Joseph Klepper 1804-1884

Joseph Klepper was born on 15 Mar 1804 in Tennessee and was probably the son of Samuel and Nancy Klepper.  He died on 05 Dec 1884 and was buried at the Old Pioneer Cemetery (also know as the "Old Plano Cemetery") in Plano, Texas.   (believe the James listed in the Roster of the Richardson Creek Baptist Church records of Hawkins Co.; Tn. is this James)
    Joseph married Nancy Beverly on 15Aug1829 in Granger County, Tennessee.  Nancy was born on 16 Oct 1808 in Tennessee and died on 19 Aug 1891 in Collin County, Texas.  Her father John Beverly was a Captain in the American Revolution and her brother William Beverly was a Captain in the Civil War.
    Joseph and Nancy Clepper "left Tennessee in 1836 following the Old Wilderness Road to Illinois where his Uncles Michael, Henry, and William Klepper were living.  Joseph Cleper (sic) is listed in the 1840 Greene County, Il census.  He moved to Texas by 1844? and is in 1850 census of Collin Co., TX as 'James Clipper,'" Lucille Mehrkam - 23 Aug 1999. From Tennessee to Kentucky to Indiana, to Illinois, it is most likely that the last part of their migration was traveled by one of the Shawnee Trails through eastern Oklahoma and crossed the Red River into Texas by the Preston Trail.
    They came to Texas (by 1844?) along with members of their extended family and settled in an area of the Peter's Colony now known as Plano, Collin County, Texas.  As a married man, Joseph received a land grant, Fannin Third Class certificate number 1109, for 640 acres (abstract #213) between 01 Jan 1837 and 01 Jan 1840 and built a cabin in 1845 on a site that is about what is now Avenue J and 17th streets.  Later, the city of Plano was centered at a point 25 or 30 feet west from a point on the east boundary line of the Joseph Clepper survey (next to the Sanford Beck survey).  Plano was mostly a farming community that did not see a real population growth until the 1960s even though the railroad came to the town in 1872.
    "A few years later in 1848 came the voice of Mrs. Joseph Clepper, who, when asked how she liked her new home on the frontier, replied, 'Oh, its great for men and dogs but hell on women and ponies.'"
    Nancy Klepper's brother, Captain William Beverly arrived Collin County on 28 Nov. 1846 and had a land grant near Joseph and Nancy.  Captain Beverly and Dr. Henry Dye are listed as original members of Plano Masonic Lodge 234.  Family members J. T. Kendrick, Joe W. Beverly, and John Bench Klepper were also members of this lodge in the 1880s.  Captain Beverly was a county commissioner from Plano in 1852, 1854, and 1856.  He also helped developed the county court house square in McKinney, Texas.   Five of Captain Beverly's nine children were killed in action as Confederate soldiers during the Civil War (1864).
    Joseph and Nancy's son Samuel L. Clepper was listed in the 1850 census as a twenty-one year old farmer and qualified for his own head-right of 320 acres, as a single man.
    Joseph and Nancy's son William died in 1851 at seven years of age and was buried next to his Aunt Nancy DeLozier Beverly (wife of his mother's brother; 10Mar1808-16Jun1851).  William was the second marked burial in the Routh Cemetery (32°59'36"N at 96°42'13"W), east of US75, north of Glenville Drive in what is now Richardson, Collin County, Texas.   Nancy DeLozieer Beverly of Illinois was the third burial at the Routh Cemetery.
    Joseph and Nancy Clepper members of the Methodist Church of Plano, Texas and the original church was built on land that was once part of Joseph's property.   According to the church historian, Jan Samuels, "the church history says that in March 1874, Ben Matthews, Robert Brown, and Daniuel McCullough and three other trustees purchased one acre from Joseph and Nancy Klepper for $200 for the church property.  The reference for this was Minutes of the Quarterly Conference, 1848-1873; July 26, 1873, Oct. 25, 1873.   Deed Records, Vol. W, p. 866-867.  George Pearis Brown, 'Methodist Church in Collin County Organized Near Plano in Spring 1846,' The Daily Courier Gazette, McKinney.   Ms., Mrs. Belle Brown Allee."  The Methodist worshiped at this site until 1893.
    The Methodist Church started the Old Plano Cemetery (33°00'52"N at 96°42'09"W) in 1881 on the land of Joseph and Nancy.  This is where many of the areas pioneers are burried, including Joseph, Nancy, Nancy's brother Captain William Beverly and his son Rev. John Beverly.

Children:
1. Samuel S Klepper, 1829 TN
2. Isaac Klepper, 1837 IL
3. James William Joseph Klepper, 1840 IL

4. William D Klepper, 1843 IL - 1851 TX
5. A.G. or Henneritta Klepper, 1848 TX

    The 1850 census of Collin County Texas listed these five children as living in Jacob and Nancy's home.  Also listed as living in their home was a 20 year-old physician from Virginia.  Dr. Henry Dye was one of the first physician in the Collin County area and "attended the University of Louisville in Kentucky from 1858 to 1859" ("In time, Thomas and Mary Dye came to Plano to be near their children, Henry, Elizabeth, and Mary Ellen.").  Joseph is listed in this census as a forty-five year old farmer who migrated from Illinois.   Their son William died in 1851 and their daughter A. G. Klepper may have also died young because she is not listed in the 1860 or later census records.  Although, James W. Klepper of Illinois (male age 20), Fanney Klepper of Kentucky (female age 21), Amanda Klepper of Texas (female age 13), Emma J. Klepper of Texas (female age 1) were listed as living in the home of Joseph and Nancy Klepper during the 1860 census.   Also listed in their home was J. K. Roach, a 24 year old 'Waggoner' from Kentucky.   Mr. Roach may have had some connection with Joseph's uncle Andrew Jackson Klepper because according to  1850s maps, Andrew owned a waggon yard on Mechanic Street and a blacksmith shop on the east side of South Main Street in Plano, Texas.    Joseph, his brother in-law William Beverly, and F.J.Vance appraised the property of Thomas J. Routh upon his death for Collin County Chief Justice J.J.Harrison, 25Oct1858.  Probate Minutes; Vol. A-1, 1858-1870; Vol. C-1, 1868-1870; 1846 page 143; 1847 page 144-158.

Source:
• Lucille Mehrkham, History and Genealogy of the Family of Jacob Klepper/Clepper Family and Malcolm McAlpine Family (The Gregath Company, 1996), Library of Congress under card number 86-62751 (Page 7)
• Marriage Records of Granger County, Tennessee
• 1840 Green County, Illinois census
• Jan Samuels of the United Methodist Church in Plano, Collin County, Texas.  WindmillC@aol.com
• The Plano Historical Committee, Plano Texas, The Early Years, Jan1986, ISBN 0-9651841-0-2 (page 230, 1855 Plano map on page 243)
• Harold Huber, President of the Routh Cemetery Association and resident of Plano, Texas. - harold.huber@sabre.com
• 1850 (family #275), 1860, and 1870 Census Records.
• http://www.collincotxhistdoc.info/Probate_Minutes_1.htm
• ftp://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweg/tx/abstracts/collin.txt
• http://www.planomasoniclodge.org/history/history.htm
• Stambaugh, History of Collin County, TX, Page 56
• "Plano, Texas as I remember it," by Carlton C Allen, 1980.  Only copy, TEX 976.4556 ALL, in the Plano, Texas Library.
• 1850 Collin County, Texas - page 528, family #275
• 1860 Collin County, Texas - page 1, stamped page 112, precinct #11, 01 Jun 1860
• Collin County census records of 1870 and 1880
• Conner, The Peter's Colony of Texas
• Tom C. Brown Jr., descendant of Dr. Henry Dye, http://www.iqthost.com/tombrown/dyesk.htm
• Latitude and Longitude information is from http://landmark.granbury.com/collin.htm
• http://www.planoconservancy.org/content/view/33/53/index.html
• http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txrcai/oldplanocem/index2.htm

Additional Notes:
• Friends of Plano Public Library, Plano, Texas: The Early Years (Wolfe City, Texas: Henington Publishing Company, 1985), Page 13 & 56, 20 Apr 2001, Harold R. Huber, 111 Santa Fe Trail, Whitewright, TX 75491. "Page 13: Surname spelled "Clepper".
Page 56: OLD CITY CEMETERY is located in the 1100 block of Avenue H is sometimes known as the Pioneer Cemetery. This does not mean that it was started early but that it has many pioneers buried there. In 1874, Joseph Klepper deeded land to the Methodist Church which worshipped at that spot until 1894. The Kleppers first gave and then sold cemetery plots on the adjoining acreage."
• 1850 US Census, Collin County, Texas Transcription, Richardson, Texas, 20 Apr 2001, Gladys Harrington Public Library, East 18th Street, Plano, Texas. "Age 45, family 275, surname listed as "Clepper"."
• 1860 US Census, Collin County, Texas, 20 Apr 2001, Family History Library, 35 N. West Temple Street, Salt Lake City, UT 84150. "Age 56; listed as head of family 007-007; birthplace Tennessee; surname listed as "Klepper"."
• 1870 US Census, Collin County, Texas, Page 469b, 20 Apr 2001, Family History Library, 35 N. West Temple Street, Salt Lake City, UT 84150. "Age 68, dwelling 129, family 130. Birthplace listed as Tennessee."
• 1880 US Census, Collin County, Texas, Page 197a, 20 Apr 2001, Family History Library, 35 N. West Temple Street, Salt Lake City, UT 84150. "Age 75, dwelling 237, family 250. Birthplace listed as Tennessee. Father's birthplace listed as Pennsylvania, mother's birthplace unreadable on record."
• Mrs. Alice Pitts, Mrs. Wanda O'Roark, Mrs. Doris Posey, Collin County (Texas) Cemetery Inscriptions Volume 1 ( 1975, POP Publications, The Manney Company, P. O. Box 10188, Ft. Worth, TX 76114; call # 929.3746556), Page 296, 20 Apr 2001, Harold R. Huber, 111 Santa Fe Trail, Whitewright, TX 75491.