Three Forks of the Kentucky River Historical Association

James Epperson Jackson

JAMES E. JACKSON [son of Smith Jackson & Margaret "Peggy" Jackson] was born April 3, 1834 [Russell County, VA], and died at his home in [Travellers Rest,] Owsley county, Ky., October 31, 1896, at 6 o'clock a.m. He was married to his now bereaved wife [Ethel Malinda Jackson] Sept 6, 1860. [Children born to this union were Jefferson M., Martha Jane, Julia, Ella M., George W., Sarah A., and Charles]

He united with the Methodist church when a boy, and during all the years of his connection with the church he was faithful and true as it is possible for a man in this imperfect state to live. In his death his wife has lost a good husband; his children a kind and loving father; his aged father a dutiful son; his brothers and sisters a loving brother; the church a good and true member and the county a good citizen. His death was sudden and unexpected, but when it came it found him ready and he left bright evidence that he left triumphant. The last words that he uttered that was understood was to his brother, who was with him in his last hours, were: "Hold prayer". Just three weeks before his death the writer rode with him from Pleasant Grove, in this county, to his home. He had heard a sermon on the Melenial Reign. He asked me if I thought it possible that the righteous would live and reign a thousand years. I told him that from the teachings of the Bible it was highly probable. He said that "it would be delightful after all that had been produced by sin had been destroyed, to live a thousand years on the earth, when we had toiled and gained so many victories".

His house was and always had been, ever since he had a house, the home of the weary itinerant. The writer has often enjoyed the hospitality of him and his family. But Bro. Jackson has gone — gone from the earth; gone from care and anxiety; gone from toil and suffering. His place will no more be filled by him in the church. His voice no more be heard in fervent prayer. His place in the family circle is vacant. His good wife is left without his counsel; his children no more receive advice from his loving lips. His form will be seen in active life no more. But our loss is his eternal gain, and while we have done all we can for him and laid his body to in the tomb — "earth to earth, dust to dust, ashes to ashes" — his spirit has gone to God who gave it, and he is basking in the sunshine of God's presence, reflected in the face of Jesus Christ. May it be ours to meet him in the Beautiful Beyond: "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also who sleep in Jesus will God bring with him".

"Asleep in Jesus, peaceful rest
Whose waking is supremely blessed;
No fear, no woe shall dim that hour
That manifests the Savior's power"

[Burial was in the Warren Cemetery, Vincent, Owsley County, KY]