William F. Epler was born on 15. Apr. 1835 at Princeton, Bureau County, Illinois. He was the son of
John Epler and
Sarah Beggs. William F. Epler was a civil engineer in 1859. He married
Jane A. Woodman, daughter of
David Woodman and
Abigail Gray, on 12. Apr. 1859 at Duluth, Saint Louis County, Minnesota. William F. Epler married
Matilda Ellen Conover, daughter of
Levi Conover Jr. and
Phoebe A. Rosenberger, on 5. Jul. 1870 at Cass County, Illinois.
William F. Epler appeared on the census of 1880 at Virginia, Cass County, Illinois. He was a grain dealer in 1880. William F. Epler was shown in the census on 15. Jun. 1900 as a bank president.
William F. Epler and
Matilda Ellen Conover appeared on the census of 15. Jun. 1900 at Virginia, Cass County, Illinois; 5 children, 3 living. William F. Epler resided at at Lake Charles, Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, in 1913. He was a rice planter in 1913. He died on 4. Feb. 1923 at Virginia, Cass County, Illinois, at age 87. He was buried at Graceland Cemetery, Lake Charles, Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. William Epler came to northern Minnesota first in 1856, according to county histories:
"In September, 1856, soon after my arrival in Superior, and after I had looked around the country a little--Duluth, Fond Du Lac and elsewhere--I accepted a position with William Burt, a Deputy United States Surveyor. Our trip to Bulrington Bay, the field of our work, was made in a birch bark canoe. Mr. Burt, another young man and myself, left Superior shortly after noon, paddled up the bay, portaged just about where the ship canal now is, and proceeded on down the lake."
VanBrunt, Walter. Duluth and St.Louis County, Minnesota, Their Story and People, Chicago and NY: American Historical Society 1921, p. 123.
In 1860 he and his wife left for the mines of the Humboldt Range in what was then Utah Territory. As his daughter Nellie was born in Illinois, they likely made a layover with his family first awaiting her birth. His first wife, Jane A. Woodman, passed away in Nevada, supposedly at Star City, which is now a ghost town south of Winnemuca.
"At the age of 28 [William Epler] was a member of the first Constitutional Convention of the State of Nevada, held at Carson City in 1863, in which State he was for eight years engaged as Civil Engineer and Deputy U.S. Land and Mineral Surveyor and during a part of that time connected with the engineering department of the Central Pacific Railroad Company of California. In 1869, he returned to Cass County [Illinois] and settled on his farm..." History of Cass County, Illinois, 1882 from www.adena.com.