The earliest Pepper that we have connected to this family is Samuel Pepper, who was born in 1725 in the area that became Prince William County, Virginia a few years later. He acquired land in Fauquier County, Virginia in 1763 and his name appears on a petition to be allowed to worship in a Baptist Church. No date, but 1777 has been the best estimate. With some of his family, he moved to Kentucky in 1797. One of his sons is credited with establishing the first whiskey distillery in that State. His son, John, moved to Caswell County, North Carolina, apparently with his in-laws the Oldhams. Most of these records are for descendants of John. John, as well as most of his Oldham brothers-in-law, participated in the Revolutionary War, particularly, the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, near their home. A John and a William Pepper immigrated to Lancaster County, Virginia in early 1650s. It is logical that one, or both, of these were the ancestor of our Samuel, but more research is needed to establish any connection. Records fail to show the origin of these "immigrant" Peppers, but there have been attempts to connect them to the Peppers and Oldhams, who were in Massachusetts 100 years earlier.