The Three Eppes Shine Sisters

Thomas Jefferson’s Florida

A Women’s History Month Blog

Part 2: Martha Virginia (Eppes) Shine

Orlando’s magnificent St. Luke's Cathedral, on a rainy afternoon of 14 April 1914, witnessed “one of the prettiest weddings ever held in Orlando,” said the Miami Herald of 17 April in telling of the wedding of local resident Lillias Eleanor Shine to Frank B. Stoneman of Miami. And despite the soggy weather outside, Orlando’s magnificent cathedral inside was decked out beautifully with Easter Lillies for the well-attended marriage of the Orlando Sorosis Club librarian and the Miami newspaperman.

The Herald used an entire column on page two to detail the wedding, describing the flower arrangements; musical solos; a luncheon following the ceremony, and a family gathering at “the Greetham home,” a day-long event prior to the newlyweds departing Orlando on their honeymoon and the couple’s residency in Miami. Absent from the newspaper’s lengthy write-up, however, was the historical significance of both the marriage and the venue.

The Wedding’s Historic Venue:

St. Luke's Cathedral in downtown Orlando owes its very existence to Central Florida pioneer Francis Wayles Eppes, the grandson of Thomas Jefferson. The first Episcopal services for this Parish were held in the 1870s at the historic residence of Francis and Susan Eppes on Lake Pineloch, south of Orlando, on the historic Fort Mellon to Fort Gatlin Road. Francis & Susan remained active in the church, even to the point of promoting the construction of a church facility on Jefferson Street (named for the grandfather of Francis Eppes) in the heart of downtown Orlando. Francis Eppes died before the original St. Luke's church was built, but the Parish to this day credits Thomas Jefferson’s grandson as one of its historic founders.

Exhibit 2: Orlando: A History of the Phenomenal City by Richard Lee Cronin

The Original St. Luke Church, Orlando, Florida

The Wedding's Historic Party:

The wedding of 14 April 1914 took place 33 years after the death of Francis Wayles Eppes, and 27 years after the death of Susan (Ware). The eldest daughter of Francis & Susan, Maria Jefferson (Eppes) Shine of St. Augustine (See Part 1), had died 18 years before the wedding of 1914, but two of the daughters of Francis & Susan, Martha Virginia and Caroline Matilda, were at this historic wedding at St. Luke.

The bride, Lillias Eleanor Shine, was the daughter of Martha Virginia (Eppes) and Thomas Jabez Shine.

Three Eppes Sisters married Three Shine Brothers:

Three daughters of Francis Wayles & Susan (Ware) Eppes married three sons of Richard A. & Mary (Maultsby) Shine of Tallahassee. Maria Jefferson (Eppes) married Dr. William Francis Shine (1835-1910) in 1865, and as stated in Part 1 of this series, Maria and Dr. Shine settled in St. Augustine.

Martha Virginia (Eppes1847-1920) married Thomas Jabez Shine (1842-1889) in 1866 in Tallahassee the year after her sister Maria. Their sister, Carolina Matilda (Eppes 1857-1940), youngest of the Eppes children, married in 1885 at Orlando to Dudley S. Shine, Sr (1853-1939).

Martha Virginia (Eppes) Shine, after the death of Thomas Jabez Shine, remarried Reverend Henry W. Greetham, so the family reception at “Mrs. Greetham’s” home on 14 April 1914, was in fact the residence of Martha Virginia (Eppes) Shine – Greetham, mother of the bride.

Martha Jefferson (Eppes) and Thomas Jabez Shine had relocated from Tallahassee to Madison County in 1867, and there, daughter Lillias Eleanor Shine was born. Six years later, on 1 March 1872, Thomas Jabez Shine applied for a homestead of 160 acres in Orlando, and he relocated the family to Orange County, where her parents were by then residing.

Caroline Matilda Eppes came to Orlando with her parents; in 1885, and married Dudley S. Shine, and then relocated to Jacksonville, Florida.

Thomas Jefferson’s Eppes Family in Florida

Francis Wayles Eppes departed his grandfather’s Monticello, Virginia and came to Florida to begin anew. The entire Florida Territory population at the time of the arrival of Francis & Mary E. (Randolph) and their six children on 19 June 1829 had yet to reach 35,000.

After the death of Mary (Randolph) Eppes in 1835, Francis Wayles Eppes married Susan (Ware) on 14 March 1838. Francis & Susan also had six children. Each born in Tallahassee, only two, Susan (1839-1908) and Nicholas (1843-1904) remained at the State Capitol after their parents moved to Orlando. Maria (1840-1896) relocated to St. Augustine while the other three followed their parents to Orlando: Martha (1847-1920); Robert (1851- 1894), and Caroline (1857-1940).

Caroline, as previously mentioned, settled in Duval County, while one daughter of Martha’s relocated to Miami.

The Eppes family line, descendants of Thomas Jefferson, spread throughout Florida, with each contributing to the growth and success of different locations in the 27th State.

Three (Eppes) Shine Sisters became Mothers of Doctors:

As stated in Part 1, the only son of Maria Jefferson (Eppes) Shine, born 13 January 1871 in St. Augustine, Florida, died 26 years to the day after the death of his mother. Maria had died while visiting her son in New York. Like father, like son, Francis Eppes Shine was a doctor, and according to his obituary, “He was Chief surgeon of the El Paso & The Southwestern Railroad.” Dr. Francis Eppes Shine died while in France, and was buried in the graveyard of Monticello, the old homestead of his great-great grandfather, Thomas Jefferson.

Each of the three Eppes sisters who married Shine brothers had a son who became a doctor. Martha Virginia (Eppes) Shine was the mother of Dr. Francis Wayles Shine, born 24 June 1874 in Orlando. His 1941 obituary described Martha’s son as “one of the Nation’s outstanding eye, ear, nose and throat specialists.”

Caroline Matilda (Eppes) Shine was the mother of Dr. Cecilia Eppes Shine, a prominent Jacksonville Dentist.

Thomas Jefferson did not have a son to carry forward the family name, but he did have two daughters, and it was through them that offspring of the bloodline of our Nation’s Declaration of Independence author came to the Florida Territory. Eppes, Randolph, and Shine were but a few of the surnames of offspring who, in the 1800s, populated Thomas Jefferson’s Florida.

One P or Two?

The Epes Trucking Company

The name Francis Wayles Eppes always appears as spelled throughout history with two Ps, but at times, this surname is found spelled Epes by others. In fact, this author knows of two Florida families who spell their last name with only one P. So, are the Eppes’ and Epes’ families related?

Wilfred Grigsby Epes, Jr. died at Blackstone, Virginia in 1978. The man’s obituary of 7 May 1978 said he had been the “Executive Director of Epes Transport System, Inc, which he had founded in 1931.” The son of Wilfred Epes, Sr. (1873-1950), this Virginia Epes family traces their family’s roots to Francis Epes, Eppes, Epps IV, born in 1686 in Henrico, Virginia, the same Francis Eppes IV that Francis Wayles Eppes family traces his roots. A son of Francis Epes (Eppes) IV.

Assuming both family trees are correct, this Epes and Eppes family line traces to a son and daughter of Francis Eppes IV.

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