1870

Silas Richard Copeland was born on Friday, 10 February 1871 in Griggs Township, Van Buren County, Arkansas. He was the son of Burgess M. Copeland.

California E. Cypert was born circa 1872 in Arkansas. She was the daughter of William and Asenath Cypert.

1890

On Monday, 15 August 1892, Silas Richard Copeland, age 21, of Marshall in the county of Searcy, married California E. Cypert, age 20, of the county of Van Buren. The marriage was performed in Van Buren County by judge J. H. Fraser and recorded by county clerk  J. B. Thompson. Security on the marriage bond was Wm. Moody.

Wednesday, 9 May 1894, their daughter Virgie Viola Copeland was born.

Tuesday, 29 December 1896, their son William Martin Copeland was born.

Silas Richard Copeland died in Searcy County on Friday, 30 April 1897, at the age of 26. He was interred at Marshall Cemetery in the city of Marshall, Searcy County. At the time, California was approximately five months pregnant.

Monday, 23 August 1897, the baby girl Silas Danner Copeland was born. She never knew her daddy, but was apparently named for him.

Saturday, 22 April 1899, the land office in Harrison, Arkansas issued a land patent to “California E. Copeland, widow of Silas R. Copeland, deceased…” for a parcel located at “the North West quarter of the North East quarter, the North East quarter of the North West quarter and the South half of the North West quarter of Section Two in Township thirteen North of Range sixteen West of the Fifth Principal Meridian in Arkansas, containing one hundred and fifty-six acres and forty-five hundredths of and acre.” Since homesteaders had to occupy their land for five years before being issued a patent, Silas and California had settled this parcel sometime around 1894, perhaps even as soon as following their marriage in 1892, allowing for the inevitable governmental delays in processing paperwork.

1900

I have not been able to find California and the children on the 1900 census for Searcy County, Arkansas. She was granted a land patent only a year before the census, so I think it unlikely she would have been living elsewhere. It appears that the family was simply not enumerated.

In late 1900, California would remarry. That union shall be covered in a future article.

Sources

Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census. Census Place: Griggs, Van Buren, Arkansas; Roll: M653_51; Page: 474; Image: 476; Family History Library Film: 803051. Accessed 7 June 2012.

Ancestry.com. Social Security Death Index. Name: Virgie Condley; Issue State: Arkansas; Issue Date: Before 1951. Accessed 7 June 2012.

Ancestry.com. Social Security Death Index. Name: William Copeland; Issue State: Oklahoma; Issue Date: Before 1951. Accessed 7 June 2012.

Ancestry.com. Social Security Death Index. Name: Danner Graham; Issue State: Missouri; Issue Date: 1958-1959. Accessed 7 June 2012.

"Arkansas, County Marriages, 1837-1957," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NMP2-NBZ : accessed 7 June 2012), S R Copeland, 1892.

Nancy Weaver. "S.R. Copeland". Find A Grave. Accessed 7 June 2012.

Bureau of Land Management, United States Department of the Interior. General Land Office Records. Document number: 12337; Application: 20855; Issue Date: 22 April 1899. Accessed 7 June 2012.