twenty-six years, Lee Roy and his "Aunt Lissie" welcomed eight children into their home. Their life was one of steady work, raising their large brood in the community that his father and grandfather had established.

The Long Sunset in Illinois (1871 – 1923)

Lee Roy watched his own father, Moses Epps Comer, pass on in 1871, not long after his own wedding. He became a pillar of the community, carrying forward the farming legacy in Grantsburg, Illinois, the very place where his father had made his final home.

Unlike his ancestors, who were ever-moving, Lee Roy remained rooted in Illinois. He lived through the great changes of the late nineteenth century and well into the roaring twenties, witnessing the world transform around him. He enjoyed a long and full life, achieving the impressive age of seventy-nine years.

On the ninth day of June, in the year 1923, Lee Roy Comer passed away in Grantsburg. His journey ended not far from where it had settled, and he was laid to rest in Massac County, Illinois, an area deeply tied to the Comer family’s new history.

He left behind a great many descendants, a testament to the enduring strength of the Comer line. The pioneering spirit that began in Virginia had now solidified in the soil of Illinois, thanks to the long life and lasting work of Lee Roy Comer.

The narrative continues now into the fourth generation, where the family's ties to the Illinois ground grew even stronger. We turn the page to the life of William Barney Comer, the son of Lee Roy and grandson of Moses.

The Child of the New Illinois Home (1873)

William Barney Comer was born on the seventeenth day of August, in the year 1873, right in Massac County, Illinois. Unlike his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, he was a true child of Illinois soil, born after the great trek was complete.

His father, Lee Roy, was a man of twenty-nine, and his mother, the good "Aunt Lissie" Mary, was twenty-five when he arrived. He grew up in the settled community that his family had helped to build near Grantsburg, learning the ways of farming and community life.

A New Family and a New Century (1894)

As the nineteenth century drew to a close, William Barney began his own household. On the tenth day of June, in the year 1894, he married his lifelong sweetheart, Dora Mae Reid.

Theirs was a family of the next generation, perhaps smaller than the sprawling clans of the pioneers, but just as loved. Over nineteen years, William and Dora were blessed with four children, who would carry the Comer name into the modern age.

William Barney worked hard, contributing to the life of the southern Illinois lands where his ancestors had finally found peace. He carried the tradition of the farmer, but also lived through the dawn of great industry and change.

Final Rest in Metropolis (1940)

William Barney Comer lived to see the first great World War and the troubled times of the Great Depression. He saw the Illinois he knew change from a place of rough-hewn farms to one of established towns and growing connections.

He departed this life on the fifteenth day of September, in the year 1940, having lived a respectable sixty-seven years.

His final resting place was close to his home and work. He was laid to rest right there in Metropolis, Illinois, where the Comer family’s long journey, which began in colonial Virginia, had finally come to rest. The land that John Epps Comer first sought in a restless search for a new life was now the cherished, rooted home of his great-grandson.

The saga is now four generations deep, with the Comer family firmly established in Illinois. Do you have a chapter to share about one of William Barney's four children, or another story that belongs to this lineage?

The tale now enters the fifth generation, crossing the threshold of the twentieth century and settling ever more deeply into the familiar soil of Illinois. Let us speak of William Lee Comer, the son of William Barney and the continuation of this steadfast line.

The Child of the New Age (1908)

William Lee Comer was born on the twelfth day of August, in the year 1908. His father, William Barney, and his mother, Dora Mae, were both thirty-two years of age, well-established in their lives in Massac County. He was born into an America that had fully embraced the industrial age, a far cry from the frontier his great-great-grandfather first traversed.

He grew up in Metropolis, Illinois, a child of the established town where his father's people had finally found their permanent home.

A Marriage During Hard Times (1926)

The year 1926 was a significant one for young William Lee, for he took the hand of Nellie Mae Smith in marriage. Their union came just before the great shadow of the Depression fell across the land. It was a time that called for grit, resilience, and a deep commitment to family—qualities that had been honed in the Comer family for over a century.

William and Nellie Mae raised a close-knit family, welcoming four children over the course of fifteen years. Like his forebears, William Lee dedicated himself to providing for his own, ensuring that the Comer name remained one of stability and hard work in their Illinois community.

The Long Life in the Hometown (1975)

William Lee Comer lived a life deeply rooted in the place his family had chosen. He saw the world endure the Great Depression, fight the Second World War, and enter the age of rockets and television. He was a constant in the community of Metropolis, Illinois, a man who carried the legacy forward while adapting to an ever-changing world.

On the twenty-fifth day of April, in the year 1975, William Lee Comer completed his long life of sixty-six years. He passed away right there in Metropolis, the town that had become the true, final home of the Comer line.

Five generations had passed since the restless spirit of John Epps Comer left Virginia. The wanderer's journey was over, replaced by the steady, enduring commitment of his descendants to the Illinois land, a tradition that William Lee upheld until his final day.